2/2017 www.maintworld.

com

maintenance & asset management

5 WAYS TO
BREAK OUT
of the Reactive
Maintenance
Cycle of Doom PAGE 14

BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO OLD VALVES PAGE 18 SMART ONLINE MONITORING PAGE 28 OVERVIEW OF DUTCH WORKING CONDITIONS PAGE 48
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EDITORIAL

Text: Emil Ackerman

Digitalize or die
RECENTLY, I WATCHED an interesting keynote presentation at a confer-
ence with a topic Uber yourself before you get Kodaked. This keynote
was not presented at a B2C conference or in a future-oriented manage-
ment forum. Instead, the theme of losing your business if neglecting
the digitalization around you was discussed in PaperCon, the worlds
largest technical conference for the paper and packaging industry.
Even the more conservative industries need to be aware of the fact
that digitalization can and will transform the ways to do business. It
might be that the core business stays the same, but in order to be more
efficient, to generate new revenue streams, to integrate yourself more
deeply into the value chain of your customer, and
most importantly, to gain or retain competitive
advantage, you need up-to-date information.
Information about what has happened, what is
Information about what has happened,
happening, and what will happen are at the core of what is happening, and what will happen
digitalization. Knowledge, indeed, is power. Power
to direct your business into a more sustainable
are at the core of digitalization. Knowledge,
future with competitive advantage.
However, activities related to digitalization are
indeed, is power.
not valuable per se. Every action and choice you
make should help you build a better business and better operations
than before, just like in all other investments. Keeping this in mind,
it is important to know that many digitalization-related ideas can be
tested and piloted quickly and at a fraction of the cost of machine in-
vestments. Consequently, even big companies can now validate their
ideas quickly, or alternatively fail fast.
Once you know through pilots, what areas of digitalization work for
you, it is easier to make the final decision to invest in integrating the
areas into your routine operations. Come to think of it, five years from
now, no one will be talking about digitalization anymore; it will be busi-
ness as usual.

Emil Ackerman
Managing Director & Co-Founder of Quva Oy, Chairman of the IIoT
Committee of the Finnish Maintenance Society Promaint

14
Planned and scheduled
work is 20 percent
more efficient than
unmanaged work. And
it is safer.

4 maintworld 2/2017
 IN THIS ISSUE 2/2017

10
In mountainous tunnels under
high rock cover, the true ground
conditions can be difficult to
predict, even with information
collected from an exploratory
tunnel.

38
Mining operators are
increasingly confronted
with security breaches
on their properties.

6 Combining Machine Learning

with IIoT Should Be Your
22 What Makes a Critical Spare Part
Critical
38 Security Solution Helps Battle
Illegal Mining
Priority
28 Smart Online Monitoring
40 Digital Automation System

10 Choosing the Best Tunnel Boring

Machine for Mountainous
30 Reliability, Maintenance and
Maintenance and Cybersecurity
the Perfect Partnership?
Conditions Safety

32 Asset Care and Reliability in 44 Steam Trap Inspection Basics

14 Five Ways to Break Out of the

Reactive Maintenance Cycle of the Mining Industry using
Using Ultrasound

Doom Ultrasound34 Thermography in

Photo Quality
48 Overview of Dutch Working
Conditions in 2016

18 Breathing New Life into Old

Valves Boosts Productivity
36 Connectivity and
Interoperability:
No value without reliability

Issued by Promaint (Finnish Maintenance Society), Messuaukio 1, 00520 Helsinki, Finland tel. +358 29 007 4570 Publisher
Omnipress Oy, Mkelnkatu 56, 00510 Helsinki, tel. +358 20 6100, toimitus@omnipress.fi, www.omnipress.fi Editor-in-chief
Nina Garlo-Melkas tel. +358 50 36 46 491, nina.garlo@omnipress.fi, Advertisements Kai Portman, Sales Director, tel. +358 358
44 763 2573, ads@maintworld.com Subscriptions and Change of Address members toimisto@kunnossapito.fi, non-members
tilaajapalvelu@media.fi Printed by Painotalo Plus Digital Oy, www.ppd.fi Frequency 4 issues per year, ISSN L 1798-7024, ISSN
1798-7024 (print), ISSN 1799-8670 (online).

2/2017 maintworld 5
 INDUSTRIAL INTERNET
XXXXXX

Combining Machine
Learning with IIoT Should
Be Your Priority
Machine learning and IIoT are no longer nice things to have, but should be applied
together to reap the rewards of cost savings, improved uptime, and performance.
In this first of a two-part series on machine learning, Richard Irwin, senior product
marketer with Bentley Systems, explains what benefits machine learning can bring
to asset-intensive industries, in relation to the Industrial Internet of Things.
THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD is awash with movie services that recommend titles to
data and new information from sensors, watch based on viewing habits, to banks
RICHARD IRWIN, applications, equipment, and people. that monitor spending patterns to detect
Bentley Systems,
richard.Irwin@bentley.com
But the data is worthless if it is left un- fraudulent activity. Now, the industrial
touched or not used to its full potential arena is moving quickly toward using
with the latest technology. To make the machine learning to take advantage of
most of big data, industry leaders should the Industrial Internet of Things.
implement machine learning along- As the velocity and variety of data
side the Industrial Internet of Things becomes available through advance-
(IIoT) to take advantage of the benefits ments in sensor technology to monitor
increased information can bring to any just about anything, machine learning
organization that is asset and data-rich. is being applied to efficiently manage
We have all experienced some form increasingly large and fast-moving data
of machine learning, from streaming sets. Machine learning can handle large

6 maintworld 2/2017

Five questions to ask
before investing in
machine learning:
1. Question your data What do
you need to know, what are you
looking for exactly? What do
you want your data to tell you?
What arent you seeing what
you hope the data can provide?
2. Is your data clean? Make sure
your data is available, ready
and validated; the more data
the better and the more accu-
rate the outcomes will be.
3. Which ML platform do I choose?
Choose your machine learning
platform carefully considering
interoperability.
4. Do I hire a data scientist, and
how do they integrate? With
machine learning, there might
be a need for a data scientist or
analyst, but they shouldnt be
locked in a dark room.
5. Can I share the data output?
Knowledge gained through
machine learning should not
just be applied to one project
at a time. Its scalability means
it can and should be incorpo-
rated across the whole enter-
prise, delivering insight into any
area rich in data. Plan to get the
most out of machine learning.
and complex information to discover
otherwise hard-to-see patterns or trends
in the data, such as normal behaviour
and anomalies. It can then learn these
patterns and apply it to new data to de-
tect similar patterns in the future. An
example would be to model the perfor-
mance of a piece of equipment, such as
MACHINE LEARNING AUTOMATICALLY PRODUCES INSIGHTS
AT A CONSISTENT AND ACCURATE RATE.
a pipe, in relation to the temperature of
its surroundings. Machine learning can
be taught to see what normal behaviour
looks like, and by applying the model to
current data, it can spot abnormalities,
such as when the pressure within the
pipe increases while the temperature
remains the same. The system can then
predict from existing knowledge that
something is not right and send out no-
tifications.
Demystifying Machine
Learning
A subset of artificial intelligence, ma-
chine learning uses algorithms and
models to derive insights from multiple
sources, including sensors, mobile de-
vices, and computer networks. While
traditional analytical methods like busi-
ness intelligence and predictive analytics
have paved the way for deriving insight
from data, machine learning takes it
further by interpreting the data rather
than interpreting human participation.
Predictive analytics can answer ques-
tions such as, If I increase production by
x percent, how will it affect the bottom line
in the next quarter? Whereas machine
learning focuses on the outcome and
teaches a computer to automatically
uncover the multiple and complex fac-
tors that lead up to it. This points to a far
more accurate predictive model that can
automatically adjust over time through
learning. The more data that is analyzed,
the more accurate the predictive model.
To Stay Competitive,
We Need Machine Learning
Unlike business intelligence and predic-
tive analytics methods that require a
significant amount of manual labour and
time, machine learning automatically
produces insights at a consistent and
accurate rate. Machine learning detects
INDUSTRIAL INTERNET
data that is out of sync, like a piece of
equipment that is underperforming and
could potentially fail. It is then able to
add this piece of information and learn
from it in future models. This makes de-
cision-making easier and more reliable.
In any industry, the ability to rec-
ognize equipment failure, and avoid
unplanned downtime, repair costs, and
potential environmental damage, is criti-
cal to success. This is even more relevant
in todays turbulent times. With machine
learning, there are numerous opportuni-
ties to improve the situation. Three of
the main forms of predictive analysis are
prediction maintenance (failure predic-
tion), forecasting (demand), and work-
force management.
Predictive Maintenance One of the
most applicable areas where machine
learning can be applied within the indus-
trial sector is predictive maintenance.
Predictive maintenance is the failure
inspection strategy that uses data and
models to predict when an asset, or piece
of equipment will fail so that mainten
ance can be planned. Predictive main-
tenance can cover a large area of topics,
from failure prediction and failure diag-
nosis, to recommending mitigation or
maintenance actions after failure. The
best maintenance is advanced forms of
proactive condition-based maintenance.
With the combination of machine learn-
ing and maintenance applications lev-
eraging IIoT data, the range of positive
outcomes and reductions in costs, down-
time, and risk are worth the investment.
Demand Forecasting Accurately
forecasting high levels of demand, such
as within a utility service, gives a compa-
ny a competitive advantage. It provides
them with the information they need to
meet customer demand by anticipating
future demand or consumption. In the
energy sector, for example, storing en-
ergy is not cost-effective, so power com-
panies need to forecast for future power
consumption, so that they can efficiently
balance the supply with the demand.
This sector is faced with twin problems
associated with outages in peak demand,
while too much supply leads to wasted
resources. With advanced demand fore-
2/2017 maintworld 7
INDUSTRIAL INTERNET

Predictive maintenance will be one

of the most important outcomes
from machine learning

THE ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE EQUIPMENT FAILURE, AND AVOID UNPLANNED DOWNTIME, RE-
PAIR COSTS, AND POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE, IS CRITICAL TO SUCCESS. THIS IS
EVEN MORE RELEVANT IN TODAYS TURBULENT TIMES.
casting techniques, utilities can ascer- right permits) and route optimization through large amounts of data, identify
tain hourly demand and peak hours for a to reduce travel and costs. These are still patterns and trends within it, and make
day, allowing them to optimize the power done manually in some cases, and are predictions. Key decision makers need
generation process. Using information error-prone. Machine learning can do to take advantage of this match made in
such as historical demand data, regions, this automatically, and by incorporating heaven to optimally control and man-
population, weather patterns, events, historical data of previous jobs, weather, age their assets get on top of it now
and so on, organizations can predict de- and time of year, it could gauge where before asset data is unmanageable. Pre-
mand on any day or period in the future. problems might arise. venting assets from failing, forecasting
This is essential for ensuring the utility demand, and optimizing movements of
can produce the resource in time. Summary your workforce, are just a few of the ma-
Workforce Management In With the arrival of the Industrial Inter- chine learning techniques that can be ap-
workforce management, the aim is to net of Things, data is growing and be- plied to improve the overall performance
optimize the workforce and make it coming more accessible. With the ability of the organization. By combining these
as productive as possible while reduc- to acquire more data, more advanced elements and more, machine learning
ing labour costs, travel, additional call technologies are required to scrutinize will bring, as it matures, significant ben-
outs and improving customer service. and filter out the important information efits. The Industrial Internet of Things
There are measures in place to help with and value held within. But, it can only and machine learning should no longer
smarter scheduling (mapping the right be exploited by identifying what works be considered just buzzwords instead,
person with the right skills to the right well and what does not. Machine learn- put together, they should be your num-
location with the right tools and the ing features complex algorithms to sort ber one priority.

8 maintworld 2/2017
TECHNOLOGY

Crews at Turkeys Kargi project

utilized a Double Shield machine,
encountering everything from
squeezing ground and blocky rock
to running ground and cathedralling,
requiring in-tunnel machine
modifications.

Choosing the Best Tunnel

Boring Machine for
Mountainous Conditions
Geology in high cover tunnels is often complex and Tunnel Boring Machines
(TBMs) have proven themselves in deep tunnels worldwide as a fast, safe, and
cost-effective solution that can be customized to project conditions. This article
will explore the advantages of mechanical excavation, what types of TBMs are
best suited for certain ground, and important considerations for ground support
in high cover conditions.
meter-by-meter analysis of ground port and consolidation, unrestricted
conditions is often impractical if not im- probe drilling, and the absence of a
DETLEF JORDAN, possible. When one considers the exca- shield are all-important attributes in
Robbins Europe GmbH, vation method required for such varied extreme conditions. In ground exhibit-
Germany unknown conditions, many factors need ing squeezing-convergence and rock
to be evaluated such as versatility and bursting, open-type machines often fare
investigational methods like continuous better than shielded machines, as they
probe drilling and pre-grouting. are less likely to get stuck. They can also
IN MOUNTAINOUS tunnels under high utilize the McNally Support System, in
rock cover, the true ground conditions Main Beam TBMs which the curved finger shield plates
can be difficult to predict, even with In even the most extreme ground condi- are replaced for a curved assembly of
information collected from an explora- tions, Main Beam TBMs (also known as pockets with rectangular cross-sections.
tory tunnel. Factors like squeezing, fault open-type machines) can be efficient In swelling-slacking ground Main Beam
zones, caverns, and water can all be and safe. Features such as open access TBMs also allow for immediate ground
missed with a full-sized tunnel and a behind the cutterhead for ground sup- treatment behind or over the top of the

10 maintworld 2/2017

Probe drilling is equally important
in both shielded and open-type
machines. Enhanced probe drilling
on shielded machines allows for
more trajectories.
cutterhead. Open-type machines are
capable of operating in ground with oc-
casional to continuous water as long as a
mitigation strategy combining grouting
to stem flows, as well as pumps to re-
move the water, is employed.
Shielded Hard Rock TBMs
Most shielded TBMs line the tunnel
either simultaneously with or directly
after a TBM stroke, resulting in an ear-
lier useable date for the tunnel. Shielded
machines also have the very beneficial
advantage of providing a limited section
of non-heavy support; i.e., the distance
from the cutterhead to the grouted lin-
ing. Shielded TBMs can also have diffi-
culty in faulted rock, as the working area
for ground consolidation can somewhat
restrict good face coverage. There are
two types of shielded hard rock TBMs:
Single Shield and Double Shield.
Single Shield TBMs are shorter in
length and can therefore be launched
from a shorter starter tunnel, and are
typically utilized in non-self-supporting
rock, as the machine advances by react-
ing against the concrete tunnel lining
rather than unstable tunnel walls. They
have the disadvantage of not having grip-
pers, which allow greater pull, thrust and
jogging of the cutterhead.
Double Shield TBMs are ideal in self-
supporting rock, and some non-self-sup-
porting rock, or in combination ground
since they can react against either tun-
nel walls or segments. The shield also
The McNally Ground Support System
consists of steel slats extruded from
pockets in an open-type machines
roof shield, which contain heavily
fractured ground and rock bursts.
provides protection from rock falls and
other problems, making it ideal in hard,
blocky ground as well. In addition, in
squeezing ground Double Shield TBMs
can be used with compressible material
as backfill or special segments to accom-
modate squeezing conditions.
Both types of machines can be suc-
cessfully utilized in a wide range of con-
ditionseven in squeezing ground and
significant water inflowsif properly
designed. A host of technology, termed
Difficult Ground Solutions (DGS), can
be used on these machines, from multi-
speed gearboxes that enable excavation
in fault zones to shield lubrication and
breakout thrust/torque for squeezing
and collapsing ground.
ADVANCEMENTS IN
GROUND SUPPORT
Squeezing/Convergent Ground
For squeezing or converging ground,
over-boring is often necessary. The
only practical solution to over boring
is to pre-mount extra gage housing in
the periphery of the cutterhead. In the
over-bore zone, yielding type structures
should be erected if using an open-type
machine. These structures can include
yielding steel arches, steel arches in con-
junction with yielding jacks, shotcrete
structures with yielding rock anchors,
or combinations of the above supports.
Such support needs to be placed with
TECHNOLOGY
assistance of the ring beam erector or
some other mechanical means. The most
desirable location to place such support
is immediately behind the cutterheada
problematic situation with a shield type
machine. The machines also must be
equipped with very high torque to over-
come the squeezing effect.
If using a shielded machine erecting
segments, certain features such as a con-
vergence measuring systema hydraulic
cylinder mounted on top of the machine
and connected to the machines com-
puter system (PLC)can detect when
squeezing conditions are present. Hav-
ing a machine designed with the shortest
possible shield length, and a stepped
(tapered) shield if necessary can be im-
mensely helpful. As mentioned previ-
ously, shield lubrication and emergency
thrust can get a machine through a situ-
ation where it might otherwise become
trapped.
Rock Bursting
In rock bursting conditions wire mesh
with rock bolts, yielding rock anchors,
steel arches, ring beams or combinations
of all the above may be required. Such
support can be placed with rock drills,
a ring beam erector, and a shotcrete
system. It is important to hold the rock
in place to control and limit the distur-
bance of the rock to as great an extent
as possible. Rock bursting could also be
contained with TBMs in association with
special lining.
2/2017 maintworld 11
 TECHNOLOGY
In squeezing or blocky ground, shield lubrication allows a
shielded rock machine to get through geology where it might
otherwise become stuck.
With modern open-type TBMs,
ground support such as the McNally
Roof Support System can be used to
allow lining to be extruded from the ma-
chine as it advancesa very safe option
in these conditions. Todays TBMs are
also equipped with all of the same tools
and techniques that are used in drill &
blast operations to excavate through
difficult rock conditions. With sophis-
ticated probing techniques installed on
the TBM, the operator can predict what
is ahead of the tunnelling operation
more quickly than drill & blast and react
appropriately. On a shielded machine,
probe drilling is equally important. The
machines shield provides safety against
rock bursting events.
Swelling/Slacking Ground
In swelling and slacking conditions
an effective ground treatment is shot-
crete applied immediately behind the
cutterhead, for both open-type and
shielded machines. In extreme condi-
tions, over-boring may be required and
measures for rock support in squeezing
ground may be needed. The support
can be a combination of shotcrete, rock
drills and ring beams on an open-type
machine. The difficult question, how-
ever, is to predict the extent of swelling
and squeezing. This is a very important
consideration when considering the
use of concrete segments in such condi-
tions. Because of the difficulty of pre-
dicting the extent of swelling, two-pass
lining systems have been used such as
in the large diameter Niagara Tunnel
Project in sedimentary rock. This large
diameter (14.4 m) tunnel utilized initial
ground support followed by a slipform
concrete liner and a waterproof mem-
brane.
12 maintworld 2/2017
When significant water inflows occur, a guillotine gate can seal
off a shielded machine to allow crews to safely control the
water (sealed area in blue).
Fault Zones & Water Pressure
Fault zones can be the most difficult
condition to encounter, especially when
associated with water under pressure.
They are also the most difficult condi-
tions for predicting expected advance
rates.
In all conditions, advance probe drill-
ing is recommended 30 to 40 meters in
advance of the face with a 10 m overlay.
This is especially important when fault
zones or water are expected. When a
fault zone or water is encountered, the
extent of the zone should be explored
prior to TBM boring within 10 20 me-
ters of the zone. Drilling should be done
on a 360-degree basis. First, the zone
should be grouted to stop water inflows.
After grouting, ground consolidation
additives should be injected into the
unstable rock or soil material. It may
be necessary to inject such material
into the face at short intervals of 2 to 4
meters, and advance at shorter intervals.
The support of geologists experienced in
predicting and treating fault zones, and
of ground conditioning experts, is highly
recommended when fault zones are en-
countered.
For passing through fault zones, grout
and ground conditioning holes are re-
quired. After ground treatment, ground
support such as spiling or forepoling
through the front shield over the cut-
terhead may be necessary for safe and
predictable advance. It is preferable to
carry on this drilling as close to the face
as possible to ensure good face coverage.
These methods are all possible whether
an open-type or shielded machine is
used.
When water is present in a hard rock
tunnel, it can be pumped away from the
face and out of the tunnel (even fairly
significant water inflows). However, if
there is a possibility of significant pres-
sures and/or a massive inrush of water,
then a shielded machine with DGS fea-
tures is recommended. In the event of
a large inrush of water, a guillotine gate
on the muck chute can effectively seal
off the muck chamber to keep the crew
safe as well as keep the machine from
becoming flooded out. Additional inflat-
able seals can seal the gap between the
telescopic shield and outer shields of a
Double Shield TBM to keep everything
watertight. This system is termed pas-
sive water protection because the TBM
is stopped in place (not actively oper-
ating). During that time the crew can
then work to grout off water inflows and
dewater the chamber to control the flow
before they begin boring again.
Blocky or Jointed Rock
In blocky or highly jointed rock, the
McNally system to hold the rock in place
has been proven very effective in open-
type machines. If the rocks are held in
place then this can prevent or lessen the
condition of cathedralling over the cut-
terhead and fallout in front of the face;
it will also reduce cutterhead damage.
The ground support should be placed
as close as possible to the cutterhead.
Rock supports for the McNally system
can be prefabricated rebar, wood/metal
slats, or wire mesh in conjunction with
rock straps and rock bolts. In a shielded
machine, DGS features previously
mentioned including shield lubrication,
tapered shields, and hydraulic shield
breakoutwhere radial ports in the
machine shield can be made to inject
pressurized hydraulic lubricants to free
a shield that has already become stuck
are all useful.
 CONDITION MONITORING

5
Ways to Break Out of
the Reactive Maintenance
Cycle of Doom
Improving reliability will help the bottom line of any organization and much
more. However, if that organization is experiencing any level of reactive maintenance,
then improved reliability may seem like a pipe dream. Until you can break out of the
reactive maintenance cycle of doom, it is not possible to make any real inroads into
your reliability improvement initiative.

IF YOU WERE to look at the failures you

JASON TRANTER,
are experiencing today, would you agree
Founder and Managing that most of them are preventable? Are
Director of Mobius those failures consuming your resources,
Institute, Jason.tranter@ manpower and budget? As a result of
mobiusinstitute.com
having to deal with those failures, are
repairs performed poorly, or are you per-
forming temporary repairs that you plan
to correct later (but never do)? And as a
result, are you experiencing more repeat
work? Do you ever perform root cause
failure analysis so that you can eliminate
those failures? And what happens when
suggestions are made for improvement?
Are they ignored?

14 maintworld 2/2017

And what is managements response?
Do they reduce the headcount and try to
squeeze the budget in order to deal with
the high costs of downtime and reac-
tive maintenance? What happens then?
Does morale decline? Do standards drop
further? And as a result do you experi-
ence even more preventable failures
that consume resources and results in
temporary repairs being performed? We
could continue to go through this list,
around and around and around.
Well, if you answer yes to the major-
ity of the questions above, then you are
trapped in the reactive maintenance cy-
cle of doom You have to get out!
But How Do You Get Out?
We have to get out of the reactive main-
tenance cycle of doom. If everyone is
dragged back to perform reactive work,
then none of the proactive tasks that will
ultimately lead to improved reliability
can ever be performed. Well, you may
believe that management could hire ad-
ditional people so that you have the re-
sources to perform those proactive tasks.
That is about as likely as management
hiring unicorns to maintain the grass.
The basic answer is that we have to do
much more with the people and budget
that we have right now. We have to stop
performing tasks that waste our money,
waste our time, and induce failures in
our equipment. This may sound like a
push for higher productivity. In a sense,
it is. But that is not our focus.
So, how do we break out of this vicious
CONDITION MONITORING WARNS YOU ABOUT PENDING
EQUIPMENT FAILURES; THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM AND
THE SEVERITY OF THE PROBLEM.
Follow a Roadmap to
Tackle the Reactive
Maintenance Doom
If you do not have a strategy,
then feel free to follow the
chart below. It has been
developed to ensure that
you lay a solid foundation
before you tackle the reactive
maintenance cycle doom,
and then you can focus on
the worlds best practice of
reliability improvement and
operational excellence.
cycle so that we can make real improve-
ments in reliability?
1. First We Have to
Change the Culture
The first step is to change peoples at-
titudes, which will change peoples
behaviour. Everyone has to believe that
they will be better off in a reliable plant.
They also have to believe that they can
contribute to the reliability improve-
ment process.
There are a number of ways to go
about doing this, and it is a topic worthy
of its own article (or even its own book)
but there are a few things we can do to
improve the culture:
1. Ensure that senior management
is 100 percent behind reliability
improvement and ensure that
they are vocal in their support
2. Educate people so that they truly
understand the benefits of work-
ing in a reliable plant
3. Educate people so that they un-
derstand why failure occurs
4. Involve people, ideally in a
brown paper process, in or-
der to get their suggestions for
improvements and get their as-
sistance in making the improve-
ments
That last point needs a brief explanation.
As intelligent managers or mainte-
nance/reliability engineers, we can come
up with a lot of ways to improve reli-
ability. We can devise a strategy via the
Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM)
CONDITION MONITORING
analysis process. And then we could
implement that plan and ensure that we
do what is necessary to change peoples
behaviour.
But people do not like to be changed.
They will change when they are a con-
tributor to change.
Besides, who knows more about the
reasons why equipment fails (and why
we experience production slowdowns)
than the operators of the equipment
and the front-line people who maintain
it? But do we normally ask those people
for their opinion or assistance? No, we
dont And then we wonder why we
dont enjoy the success we hope for.
So that is something that we are go-
ing to do differently in the future. The
brown-paper process will gather to-
gether the front line people in small
groups and learn from them what needs
to change. And then we will ask them to
lead the mini-projects that correct the
problems that are identified in that
way they take ownership and free up
your time. An activity like this is key to
your success.
2. Implement a Work
Management Programme
Well, we really just need basic (but effec-
tive) planning and scheduling for now.
Wait a minute. Doesnt that mean you
need an extra person? No, you will take
one of your most effective trades people
and put them in the role of planner/
scheduler. But surely that must mean that
you have even fewer people to perform the
corrective (and hopefully proactive) main-
tenance work. That is true, but the fact is
that we will make the remaining trades
people far more effective.
Planned and scheduled work is 20
percent more efficient than unman-
aged work. And it is safer. And the work
will be done right the first time and
2/2017 maintworld
i ld 15
 CONDITION MONITORING

thus not lead to future failures. That

improvement in efficiency means that
your 40-person crew can now do what
a 48-person crew can do. It is just like
gaining an extra eight people.

3. Work on Communication
to Foster Cooperation
The chances are that the relationship be-
tween maintenance and operations/pro-
duction is not great That relationship
has to improve. The maintenance team
needs the cooperation of operations so
that the equipment is ready when work
must be performed. Operations needs
to work closely with the maintenance
team to ensure that their equipment
can perform with minimal downtime,
minimal slowdown, and the highest level
of quality.
In addition, the operators of the
equipment can contribute to reliability
improvement by changing the way they
operate the equipment, and performing
basic inspections and maintenance tasks

spares management programme (which

WE HAVE TO STOP PERFORMING TASKS THAT spares you keep, how accessible are they,
and whether the condition of the spares
WASTE OUR MONEY, WASTE OUR TIME, AND INDUCE degraded in storage), develop standard

FAILURES IN OUR EQUIPMENT. maintenance procedures, and execute

that will free up the time of the skilled
maintenance craftspeople.
As part of this process there must be
regular morning meetings where main-
tenance and operations can coordinate
their activities and provide feedback on
the jobs performed on the previous day.
4. Eliminate the
Root Causes of Failures
It is not possible to break out of the
reactive maintenance cycle of doom
unless we eliminate the root causes of
those failures. Having the right attitude,
improving communication, and imple-
menting planning and scheduling will
eliminate some of the root causes of fail-
ure, but we need to do more.
We could use root cause failure
analysis, but we can also go through a
fairly simple checklist of the most com-
mon causes of failure and address those
first, including improved lubrication
(and eliminating contamination), and
precision installation/shaft alignment/
balancing/tightening. We can also work
on the tasks identified via the brown-
paper process.
But I assume you dont have the re-
sources for that. Or do you?
Step one is to recognize that planning
and scheduling and involving operators
in basic maintenance tasks will free up
resources.
Step two is to take a close look at
the PMs you are performing now and
remove all of the tasks that waste your
resources. You may be surprised to
find that you do a substantial amount
of work that is either unnecessary or it
contributes to future failures (or both).
This optimization process will reduce
your workload and thus free up time for
trades people to do the job correctly the
first time and to perform proactive tasks.
Step three is to take one of your best
trades people and dedicate them fully
to proactive jobs. It has to be an A-grade
emergency before they are allowed to re-
spond to reactive maintenance jobs. Yes,
that means that two of your best people
are now working on planning and sched-
uling and proactive jobs. They are best
qualified to define the jobs and perform
the jobs.
You should also take a look at your
a basic 5S programme, so that the work
area is clean and organized.
The proactive jobs eliminate tomor-
rows problems. Eliminating tomorrows
problems saves money, saves time, and
improves morale.
5. Finally You Need to be
Warned about Tomorrows
Problems
Condition monitoring warns you about
pending equipment failures; the nature
of the problem and the severity of the
problem.
You may need to keep it simple in-
ternally by utilizing simple vibration
meters, basic ultrasound tools, inexpen-
sive infrared measurement systems, and
targeted inspections. You can then use
outside consultants to perform the more
sophisticated testing, such as detailed
vibration analysis, oil and wear particle
analysis, tests on electric motors, and
more.
Once you have broken free of the re-
active maintenance cycle of doom you
can begin to bring the more sophisti-
cated condition monitoring technologies
in-house (if the circumstances are ap-
propriate).

16 maintworld 2/2017

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 XXXXXX
CONDITION MONITORING

A Moog technician capturing the performance of a valve under test.

Breathing New Life

into Old Valves
Boosts Productivity
Maintenance professionals pride themselves MOOG A MAKER OF high-performance
motion control technology such as servo
on preventing equipment from breaking down, valves for power generation, oil & gas
or repairing it quickly. Replacing old equipment production, steel mills, test systems
with new technology can be a good thing. But and paper mills recently launched the
Return-To-Productivity Program to help
refurbishing a piece of equipment to like-new maintenance managers in the Americas
condition is often seen as equally good, some- evaluate and refurbish their older, or
even obsolete, valves. Since 2000, plant
times even better. managers and equipment builders have
put more than one million Moog Servo
Valves into service.
The RTP Program gives mainte-
CHRISTOPHER nance professionals across a variety of
KATHERINE KIRSCH,
VALIQUETTE,
customer support
North American sales
industries the services to evaluate and
manager for Moog Inc. repair the servo valves running their
manager for Moog Inc.
equipment. By launching the program,
engineers at Moog hope plant managers

18 maintworld 2/2017

will turn to Moog instead of an unau-
thorized repair house (URH). As part
of the program, even if a maintenance
manager has a Moog valve that turns out
to be obsolete, Moog will clean the valve,
evaluate its condition and provide users
with an inspection report describing the
health of the valve as well as recommen-
dations for potentially replacing it.
Turning to an OEM to affect repairs
or service equipment is a logical step.
However, some maintenance manag-
ers do just the opposite because they
believe asking the OEM to repair a piece
of equipment will break their budget.
THE RTP PROGRAM GIVES MAINTENANCE PROFESSIONALS
ACROSS A VARIETY OF INDUSTRIES THE SERVICES TO
EVALUATE AND REPAIR THE SERVO VALVES RUNNING THEIR
EQUIPMENT
The viewpoint of some maintenance
professionals is that if they turn to an
unauthorized repair house, or even by-
pass an expensive repair altogether, they
will save money. Our experience is just
the opposite.
For example, a steel mill had difficulty
maintaining hydraulic system pressure
on its gauge line. Its HPU system was
robust with three 33-percent capacity
pumps and a fourth pump in reserve.
As the situation worsened, the mill was
forced to operate the reserve pump, con-
sume additional electricity and operate
without a spare pump. At the same time,
the pressures were declining and the
fluid temperatures were increasing. The
mills managers approached Moog and
its local distributor for assistance. Moog
audited the system and learned that the
servo valves had not received a Moog
factory repair in many years. Instead, a
URH had repaired the valves.
Moog believed that the root cause
of the steel mills problem was leakage
through the servo valves caused by worn
seals between the bushing and the spool.
Moog maintains strict leakage standards
for repairs and will replace the bushing
spool assembly if the leakage is exces-
sive. A URH cannot purchase replace-
ment parts from Moog and will reuse
worn parts as long as the valve is func-
tional. The severe leakage explained the
higher flow needed to maintain system
pressure and the increased temperature
as the hot oil was prematurely returned
to the sump.
The mill returned four servo valves
for repair. Moog determined that the
internal leakage was eight times greater
than it recommends. After inspection,
technicians learned that some of the
spools were not made by the Moog and
were not manufactured to the correct
tolerances. These were also an older
style valve with a mechanical null ad-
justment. Moogs team upgraded the
valves to a more reliable magnetic null
adjustment mechanism (at no additional
charge). The valves were installed on the
gauge line and the pressures returned to
normal with only three pumps operat-
ing. Temperatures returned to normal
too. This saved the company almost
US$50,000 a year in electricity. And the
valves have now been in service for more
than two years without the mill having
to return them to Moog for repair, which
has yielded significant savings in main-
tenance costs.
Think Twice When
Considering a URH
So while a URH might try to win busi-
CONDITION
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
MONITORING
ness by asking a potential customer to
compare the repair price per valve with
that of an OEM, the maintenance cost
added into a URHs price ultimately
makes it more economical to have the
OEM service your servo valve. It is true
that you can go to a URH and get what
they would state is a serviced valve. We
have seen time and again though, that
these URH-repaired valves typically last
between six and twelve months until a
plant manager will see an unstable pro-
duction platform caused by early fatigue
in the valve.
Ultimately, that kind of repair
causes poor product quality and higher
scrap counts in production applications,
or an unplanned outage in power genera-
tion and flight simulation. Any one of
these things could lead to thousands (or
hundreds of thousands) of dollars in lost
product or productivity.
In contrast, when maintenance man-
agers turn to an OEM to have their valves
repaired, Moog, in particular, carries out
these repairs by following ISO stand-
ards. Fastidiously adhering to industry
standards, in turn, ensures that a plant
or equipment operator can count on his
or her repaired valve running for a bil-
lion cycles, which correlates to years of
service.
The selection of high quality com-
ponents is critical to minimizing un-
planned downtime. The cost of opera-
tional loss during unplanned downtime
whether it is industrial production or
transportation justifies the time it takes
an engineer to evaluate the life expec-
tancy of critical components on equip-
ment. For example, test stands and flight
A Moog technician
installs a new
electronics board
on a servo-
proportional valve.
2/2017 maintworld 19
 XXXXXX
CONDITION MONITORING
simulators are valued in the millions of
dollars and the unexpected failure of a
servo valve or actuator translates into
lost revenues and schedule delays that
can often exceed the original equip-
ment costs. Early fatigue in the internal
servo valve components generally do not
exhibit any external signs of degrada-
tion such as leakage. However, the early
fatigue definitely affects the dynamic
performance of the servo valve. Once
the servo valve is mounted in the equip-
ment, most equipment operators will
not be able to visually see any perfor-
mance changes unless the system fails
catastrophically.
For plant managers who still opt for
an unauthorized repair house to solve
their problems, they might be surprised
to learn that sometimes the equipment
in question still ends up in the OEMs
hands. We have seen instances in which
a URH couldnt repair a Moog servo
valve, and they sent it to us in pieces. We
serviced the valve and returned it to the
URH. If the plant or mill operator had
come directly to Moog or used a Moog
authorized distributor, then we would
have saved them time and money.
In fact, when time is critical, we have
actually repaired a Moog servo valve and
returned it by plane to its owner on the
same day we received it. And while speed
is sometimes of great importance, the
quality of a repair is even more signifi-
20 maintworld 2/2017
1/2017
cant. URHs also lack the documentation
to test a repaired part against the origi-
nal specifications, which is a hallmark
of quality repair. As part of Moogs RTP
Program, if a maintenance manager
sends us a valve for repair and we note
that our engineering team has upgraded
that particular model of servo valve,
we will upgrade the valve sent to us for
repair as part of our standard services.
Practically speaking that might mean
our repair group would receive an older
valve with a steel ball on the feedback
wire, matched with a slotted spool. We
would take it upon ourselves to upgrade
the valve to incorporate a carbide ball on
the feedback wire matched with the ball-
in-hole spool design. Enhancements like
this increase the longevity of the valve.
Calling All Valves
If a plant manager has valves in their
equipment that are very old or obso-
lete, the RTP program is still an option.
Moogs repair technicians and engineers
will evaluate these older makes and mod-
els of valves to assess the performance
against the original specifications. Some
of the assembly and test technicians who
conduct this work for Moogs custom-
ers have been in their roles for up to 30
years, so they have seen everything. Once
they analyze a valve, the technicians and
engineers can recommend if the valve
can operate safely and, if not, recom-
mend an equivalent Moog valve with
aggressive trade-in pricing that meets or
exceeds any competitors specifications.
For plants and factories that might
have a large base of installed valves
spanning many makes and models,
Moogs engineers can identify the proper
replacements and develop a plan to
minimize the number of valve models
in operation at a facility. We like to refer
to this analysis and planning as a way to
reduce valve sprawl. By reducing vari-
ous makes and models of valves inside a
plant and relying instead on a common
model for spares, maintenance managers
can reduce their inventory rate.
Truly repairing your valves requires
inspecting the hardware and providing
an inspection (or repair) report that
identifies what is wrong with the valve
and how the valve is functioning. With
our experience analyzing and repairing
valves, we can also solve a plant man-
agers problems on a system level, not
just the component level. This is some-
thing else a URH is not qualified to do. If,
for example, we see valves come back to
us with worn spools caused by repeated
contamination or a cracked flexure
sleeve, our technicians can identify what
is wrong with the system and recom-
mend a system-wide solution.
And that is a guaranteed way of get-
ting the most from your valves and
boosting productivity.
Technicians inside Moogs
repair facility in East Aurora,
N.Y., evaluate, test and
overhaul valves.
 Master the Language
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 XXXXXX
RELIABILITY

What Makes a Critical

Spare Part Critical
When we are working with organizations to improve
their maintenance storerooms, one of the first activi- JOHN ROSS,
ties we complete is defining an obsolete part and a Senior Consultant,
Marshall Institute
critical part. If we can agree on those two definitions,
then every part in the storeroom ought to fall within
those boundaries.
TIT TURNS OUT that an obsolete part is For maintenance, long lead times the characteristics to measure, and as-
anything that doesnt go to anything keep us up at night. Like downtime and sign a weight to each level. I suggest a
(laymans definition), or is in excess of costs, long lead times can be subjective. group makeup of:
what is actually and practically needed. How long is long? I tell people that if you
A critical spare part, however, is another have to hold your breath until you get Maintenance hourly
thing altogether. Left unchecked and the part, 26 seconds is a long time. Production hourly
unstructured, a critical spare part is Production supervision
thought to be anything that will shut the Label Items as Critical for the Storeroom
plant down. Right Reasons Engineering
Imagine, at its most basic interpreta- It is important that we clearly define the Maintenance supervision
tion, a critical spare part is, surprisingly, attributes that make various parts uber-
critical. To our partners in production, important. We have to take subjective First, lets examine the issue of incur-
if not having the item when needed will characteristics and agree on the level of ring downtime.
lead to excessive downtime, then the significance each has, relative to the part The assembled group is tasked with
part is indeed critical. But what does ex- being present in our storeroom. Convert developing a 5-layer downtime break-
cessive downtime mean? Excessive is subjective to objective. out with an associated weight. What
a very subjective word. With this in mind, our exercise we are constructing in this process, is a
For finance and all the folks that becomes a simple process of engag- method to convert subjective to objec-
worry about the numbers, any part that ing those, who would otherwise be the tive; an objective number whose cumu-
is really expensive can be considered victim of our process, in on the decision lative score can be used as a cut-off to
critical. After all, doesnt it make sense to classify a part as critical. The output determine if a part is critical or not. This
that an important part would cost a lot from this team is a clear distinction of spreadsheet becomes the algorithm of
of cents? Exactly how much is a lot? To what makes a part very, very important. our determination process. I like to call
small companies, $10,000 seems like a The group gathered will decide the char- it the calculus of our critical spare parts
lot. To global giants, not so much. acteristics to consider, the levels within practice.

22 maintworld 2/2017
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 RELIABILITY
XXXXXX
Here is an example of what that downtime table might look like:
Table 1:
Loss to Production
Entire plant shuts down, immediately
<1 day till total shutdown
<1 week till total shutdown/or immediate 50% loss of plant production
>1 day but <1month till total shutdown
No loss of production (e.g. not needed or work around possible) or >a month
Now, really think about this. What
component would truly shut your plant
down immediately? The entire opera-
tion, the whole facility? A room full of
production people would probably come
up with a list of production machinery;
that makes sense. Maintenance and en-
gineering might come up with another,
completely different list. Very few com-
ponents send everyone home. In fact,
its very likely that the only components
that would send even the receptionist
home are related to power distribution.
Generally, failure of the first transformer
you own (after the utility companys
transformer), or some high-voltage
switchgear, can send everyone home.
Table 2:
Cost (includes purchase Weight
price and transportation
cost)
>$100,000 5
$50,000 - $100,000 3 standardization, you can really and posi-
$25,000 - $49,999 2 tively affect the lead time of very impor-
$10,000 - $24,999 1 spare part, simply construct additional
<$9,999 -2
24 maintworld 2/2017
Weight
5
3
2
1
-2
How many spare parts do you have in
your storeroom for these assets? In fact,
Id be willing to wager that the PM and
PdM program on these assets dont re-
ally reflect the absolute criticality they
have to the operation and livelihood of
your facility. That, however, is another
topic for another time.
The sample table shown in table 1 is
meant as a vehicle that the group can use
to agree on the level of importance that
the component has on the production
of the plant. Not all components have a
weight of 5. In fact, some have no impact
at all (-2).
This addresses downtime. So, what
about costs? The same approach is
taken to consider the cost of a compo-
nent. For the sake of this article, I will You might guess, by now, that for the
subjective thought of lead time, you are
provide another sample table. These
tables are only to be considered as sam- to construct a similar table, with break-
ples. As I said earlier, a critical spare part out categories that make sense to your
is whatever we say it is. We just have to organization. Just a side note here, if
say what it is. We do that by expressing your organization practices the Equip-
the significance through these tables, ment Design Excellence concept of parts
and the collective sum of their weighted
values. For other attributes of a critical
tant components through the practice of
tables. Strategic Spares.
For the tables reflecting loss of pro-
duction, costs, and lead time, Id suggest
five levels to consider, with correspond-
ing weights. The weights are added, with
a combined value in excess of a set point
meant to be a determinant for a critical
part. That set number is whatever your
group says it is.
But, were not done. What separates
the majority of companies, from those
truly practising world-class, or high-per-
forming, MRO practices, is the inclusion
of several more factors.
Before we venture into some addi-
tional characteristics separating normal
spare parts from critical spare parts,
consider this one very important, and al-
beit, subjective featurehow bad would
it be if you actually have to use the criti-
cal spare part?

If we can agree, in principle, that a
critical spare part is one that would shut
down a significant portion of our pro-
duction, AND, would cost a lot of money
to buy and transport, AND, would take
a long time to getwhy on earth would
we ever want to use it? It is a really bad
day when you have to pull a critical spare
part out of the storeroom. In the steel
business, we used to say, Its a really
bad week when you have to use a critical
spare part.
To add to your elevator speech, a criti-
cal spare part is one that:
Can shut down production
Costs a lot of money
Has a long lead time
And, you never, ever want to use
This last attribute is very important,
and youll find out why later in this ar-
ticle.
To keep storerooms manageable,
both in terms of value and line-items,
typically, only a single critical spare
part is stocked in conjunction with the
operating component. To have multiple
spare parts in contingency for a single
operating component not only adds to
management of spares issues, but dilutes
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE CLEARLY DEFINE THE ATTRIBUTES
THAT MAKE VARIOUS PARTS UBER-IMPORTANT.
the idea of it (or them) being critical. If
a part is used in many areas of the plant,
and the primary function of the compo-
nent is vital in each area, then it might
make sense to increase the number of
spares on hand. Therefore, the number
of uses of a particular candidate as a
critical spare part must also factor into
our calculus. Without a real design strat-
egy, we could be setting ourselves up for
failure here. Read on.
Parts standardization was mentioned
earlier. This concept, unfortunately, is
ignored by engineering, either through
ignorance or brazen disregard. The mo-
tive doesnt really matter, as the effect is
the same. Without it, or without an at-
tempt at part standardization, we could
end up with 3 brands of PLCs and 7
different, and incompatible, types of fre-
quency drives in our plants. Given that
electronic components fail suddenly and
randomly, our only strategy is to have a
spare one in the storeroom. Non-con-
formance to parts standardization then
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
requires us to have one of each in our
storeroom. What if theyre all critical?
Our inventory value just went up.
One of the remaining, most important
aspects of determining if a part is critical
or not involves some level of Reliability
Centred Maintenance. Specifically, how
does a failure manifest itself (failure
mode) and how can we see it coming?
Clearly, if a part is important enough
(downtime, cost, lead time), and can fail
in a manner that we cannot even see
happening, this results in a level of risk
management we dont want to take on.
How good is our preventative and pre-
dictive maintenance? Has this part ever
failed before, and for what reason?
This is a significant issue. If a criti-
cal spare part causes a lot of downtime,
costs a lot of money, and takes a long
time to get, doesnt it fly in the face of
conventional wisdom that we just let it
run to failure? Remember that last bul-
let point earlier, you never, ever want to
use (it)?
2/2017 maintworld 25
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 VIBRATION DIAGNOSTICS
XXXXXX
Smart Online
Monitoring
Online vibration monitoring is essential
for critical machines. There are machines
that need to be monitored continuously;
it is not enough to take a measurtement
every week, or even once per day.
EVA GERDA BOJKO,
Adash,
eva.gerda@adash.cz
THE CHANGES IN VIBRATION values be-
tween certain time periods could have
a large negative impact on production
if they are not caught. In such cases, so
called online monitoring is essential.
This means that the vibration values are
continuously measured in a system that
will give a warning if certain pre-deter-
mined limits are exceeded. The system
can also switch off the machine auto-
matically when the determined danger
value is exceeded. Now the important
question is what exactly does it mean
to monitor and measure continuously?
Does it mean taking a measurement eve-
ry minute, every 5 minutes? Do I save all
of the values to the system? How can the
system work with such a large amount
of data?
28 maintworld 2/2017
Conventional Model of Data
Acquisition
The conventional model of data acquisi-
tion used by many brands measures the
required values in a defined time inter-
val. This means that if I decide to take a
measurement every minute or every 5
minutes, I need to set up this time inter-
val in the system. The system then takes
the measurement at those pre-defined
time intervals. A very important fact
is that ALL of the measured values are
saved for instance at every 5 minute
interval, new data are saved. Those prop-
erties lead to some disadvantages. Lets
describe them in more detail.
Lets assume that I define a 5 minute
time interval for data acquisition. The
measurement itself takes only one sec-
ond. What if something happens during
the time interval between those two
measurements? Many things could hap-
pen during those five minutes and there
would be no record of it at all.
Another disadvantage is that when I
am saving all measured data, the size of
the database increases rapidly. If I would
like to set up a shorter time interval to
take more measurements, the database
size will grow even faster. For example,
when I set up the time interval to 2.5
minutes, the database will be twice as big
as the one with the interval set up to 5
minutes. So as you can see it is always a
very hard decision what time interval to
set up. Am I able to deal with such a huge
database? Will I miss important infor-
mation if the time interval is too long?
With fast increase of database size
your computer may be slowed down and
the database engine you have may not
be sufficient. When dealing with huge
databases it is necessary to purchase
some special software engines. The
powerful and expensive SQL database is
necessary; the price of this SQL database
may climb up to the price of the online
monitoring system itself and its difficult
set up may complicate the work with the
system.
We can say the conventional model of
data acquisition is quite simple and easy
to understand but it has its disadvantages.

Adaptive Algorithm
of Data Acquisition
To avoid the disadvantages mentioned
above, the Adash company has devel-
oped Adaptive Model of Data Acquisi-
tion for online monitoring. Lets go back
to our first question. How often do we
need to measure the vibration value?
The ideal answer is continuously; it
means starting a new measurement
immediately after the previous one is
finished. If the measurement takes 1 sec-
ond, we should measure every second.
This is ideal, so lets really do it this way!
We measure continuously and there is
no way we could miss any important
change of value.
Ok, now you may ask what about all
the measured data? We have said the
database size would grow rapidly if the
measurement time were increased from
every 5 minutes to every second. Isnt it
insane? No, it is not! The trick is hidden
in data saving. The measurement could
be taken for example every second, but
why would we need to save all the meas-
ured data if the values are still the same?
So here comes the trick: the model of
adaptive algorithm for data acquisition.
This adaptive system decides which val-
ues need to be saved and which values
dont. So lets say I take a measurement
every second for the 5 minutes and the
value is still 3 mm/s. I have measured
this value 300 times during those 5
minutes, but I dont need to save it 300
times! It is enough for me to save it just
once and this is exactly what adaptive
algorithm is doing for me.
How does the adaptive
algorithm select which data to
save?
Take a closer look on how the adaptive
algorithm selects which data to save and
which to erase. As mentioned earlier, the
adaptive algorithm does not save the val-
ues that are not changing significantly.
A definition then of significant change
WE MEASURE REALLY CONTINUOUSLY AND THERE IS NO WAY
WE COULD MISS ANY IMPORTANT CHANGE OF VALUE
should be made. We usually set up the
significant value change to 5 percent. So
if the measured values havent changed
more than 5 percent compared to the
first value, there is no need to save the
measured data, it is not important to
us. Why was 5 percent chosen? Because
from experience we know that there is
never anything really important happen-
ing in this 5 percent range around the
measured value. See from the pictures
how it affects the actual saved data.
What Happens if Nothing
Changes Significantly?
When the values dont change over a re-
ally long time, only one measurement
would be recorded, which is also not
ideal. There is a time interval for saving
data defined in the adaptive algorithm
system, which represent the longest
time I can have without data being saved.
When I set up this time interval for sav-
ing to e.g. 4 hours, I save a measurement
every 4 hours even if the value has not
been changing significantly. I believe you
tain of the set up, it can also be entered
can see the difference between a conven-
tional system and the new adaptive algo-
rithm already. Imagine how much data
we would store just during one day with
a conventional system; during 24 hours
it would be 288 saved measurements
when taking measurement every 5 min-
utes and we still cannot be sure that we
havent missed anything. With the adap-
tive algorithm, during those 24 hours, we
would get only 6 measurements stored
if there is no significant change (when
the time interval for saving is set up to
4 hours) and we would be sure that we
havent missed anything as we are re-
ally measuring continuously. The size
of the database is much smaller in this
case. Obviously if there were significant
VIBRATION
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
DIAGNOSTICS
changes, more measurements would
be saved, but they would be important
measurements that are worth storing.
The Adash online monitoring system
A3716 with new adaptive algorithm is
controlled by Adash DDS software. You
can run the database system in DDS soft-
ware even on a standard laptop.
Why is it called adaptive?
The system can adaptively change some
of its parameters. When you measure
the machines where the vibration values
change a lot and it is common for their
run, the adaptive algorithm sets up the
significant value to a larger value so that
it does not save insignificant data. Look
at the picture showing how it affects
the saved values. You can see that even
when the significant change is set at 50
percent all really important values stay
recorded.
This adaptive change of parameters
can be done automatically by the system
itself, but if the user wants to be cer-
manually.
I have not described all the decision
parameters of the A3716 adaptive algo-
rithm as some of them are more compli-
cated. However the algorithm does those
decisions for you and you get the results
which you need. It measures really
continuously and saves just the values
which are important. Some users may
be little scared when they see the graph
of recorded values and they see just 2
values, for example. They are afraid that
just 2 values were measured, but no! The
system was measuring continuously, but
only 2 values were worth to save. You
can be sure that nothing has been missed
and you can sleep well
2/2017 maintworld 29
 COLUMN

Reliability, Maintenance
and Safety I am no longer surprised to see reliability and
TORBJRN
IDHAMMAR, maintenance improvement initiatives abandoned
President of IDCON INC
in Raleigh NC, USA, before the substantial results, which are
www.idcon.com
possible to achieve, are delivered and sustained
for years to come.

THIS PHENOMENON is recognized by many of my colleagues
in the reliability and maintenance management profession.
I recently came across the findings illustrated in the
graph below from the American Society for Training and
Development. It illustrates what happens if training is not
followed by immediate practice and reinforcement. The
findings show that 87 percent of what you learnt is lost
within 30 days if training is not followed by practice and re-
inforcement. Their findings illustrate very well why so many
reliability and maintenance improvement initiatives deliv-
ers good results, but only about 50 percent of the improve-
ment potential.
Reliability and maintenance improvements are one of
the last major improvements opportunities the Industry
have left. Everyone with access to capital can buy the same
equipment and technology, how productive your plant is will
to a very large extent depend on the reliability of your pro-
cess and your equipment. If your equipment runs, you make
product, if it does not run your employees work harder, you
pay more and you are not making product. So why does top
management not reinforce that even the most basic main-
tenance practices are executed better and better over long
with have an incident rate of below 1. In 23 years this indus-
try as an average reduced overall safety incident rates by
about 87 percent. We all know that this is because of consist-
ent long term reinforcement and training.
A study by University of Tennessee shows that organiza-
tions with a high level of reactive maintenance has an OSHA
incident rate (Incidents per 200,000 working hours) of 4.36,
while top performers with much less reactive maintenance
have an OSHA incident rate of 0.11.
Imagine the same focus on training, implementation
and reinforcement of basic maintenance practices; could
you have reduced preventable maintenance work and down
time by 80 percent? The majority of maintenance work is
preventable and can also be executed in half of the time so I
know it is possible. I have seen it happen and the key to these
successes has been top management long term consistent
leadership, support and reinforcement. And on top of better
maintenance productivity, higher production throughput,
you would get an even better safety record.
Learning

period of time to achieve sustainable outstanding financial

87% loss of learning
Without reinforcement

results? Perhaps it is lack of patience and reinforcement?

Another good comparison is safety. In 1994, the average
overall incident rate (Incidents per 200,000 working hours)
in one industry group was 8.7. Today, many plants we work

Reactive maintenance causes more

safety incidents
Training

Top25% Middle 50% Bottom25%

Reactive Maintenance 9% 30% 64%
Osha Recordable Incident Rate. 0.11 1.16 4.36
(Per 200,000 Hours)

Reference: 2015 study of over 100 companies by University of Tennessee IDCON, INC 30 days
Reliability and Maintainability Center. (UT-RMC) Reference: American Society for Trainingand Development

30 maintworld 2/2017
 There are actually three
certainties in life: death,
taxes and the need for
good maintenance.

We cant help you with the first two.

www.marshallinstitute.com
www marshallinstitute com
Marshall Institute
001 919-834-3722 ...making good companies better
 ASSET MANAGEMENT
XXXXXX
Asset Care and
Reliability in the
Mining Industry
using Ultrasound
Ultrasound applications are diverse and yet many
people know about it for one or two applications.
I knew it did air leaks, but I did not know that you
could do all this with it is therefore a common reac-
tion when I refer to eight pillars introducing the use of
Ultrasound.
THOMAS J MURPHY
C.Eng., SDT
Ultrasound Solutions
THERE ARE MANY industries where all
of these applications are important and
Mining is an example to explore.
1
Compressed air is used in
so many applications. Com-
pressed air leaks become huge
energy losses in some mines there are
megawatts of power used to produce
compressed air. Air leaks in pneumatics
and control systems however, can become
showstoppers, bringing production to a
stop. Using Ultrasound for listening to
internal air leaks or cracks on the boom
of a dragline
2
Steam is of major importance in
certain mining processes con-
sider the steam injection sys-
tems used in a SAG-D (Steam Assisted
Gravity Drainage) plant for instance.
Steam is injected underground to warm
up and soften bitumen and heavier oils
to make them easier to extract from the
earth. The production of steam is there-
32 maintworld 2/2017
by clearly linked to the production of oil
in this application.
Airborne ultrasound is used to safely
identify steam leaks from a distance,
which is clearly a major safety hazard in
any steam process. The steam tempera-
ture may be almost 300C correspond-
ing to a pressure of roughly 8,000kPa,
which means leaks can easily become
serious injuries or worse still, fatal ac-
cidents. There are sites around the world
where the only safe, approved, method to
inspect for steam leaks is ultrasound.
Contact ultrasound is used to main-
tain the good operating condition of the
steam traps in the system by identifying
those failing steam traps that are not
removing air, CO2 and condensate from
the steam system.
3
Valves are used in so many
applications and are virtually
omni-present in the mining
industry consider how a hydraulic or
water system is going to operate prop-
erly without the proper operation of the
valves involved.
Process failures tracked back to in-
correct valve operation can create a large
amount of unwanted downtime one
particular story in a coal mine comes to
mind where an internal leak on a valve
and also on the refurbished spare in the
maintenance stores resulted in 12 hours
of downtime. Ultrasound is now used to
provide a predictive maintenance ser-
vice to identify such defects at a much
earlier stage and schedule work on the
valve at a convenient time.
Everyone will understand the need
to test valves to ensure that they are not
passing or blocked, but there are other
important failure modes on valves:
valves will cavitate for example, which
will result not only in premature failure
of the valve, but can also cause prema-
ture failure downstream especially if
the particular valve is for example on the
suction side of a pump.
4
Hydraulic systems are used
for motion and for power and
there are many valve applica-
tions involved here too. Failure of hy-
draulic systems is not an option and yet
too few businesses consider any main-
tenance practice other than breakdown
with the corresponding huge expense of
downtime. Ultrasound can be used on
shovels for example to listen to internal
bypassing on boom, stick and bucket
cylinders.
The inspection method for cylinders
is quite simple: merely place a sensor on
the cylinder and allow it to operate in its
normal fashion

5
There are many electrical
Figure 1 systems involved in the min-
ing industry from DC to HV. In
many cases dust is a major contributor
to failure. One of the key problems asso-
ciated with the build-up of dirt, dust and
moisture on the surface of components
is Tracking.
The ceramic insulator pictured in
Figure 1. failed because it was covered
in dust which was causing the tracking.
On-condition cleaning using ultrasound
to identify the presence of the tracking is
used to eliminate failures by optimising
cleaning procedures.
Figure 2 The mining community in South Af-
rica is also leading the way in the adop-
tion of ultrasound as a safety-screening
tool to protect electricians working in
substations. A small ultrasound kit is
located at the entrance to the substa-
tion and there is a series of assessment
measurements to be performed in order
to provide approved safe access to the
building and proximity to the panels
inside. This approach is undoubtedly
saving lives by providing a higher level of
safety in the work environment than can
be provided by flameproof or arc-flash
clothing alone.
6
Tightness testing of the air
intake systems of the large
diesel engines in haul trucks
ASSET MANAGEMENT
using ultrasound has saved one mining
company alone over $15M in three years
for an investment of less than $30,000.
Additional operational savings have
been seen by minimising the time spent
ensuring that the drivers cab environ-
ments are dust-free.
7
Mining machinery is diverse
sometimes simple like a convey-
or, other times more complex as
in the case of a reclaimer. The condition
monitoring requirements in the mining
world are therefore quite diverse and
frequently not simple.
Airborne ultrasound, sometimes us-
ing a parabolic dish pointing out of the
window of a pickup is a very quick and
reliable means of inspecting the condi-
tion of a conveyor especially if it is
12km long.
There is more than the usual amount
of slow-speed equipment in mining,
which is often in critical operational
roles. Ultrasound is perfectly capable of
listening to bearings rotating at even less
than 1rpm and still providing valuable
diagnostic information.
Finally, there is the need to consider
the condition of machinery that is itself
moving like shovels, or that are moving
violently like vibrating screens.
A critical bearing rotating at 24rpm
shown in Figure 2. was found to have
failed during an ultrasound inspection.
The bearing had recently been replaced,
so it was relatively new. Unfortunately,
the replacement bearing was not quite
the correct one and was undersized for
the load requirement. Very quickly, the
new bearing disintegrated.
8
Over-lubrication is quite an
established tradition in the min-
ing world grease that bearing
until I can see the grease coming out of
the sides. In a previous article in this
magazine, I reported how one mine
successfully reduced its lubrication con-
sumption by over 95% whilst improving
reliability against all established meas-
ures in place.w
So there you have it. One technology,
Ultrasound, used in either airborne or
contact mode to identify problems in
8 major problem areas in mining. Con-
servatively, in the last decade the sav-
ings that customers have achieved must
be well beyond $25M. Time for you to
start?
2/2017 maintworld 33
ADVERTORIAL

DIPL.-ING. JRG DPPNER, Head of Sales

InfraTec GmbH Infrarotsensorik und Messtechnik

Thermography plays an important

role in predictive maintenance as
a contactless, imaging temperature
measurement method can be used
very flexibly. The technology does
not interfere with ongoing production
operations, nor is maintenance staff
exposed to any risks while using it.

THERMOGRAPHY
IN PHOTO QUALITY
THERMAL IMAGING CAMERAS localise
defective heat exchangers, detect faults
in the electronics, overloaded mechani-
cal components or increased energy
consumption. The visual representation
of the temperature distribution provides
a quick overview of the plant condition
directly on-site. This can be documented
over long periods of time with the aid
of thermal images so that maintenance
measures can be set at the optimum
time. This increases efficiency, produc-
tivity and profitability and ultimately
extends the service life of plants, too.
Geometrical resolution plays a crucial
role in the maintenance and inspection
of plants in the electronics industry.
Here, detector resolutions that are too
low can quickly cause areas of concern
or potential danger points to be over-
looked. Sources of error can be ruled
out with thermal imaging cameras such
as the VarioCAM HD and VarioCAM
HDx. With the extensive measuring,
objects such as photovoltaic systems can
be thermographically measured as well
as objects requiring safety distances, like
high-voltage installations.
Its the inner values
that matter...
When compared with conventional de-
tectors, the most powerful models of the
VarioCAM HD have a higher geometri-
cal resolution, resulting in a significant
increase in the field of view and about a
40 percent higher range. This is notice-
able in practice: As a whole, fewer pan-
tilt-movements and single frames are
necessary, which shortens and stream-
lines operating time on site.
Even small temperature differences
can be detected with certainty thanks

34 maintworld 2/2017

to a high thermal sensitivity up to 0.02
kelvin. With a frame rate up to 240 Hz,
even very rapid thermal processes can be
controlled.
The compact, high-quality aluminum
housing of the camera is dustproof and
splashproof in accordance with protec-
tion degree IP54 for harsh industrial use.
This protection is also maintained in
camera operation with plugged connec-
tions, which means that no additional
protective housings are usually neces-
sary even in harsh industrial environ-
ments. The stationary models even
achieve the protection degree IP67. The
PC is connected via a GigE Vision com-
patible interface (TCP/IP). Digital inter-
faces, such as RS232, Trigger and USB or
DVI, are also available.
Switch on and get started
The handheld camera models are well
balanced. Thanks to an individually
adjustable hand strap they fit securely
in the hand. Their 5.6 extremely bright
and luminous colour TFT display with
a resolution of (1,280 x 800) pixels can
be folded out and rotated in almost any
direction on two axes. As a result, images
from virtually any position are possible
even in situations where little space is
available: overhead, across the corner or
from a frogs perspective.
In strong sunlight such as when
inspecting PV systems a TFT colour
viewfinder including a tilt and diopter
adjustment is available. The clearly
structured camera functions are oper-
ated by an easily accessible mini joystick
and several, partially programmable
buttons. Important manual setting func-
tions can be called up immediately with-
out tedious searching. The automatic
or motorized focus responds precisely.
An integrated, automatically focussing
digital camera with a resolution of 8
megapixels, video function and LED
video light for image illumination enable
visual digital images rich in detail and
contrast. The battery operating time of 3
hours qualify for enduring mobile use.
Measuring and
analysing on site
Users can already carry out extensive
measurements and analyses with the
camera on-board functions. Thus, they
know directly on the spot any potential
weak points and areas of concern and
can troubleshoot the problem imme-
diately. The measurement and analysis
A comparison of different detector
resolutions clearly demonstrates:
Cameras with high detector
resolutions see more.
Images of a control cabinet with
and without an activated MicroScan
feature.
Image of a poorly insulated roof
beam recorded with a thermal
resolution of 0.03 K.
functions on the camera display include
a hot spot/cold spot display, freely mov-
able measurement point markings as
well as measurement area markings with
minimum, maximum and average value
display, whose position and size are also
freely adjustable. Alarm marks high-
lighting all image sections in colour of
temperature ranges defined previously,
can also be set for quickly displaying
measured values that have been exceed-
ed or undercut. A laser marker, which
can also be used as a laser rangefinder for
object distances of up to 70 m, displays
the actual measuring point parallax-free
on the object, if required. Particularly
valuable for industrial thermography is
the thermographic measurement with
up to 240 Hz. Even very rapid thermal
processes can be controlled and docu-
ADVERTORIAL
mented here.
The integrated GPS module provides
another vital function for the mainte-
nance. It enables geographic assignment
of the measuring locations as well as the
automatic location and archiving of the
thermal images. This is useful, for ex-
ample, if a number of measuring objects
have to be thermographically measured
at different locations at regular intervals.
The EverSharp function ensures
that all measuring objects contained in
the thermal image are always displayed
sharply, regardless of their distance
and the depth of focus of the respective
camera lens. This also saves valuable
work time because only a few images are
required compared with conventional
thermographic cameras.
Evaluating thermal images
and generating reports
The thermal images can be transmitted
via the GigE interface by data cable di-
rectly to the PC or read out via the SDHC
card. The IRBIS 3 software included al-
lows to correct, analyse and interpret the
thermal images and to generate reports.
Thus, for example, even the emissivity of
different materials can later be changed
for specific image details or individual
measuring points. Temperature distri-
butions of an image detail can be dis-
played based on histograms.
Profile lines simplify the analysis of
temperature profiles in the thermal im-
age. Overshooting and undershooting of
limit values as well as individual pixels
within a specific temperature range can
be highlighted for visualising critical
temperatures. Time-based evaluations
of complete sequences are optional with
the IRBIS 3 plus or IRBIS 3 profes-
sional software. If infrared images are
contrasted with the visual digital photo-
graphs captured in parallel for the pur-
pose of comparison, or are merged with
these, any areas of concern can be better
highlighted. Maintenance reports can
be generated manually or automatically,
whereby report templates speed up the
report for short or detailed documenta-
tion.
For more information please contact:
JRG DPPNER, InfraTec GmbH,
Dresden, Germany.
Tel.: +49 351 871 86 20
http://www.infratec.eu
2/2017 maintworld 35
 CMMS

Text: Stefan Hoppe, Global Vice President OPC Foundation, stefan.hoppe@opcfoundation.org

Connectivity and
Interoperability:
No value without reliability
A central challenge posed by Industrie 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
is the secure, standardized exchange of data and information between devices, ma-
chines and services across different industries.

AS EARLY AS April 2015, the Reference
Architecture Model for Industrie 4.0
(RAMI 4.0) recommended only IEC
standard 62541 OPC Unified Architec-
ture (OPC UA) for implementing the
communication layer. In November
2016, the Industrie 4.0 Platform pub-
lished a checklist for classifying and
advertising products as Industrie 4.0
Basic, Ready or Full. To comply work for industrial interoperability.
with the Industrie 4.0 communica-
tion criterion, even the lowest category
requires the product to be addressable
over the network via TCP/UDP or IP and
to integrate at least the OPC UA infor-
mation model.
When it comes to information mod-
elling, many small and medium-sized
companies tune out, because they com-
pare OPC UA with other protocols like
MQTT and assume that it has limita-
tions. We often hear questions like, OPC
UA cant communicate directly with the
cloud, can it?
First of all, every equipment and ma-
chine manufacturer already provides an
implicit information model with data in-
terfaces (via various protocols). Humans
have learned to adapt to the computers
way of thinking documenting what
the bits, bytes and hex codes mean. This
new world full of devices capable of a
service-orientated architecture (SoA)
helps humans understand the things
more quickly and easily, because they
offer services and describe their un-
derlying meaning. The subject of SoA
is nothing new in the world of IT. Now,
however, it extends all the way to the
things themselves. This is where OPC
UA comes into play, providing the frame-
approach provides a secure and con-
Machine and device manufacturers de-
scribe the object-orientated information
of their systems and define the access
rights along with integrated security
features.
Security Built-In by Design
Germanys BSI (Bundesamt fr Sicher-
heit in der Informationstechnik, or
Federal Office for Information Security)
published the results of its in-depth
security analysis of the OPC UA specifi-
cations and a selected reference imple-
mentation in highly positive terms: An
extensive analysis of the security func-
tions in the specification of OPC UA con-
firmed that OPC UA was designed with
a focus on security and does not contain
systematic security vulnerabilities.
As a result, the machine builders
keep full control of the data, i.e. they can
distribute it in a targeted and controlled
manner, which enables them to partici-
pate monetarily in big data applications
and data analytics.
To exchange the data, OPC UA com-
bines two mechanisms to implement
various scenarios:
A client-server model, in which OPC
UA clients use the dedicated services of
the OPC UA server. This peer-to-peer
firmed exchange of information, but
with limitations regarding the number
of connections.
A publisher-subscriber model
where an OPC UA server makes config-
urable subsets of information available
to any number of subscribers. This kind
of broadcasting mechanism provides an
unconfirmed fire and forget-style ex-
change of information.
OPC UA offers both mechanisms,
but the more important benefit is that
they are decoupled from the actual
protocol. TCP and HTTPS are available
for the client-server model, while UDP,
AMQP and MQTT are available for the
publisher-subscriber model. As a result,
the question of OPC UA or AMQP or
MQTT doesnt matter from the OPC
Foundations perspective. Since the
smallest microcontrollers may not have
enough resources to implement fully-

36 maintworld 2/2017
 CMMS

Picture: The BSI

has published the
results of the OPC UA
security analysis on
their BSI web site and
the OPC Foundation 9JCV%TKVGTKC Guideline
FQ+PFW
2TQFWEVU0GGF UVTKG|
also published a
commented version VQ(WNN!
on the OPC web site.










fledged OPC UA, the device can offer its
data over MQTT or AMQP in an OPC
UA-compliant manner, making it easier
to integrate it at the other end. After all,
agreeing on an information model and
what the data means is the key to achiev-
ing the concepts of Industrie 4.0.
Trend: Information models
OPC UA provides secure transport of
data via diverse and expandable proto-
cols. But who defines the datas mean-
ing? Other associations like AIM for the
auto ID industry (RFID readers, scan-
ners, etc.), VDMA technical groups for
injection moulding machines, robotics
or machine vision and 35 other VDMA
industries already define their informa-
tion in OPC UA servers in the form of
so-called OPC UA companion specifica-
tions. For an equipment supplier, meet-
ing this type of industry standard does
not automatically mean they become
exchangeable, as each manufacturer can
offer their own special services on top of
the standard. Intelligent devices should
definitely be able to support multiple
information models simultaneously
for example, the dedicated functionali-
ties of an injection moulding machine,
in addition to the models for energy
data or MES interfaces. To reduce the
engineering effort, the importance and
availability of such industry-specific and
multi-industry information models will
increase rapidly in the future. OPC UA
may not directly increase an industrial
Any product
being advertised
as Industrie
4.0-enabled must
be OPC UA-capable
(either integrated or
via a gateway). The
checklist also stresses
the information
modelling property
of OPC UA.
device vendors sales, but not supporting
the OPC UA standard will definitely de-
crease them considerably.
Trend: SoA
Most of the industry-specific informa-
tion models developed so far are no
longer based on the exchange of bit/byte
properties, but rather on SoA services
with complex parameters. An OPC UA
client that does not support any methods
for this purpose or complex parameters
will be increasingly hampered in its
communication with OPC UA servers.
An RFID reader offers no bits to activate
a read/write command, but instead uses
methods that can be read by humans:
ReadTag, WriteTag, and KillTag, among
others. OPC UA is ideal for SoA imple-
mentation, which is why the German
Commission for Electrical, Electronic &
Information Technologies (DKE) lists
OPC UA as the only SoA solution.
Trend: Service-to-Service
OPC UA provides consistent scalability
from the sensor to the enterprise IT
level, making a significant impact on
the automation pyramid. While this
pyramid will continue to exist for the
factorys organizational structure, OPC
UA bypasses the communication pyra-
mid entirely. The devices can deliver
data, either directly or in parallel, to
the PLC, MES, the ERP system or to the
cloud level. This is where suppliers see
opportunities for new business models.
German Electrica
l and April 2017
Electronic Manufac
turers Association
For example, manufacturers can bill for
their barcode or RFID reader on a per
scan basis while the data being read or
scanned never leaves the factory.
Trend: Chip-based OPC UA
OPC UA will continue to be integrated
into ever-smaller devices and sensors.
Todays smallest OPC UA software so-
lutions for industry with limited (but
read-able) functionality require just 35
KB of RAM and 240 KB of flash memory.
Now that the first chips with integrated
OPC UA have hit the market, OPC UA
can make further in-roads into the world
of sensors. As a result, OPC UA applica-
tions are already extending from the
core area of automation into other areas
like industrial kitchen appliances.
Conclusion
OPC UA has already become the de-facto
standard for the automation market
and Industrie 4.0. OPC UA is covering a
growing range of communication sce-
narios, which makes it increasingly dif-
ficult for suppliers to justify proprietary
solutions. Products will increasingly
differentiate themselves based on the
features of the device itself or of external
services, not the interface. In the future
we will see rapid growth in the informa-
tion models of additional industries, as
OPC UA is the preferred platform of the
worlds largest ecosystem for interoper-
ability.
www.opcfoundation.org
2/2017 maintworld 37
 SECURITY

SECURITY
SOLUTION
Helps Battle
Illegal Mining
Mining companies across the African continent have been coping
with the problem of illegal mining for years. In their battle
against artisanal miners illegally entering their properties and
compromising site safety, they have been unsuccessfully looking
out for security solutions that are both reliable and affordable.

DAVID MONTAGUE,
Sales Director EMEA/
Security, FLIR Systems, David.
montague@flir.com

38 maintworld 2/2017

MINING OPERATORS are increasingly confronted
with security breaches on their properties. Illegal
miners do not always understand the potential
hazards on site and often find themselves in safe-
ty-compromising situations as a result. But safety
issues are not the only reason of this increased
attention. It is also a matter of productivity and
profit loss.
- Mining operators are increasingly confront-
ed with security breaches on their properties.
especially around large opencast pits. Without
the right equipment and safeguards, any mistake
could be fatal, halting production but also poten-
tially putting employed mine workers at risk, says
Secu-Systems founder Charles Harrison.
Security Monitoring
for Large Sites
Security specialist Secu-Systems, based in Johan-
nesburg, South Africa, was asked to come up with
a solution for the security problem for two trial
sites, in Tanzania. The company consequently
developed a robust, mobile and highly advanced
security system, based on the use of FLIR pan/tilt
thermal imaging cameras.
- The large size of these mining sites poses
a serious security problem. Setting up fences
around those areas would be a huge investment.
That is why our customer had previously tried to
use balloons equipped with security monitoring
to watch over their entire mining site.
- But this approach has proven to be ineffec-
tive due to the frequent storms this particular
area is facing. Thats why a ground-based solution
was a better option.
Self-Sustaining Security System
Instead of opting for fences, Secu-Systems de-
signed a self-sustaining system specifically for
remote regions with no supportive infrastruc-
ture. The system comprises a wireless, mobile 20
ft container which securely houses all peripheral
intrusion and detection equipment, including ex-
ternal, passive infrared detectors, high-pressure
pepper systems which trigger on activation of
security systems or remotely detonate upon
verification, as well as a PT-602CZ thermal imag-
ing pan/tilt camera that is able to detect motion
within a 6 km radius from nominal ground level.
The FLIR
The FLIR PT-602CZ is a thermal security camera
PT-602CZ multi- that offers excellent long-range perimeter intru-
sensor security sion detection and surveillance at night as well as
camera has given during the day.
us excellent The solution by Secu-Systems has already
image quality and proven very successful with one of the worlds
detection results,
largest gold producers at a mine in Tanzania.
even in the harsh
and uneven Once the Secu-Sytems solution was installed and
geography that we operational, the results were immediate revealing
are faced with, the numbers of illegal miners entering the site on
says Charles a daily basis. The weekly number of arrests even
Harrison. reached a staggering 75 100.
SECURITY
MILITARY SPECIFIED CONTAINER
SOLUTIONS ARE COMPLETELY
FITTED WITH THEIR OWN POWER
RETICULATION, WHICH INCLUDES
SOLAR PANELS MOUNTED TO
THE ROOF OF THE CONTAINER
TO BATTERY BANKS INSTALLED
WITHIN THE CONTAINER.
- The intruder capture rate improved and the
risk for security personnel is now lower. In ad-
dition, because all footage is recorded, the client
can ensure that the entire incident from capture
to hand-over of the intruder is handled strictly
according to security policy, Harrison says.
According to Harrison the streaming cameras
can easily detect movement down to 4 pixels.
- The military specified container solutions are
completely fitted with their own power reticula-
tion, which includes solar panels mounted to the
roof of the container to battery banks installed
within the container. The system allows wireless
communication back to a centralized control
room. Existing installations have a 36 km wire-
less link that allows complete surveillance and
control.
360 Situational Awareness
The system developed by Secu-Systems provides
mining sites with complete 360-degrees situ-
ational awareness and is a radically new approach
compared to the typical practice of perimeter
fence security installations.
- Conventional perimeter security systems will
generate an alert when the perimeter is breached,
but once within the perimeter, intruders can get
lost. It offers complete situational awareness and
peace of mind and allows critical management
decisions to be effected, notes Harrison.
- FLIR PT-602CZ has allowed us to build a
solution that is able to replace twenty to forty
perimeter security cameras. This makes it an
ideal, affordable solution for mining operators
that need to monitor huge areas, concludes Har-
rison.
2/2017 maintworld 39
 CYBERSECURITY
Digital Automation
System Maintenance
and Cybersecurity
the Perfect Partnership?
In the last years, the number of cyber-attacks has
increased dramatically. In light of this, it is not
surprising that organizations are increasingly looking
to invest in cybersecurity.
WHAT DOES a cyber-attack mean to you?
The term brings many different mental
images; from pizza driven nerds in a dark
basement to organized operations fund-
ed and supported by state level actors.
The intents for attacks vary greatly; from
opportunistic hacking or showing off for
friends to pursue of financial benefit and
to well organized disruption of a specific
physical function.
Even in the best-case scenario,
cyber-attacks in industrial automation
are highly inconvenient. An example of
such a scenario would be an inadvert-
ent attack, where malware intended for
ordinary ICT systems enters a produc-
tion environment, causing disruptions
40 maintworld 2/2017
ROBERT VALKAMA,
Senior information
security consultant at
Nixu Corporation,
robert.valkama@nixu.fi
and production downtime. Example of
trols also benefit the maintenance of the
this type of an attack is a crypto malware
systems.
infecting the HMI systems. In the worst-
case scenario, the attack is intentional Mutual benefits
and causes total destruction, incurring
When it comes to automation systems,
substantial replacement and recovery
the goals of cybersecurity and mainte-
costs both in terms of time and money,
nance are practically the same: ensuring
i.e. jeopardizing safety.
error-free production and safety. The es-
Despite the intent of the attack, there
sence of automation systems is that they
are steps that can be taken in order to
operate in the right way at the right time.
make it harder for the adversary to suc-
In some industries, automation systems
ceed in the attack. Securing industrial
cybersecurity also includes protecting
systems requires both technical and ad-
intellectual property. In practical terms,
ministrative controls to be put in place
this means protecting manufacturing
(essentially in the same way as securing
processes run parameters from infor-
ICT systems, but with slightly different
mation leaks.
emphasis), and in many cases, these con-
Cybersecurity controls can also have
 CYBERSECURITY

substantial benefits for maintenance.
For example, asset and configuration
management, systems hardening and
security monitoring.
Asset and configuration manage-
ment is one of the corner stones in
cybersecurity. Without accurate knowl-
edge of the environment, it is very
hard to reliably secure it. A complete,
accurate and up to date documenta-
tion of the systems in an easily acces-
sible (queried) format is required in
order to be able to rapidly respond
and investigate the potential impact of
newly discovered vulnerabilities on the
protected environment. A traditional
blue print type of documentation is
usually not sufficient for this, as they
dont contain important and needed
information of the digital devices like,
used software and versions, firmware
versions, configuration information
etc. This information is essential for ex-
ample when conducting vulnerability
assessments, but it will also streamline
fault diagnosis.
System hardening (removing or disa-
bling superfluous software) is primarily
intended to reduce the relevant systems
attack surface, but can also have the ad-
ditional benefit of removing potentially
faulty software from the relevant sys-
tem. This, in turn, reduces the need for
unnecessary maintenance.
Cybersecurity monitoring is another
function that can be easily utilized in
ASSET AND CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT IS ONE OF
THE CORNER STONES IN CYBERSECURITY.
maintenance. These tools focus on
keeping track of an automation sys-
tems network traffic and scouring its
logs. They are intended to identify ex-
ceptions or changes, which means that
they can also be configured to moni-
tor maintenance-relevant informa-
tion, combining and centralizing two
separate functions. Monitoring tools
can be configured to generate mainte-
nance-related alarms or events when
an exception is detected in the same
way cybersecurity-related alarms and
events are generated. This is especially
beneficial in multivendor environ-
ments where automation systems from
several suppliers are used. In multiven-
dor environments the different systems
may be monitored separately, using
their own diagnostic tools, but a com-
mon overview is not available. Depend-
ing on the environment and personnel
size the monitoring may also be limited
to post incident resolution, or extin-
guishing fires as some may refer to it.
With good and high quality monitoring
the maintenance of the digital assets is
shifted towards a preventive mainte-
nance mode, where incidents are iden-
tified before they cause any process
disruptions.

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CONTROLLING MAINTENANCE, CREATING VALUE.

 CYBERSECURITY
WHEN IT COMES TO AUTOMATION SYSTEMS, THE
GOALS OF CYBERSECURITY AND MAINTENANCE
ARE PRACTICALLY THE SAME: ENSURING ERROR-FREE
PRODUCTION AND SAFETY.
How to Improve Cybersecurity
When considering automation systems
from a cybersecurity standpoint, one
challenge stands out above all: their long
lifecycle. IT systems have a lifecycle
of around five years, whereas automa-
tion systems have an average lifecycle
of around 25 years. What this means in
practice is that even though todays au-
tomation systems suppliers work on im-
proving the cybersecurity of their own
systems, it will take up to 25 years for
these built-in security features to per-
meate the entire manufacturing indus-
try, and at that time, some of the security
controls may already be obsolete.
However, it is possible to substan-
tially improve the cybersecurity of
automation systems, even though some
vulnerabilities might still remain. It is
also important to acknowledge that all
assets are not equally important, and
that the security posture of a system can
be substantially improved by making
good engineering decisions for example
on the architecture and functionality al-
location.
It is also recommended to perform a
risk assessment. The purpose of the risk
assessment is to identify the potential
plant vulnerabilities and critical systems
42 maintworld 2/2017
related to the operation. I would not
recommend putting too much effort into
assessing the probability of different
events, but concentrating on the poten-
tial consequences and their acceptance.
I.e. if a potential cause of a cybersecurity
attack utilizing a remote connection
could lead to an extensive equipment
failure or jeopardize employees health
or life, a strong argument can be made to
make some changes to remove or mini-
mize the risk. The risk assessment needs
to be a multi domain task, performed in
co-operation by cybersecurity experts,
process engineers, safety engineers and
maintenance engineers.
Regardless of the outcome of the risk
assessment, here are some recommen-
dations what should be done.
Consider securing your plants safety
automation solutions or safeguards, of
course provided that they are digital.
With these I mean functions intended
for protecting employees, production
equipment and the environment against
accidents or hazards. Where possible,
you should isolate protective automatic
systems or functions from the operative
automation systems. This should also be
a basic rule when designing new control
systems.
The operative automation system
should also be segregated from other
company networks. Isolating your pro-
duction environment from the company
network has been considered to be the
best control against cybersecurity at-
tacks. It is a solid protective measure for
network-based attacks, provided you
know what you are doing and procedures
are in place to systematically support
the isolation. In many cases however,
this kind of isolation only serves to give
a false sense of security as, for example,
production planning and management
often requires real time information
from the production systems for vari-
ous business needs. This information
is then transferred using USB memory
sticks or similar media, which in turn are
common vectors for malware infections.
Also, automation suppliers often main-
tain remote maintenance connections
to the systems they have supplied, which
means that the system is not actually
isolated.
A better way to protect your sys-
tem against cybersecurity attacks is
to connect it to the company network,
and route all the needed connections
through a dedicated access point, allow-
ing the management and monitoring of
remote connections and ensuring that
existing cybersecurity controls are not
bypassed. Continuous monitoring will
also help you identify remote sessions
from your automation systems vendor
and changes made through these con-
nections to the systems configuration.
In other words, monitoring tools can al-
so be utilized for contract management,
allowing you to monitor the suppliers
actions, and for configuration manage-
ment, allowing you to verify whether
planned changes have actually been im-
plemented.
All in all, those working with automa-
tion systems should deepen their mutual
collaboration. This is especially true for
maintenance and cybersecurity profes-
sionals. Solid cooperation ensures that
all aspects required for safe and stable
production are taken into account. From
early planning stages to decommission-
ing and dismantling, modern cyberse-
curity must be considered throughout
an automation systems lifecycle. When
considering digital cybersecurity solu-
tions, I would recommend checking that
your organization has access to the latest
and most comprehensive know-how in
the cybersecurity industry.
 CONDITION MONITORING
High energy prices and
global competition dictate
a need to reduce energy
waste and improve sys-
tem efficiencies whenever
possible. Steam, aside
from being one of the
costliest utilities in plants,
is an essential component
to product quality in many
processing industries.
44 maintworld 2/2017
2/2017
A MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR to waste and
inefficiency is leaks: both to atmosphere
and through valves and steam traps. Ac-
cording to the United States Department
of Energy, a typical facility can realize
steam savings of 20 percent by improv-
ing their steam system. Experts have
also said that as much as one fifth of the
steam generated at the central boiler
is lost to leaking or failed steam traps.
With current steam prices averaging
between $8.00 to $12.00 per thousand
pounds of steam, a steam trap inspection
programme is a must. For example, if a
steam trap with an orifice size of 3/32
(2,4 mm.) operating at 100 psi (7 bar)
steam can lose nearly 30 lbs. (14
kg.) of steam per hour. At a cost
of $8.00/1000lbs. of steam,
that results in a loss of over
$2,000 per year from just
one failed steam trap.
The purpose of a
successful steam trap
inspection programme
ADRIAN MESSER,
CMRP, UE Systems, Inc .,
adrian.messer@
uesystems.com
should be to repair any faulty steam
traps and steam leaks that can impact
safety, to reduce energy waste and pro-
mote sustainability, and to repair any
failed steam traps and steam leaks that
impact product quality.
Why Ultrasound?
Ultrasound technology is used by main-
tenance and reliability professionals
around the world, and is considered to
be the most versatile of any Predictive
maintenance (PdM) technology. Typical
applications for ultrasound include com-
pressed air & gas leak detection, bearing
inspection, motors, gearboxes, electrical
inspection of energized electrical equip-

ment, valves, hydraulic applications and
steam traps.
However, when it comes to steam trap
inspection, one technology alone cant
do everything. World Class maintenance
and reliability programmes utilize mul-
tiple inspection technologies when it
comes to inspecting the assets that they
are responsible for. Visual inspection,
temperature measurement, and ultra-
sound should all be used during a steam
trap inspection route.
Planning for Success
Before beginning any steam trap inspec-
tion, it will be helpful to think a few
things through that will help to make the
survey successful. First, walk the area to
identify and tag every steam trap. The
tag should include a number, and all in-
formation should be noted, such as the
manufacturer, type of steam trap, orifice
size and the purpose of the steam trap.
This information can then be entered
into data management software, such as
UE Systems Ultratrend DMS.
While walking the area, it would also
be a good idea to note any possible acces-
EXTEND YOUR BEARINGS LIFE
USING ULTRASOUND
An Ultrasonic
Instrument is
the perfect tool
to inspect
and lubricate
your bearings!
Windmolen 20, 7609 NN Almelo, The Netherlands
info@uesystems.eu | www.uesystems.eu | Tel. +31 546 725 125
sibility issues: will a ladder or man-lift be
needed for any steam traps that are over-
head and out of reach? Are any steam
traps located in areas where Lock-Out-
Tag-Out procedures will need to be fol-
lowed? Are any of the steam traps inside
of hazardous areas where Intrinsically
Safe instruments will be required?
Testing Steam Traps with
Ultrasound
To make it easier to manage the data for
reporting and inspection purposes, it is
recommended to break the inspection
areas into zones. Follow a logical pro-
gression from steam production, steam
use, and condensate return. Start at the
boiler, then to the steam distribution and
distribution branches. Then, proceed
AN ULTRASONIC STEAM TRAP TESTING PROGRAMME IS
AN EASY, QUICK, AND ACCURATE WAY TO IDENTIFY
PROBLEMS IN STEAM TRAPS AND THE OVERALL HEALTH
OF THE STEAM SYSTEM.
ULTRAPROBE 15000
For Inspection
Detect early bearings failures
Easily create a bearings route
Trend your bearings condition
Set alarms for early failures
Make sound recordings of
your bearings for analysis
CONDITION MONITORING
to process equipment, and finally to the
condensate recovery systems.
When the inspector is at the steam
trap, before testing with ultrasound, it is
recommended to take temperature read-
ings with a simple spot radiometer first.
Not only will the temperature let the
inspector know if steam is coming to the
trap or not, but the temperature can also
be used to estimate the steam pressure.
If the temperature of the steam trap is
cold, the inspector should check to make
sure that the valves are open or if the
trap has been taken out of service. If it is
warm/hot, then the inspector can note
the inlet and outlet temperatures and
proceed to test with ultrasound.
The most important item that the in-
spector will need to know is which type
GREASE CADDY 401
For Lubrication
Listen to your bearings and
know when to stop lubricating
Avoid over-lubrication:
the cause of over 60% of
bearing failures
Receive alarms when your
bearings need lubrication
Start a lubrication program
 CONDITION MONITORING

On-board sound
recording and sound
analysis can be very
useful for steam trap
inspection

of trap is being inspected. Knowing the

type will determine what the steam trap
should sound like once contact has been
made with the ultrasound instrument.
Steam traps will have one of the follow-
Contact Point
ing sound characteristics: On/Off or
for Testing
Continuous Flow. with an
Typical types of steam traps that Ultrasound
have the On/Off (hold/discharge/hold) instrument
sound are: Inverted Bucket, Thermo-
dynamic, Thermostatic (Bellows), and
Bi-Metallic. Steam traps with a continu-
ous flow sound characteristic are: Float
& Thermostatic and Fixed Orifice. It
is recommended that you listen to a
number of steam traps prior to starting
the inspection to determine a normal
sound characteristic for how it is operat-
ing under the normal conditions of your
steam system.
Physical contact between the steam
trap and the ultrasound instrument is
necessary in order to hear how the
steam trap is performing. If using an ul-
trasound instrument that has frequency not cycled within one minutes time, it the following for each steam trap: Type
tuning, adjust it to the recommending may be difficult to know when the trap of Trap, Orifice Size, Inlet & Outlet Tem-
frequency setting of 25kHz. If it does not may cycle again, but if the temperatures perature, Operating Condition and how
have frequency tuning, it is more than are ok and theres no indication of a much it is costing to generate 1000lbs
likely set to 38kHz. Regardless of the plugged condition, proceed to the next (450 kg.) of steam.
type of trap, the placement of the contact steam trap to be tested. When first start- With an increased focus on energy
probe or stethoscope module attach- ing out, it may be helpful to compare and sustainability within our industry,
ment on the ultrasound instrument will sound characteristics from similar types steam trap testing with ultrasound is a
always be at the discharge orifice of the of steam traps to help the inspector learn great way to show potential customers
steam trap, since turbulence is created what a good or failing steam trap sounds and suppliers that energy loss is taken
on the outlet side of the steam trap when like. seriously and that there is a continuous
the steam trap releases condensate. effort being made to correct problems
Once contact has been made, adjust Reporting the Results related to energy loss. Ultrasound in-
the sensitivity/volume on the instru- Now that the inspector has gathered struments are valuable inspection tools
ment until the sound of the trap can be all the information for the condition of that can not only provide insight into
heard. the steam traps that were inspected, it the health of steam traps, but also other
When inspecting steam traps with is important to document the findings. components of the steam system such as
ultrasound, it is important to exercise Not only should the operating condition heat exchangers, shutoff valves, control
patience. Make contact at the discharge of the steam trap such as failed, leak- valves, solenoids, relief valves, cavitation
orifice and wait for the steam trap to ing, or ok be reported, but also the loses in condensate return pumps, and steam
cycle. If the temperatures have been from the failed or leaking steam traps. leaks to atmosphere.
checked, and the trap has not cycled for To generate a Steam Loss Report in the Examples of steam trap sound record-
approximately one minute, move on to Ultratrend DMS software from UE Sys- ings can be found at www.uesystems.eu/
the next steam trap. If the steam trap has tems, the inspector will need to know sounds/

46 maintworld 2/2017 Testing steam traps with ultrasound is a

structure-borne or contact application
The Industrial Interoperability Standard h at
bootth
-b
Join our OPC
Hall 9, A 11
Hanover Fair:

Much more than a protocol

That is why its mandatory for Industrie 4.0
OPC UA is a framework for Industrial Interoperability
 M odeling of data and interfaces for devices and services
 Integrated security by design with congurable access rights for data and services
validated by German BSI security experts
 Extendable transport protocols: Client/Server and Publisher/Subscriber and roadmap for TSN
 S calable from sensor to IT Enterprise & Cloud
 Independent from vendor, operating system, implementation language and vertical markets

Information models of different branches are mapped onto OPC UA to make them interoperable with
integrated security.The OPC Foundation closely cooperates with organizations and associations from
various branches:

TM

Verband fr Automatische
Datenerfassung, Identifikation und Mobilitt

OPC D2A01Y7
OPC Unied Architecture
Interoperability for Industrie 4.0 and the Internet of Things

EUROPE
mation
IT meets Auto
IoT
Industrie

4.0
osted by
May 30 /31 h
M2M
th

ft C e n te r C openhagen fotolia.com, Ser

gii Figurnyi

Micros o
Download of
Technology brochure:
opcfoundation.org/
resources/brochures/ www.opcfoundation.org
 HSE

Text: Ellen den Broeder-Ooijevaar, NVDO, ellen.den.broeder@nvdo.nl

Overview of Dutch
Working Conditions in 2016
In 2016, occupational health and safety policies in Dutch companies were
more widespread than in 2014, but still below the level of 2007, according
to an Overview of Dutch working conditions 2016 -report.
THE OVERVIEW of Dutch working condi- (RI&E) and 75 percent of companies of medical and other care for people
tions 2016 report is published biannu- with a contract with an occupational with a work-related condition (1.4 billion
ally presenting the current state of the health and safety service provider and euros). Together, these costs added up to
working conditions and work-related the provision of information and train- 8 billion euros, thereby accounting for
health of employees and of health and ing. Given that large companies employ more than 20 percent of all the costs of
safety policies at companies in the Neth- the majority of employees, these policies sickness absence, disability, and medical
erlands. involved 83 percent and 96 percent re- care for those in work in 2016.
According to the report, in 2016, there spectively of the Dutch employees. The
was an increase in compliance with the increase in health and safety policies in Employee health is stable
key provisions of the Working Condi- 2016 may be related to economic devel- The report shows that the level of health
tions Act by companies, such as having opments. experienced by employees has been
a contract with an occupational health stable for many years: 82 percent of
and safety service or service provider, Accidents and Diseases employees described their own health
sickness absence-related policies, a pre- Work-related accidents and diseases as being good or very good. Meanwhile,
vention employee, work meetings with lead to high costs. These costs include less than 2 percent assessed it as poor to
employees and provision of information costs of paying salaries to employees very poor. Of all employees, 18 percent
and training. Compliance percentages who are absent due to work-related said they have a long-term or chronic
varied between 45 percent of companies issues (4.7 billion euros), disability condition that restricts the ability to
with a risk inventory and evaluation benefits (1.9 billion euros), and the costs perform their work optimally. This

48 maintworld 2/2017
 HSE
Proportion of employed people reporting
a long-standing illness or health problem
(55-64 years)
percentage has maintained rather
stable for many years. However, the
report showed significant differences
according to the type of complaints
involved. The proportion of people who
were limited in their ability to perform
work is high especially among those with
psychological issues (74 percent), arm/
hand complaints (71 percent), and back/
neck complaints (67 percent).
Between 2007 and 2009, the percent-
age of employees experiencing work-
related stress symptoms increased from
11 percent to 13 percent. In 2015, 14
percent of employees reported burn-out
symptoms.
Sickness absence is stable and
depends strongly on personal
characteristics and types of
employment contract
Since 2007, the level of sickness ab-
sences in the Netherlands has fluctuated
by around 4 percent. This means that
every year, on average, employees were
absent 4 out of every 100 working days.
On average, employees had one period
of sickness absence every year. The av-
erage duration of sickness absence for
all employees - including those who are
not absent at all is 7.0 working days. In
2011, this was 7.7 working days. Those
who do go absent are away from work for
an average of 15.7 working days. Around
half of all the days lost to sickness in the
Netherlands (work-related or not) are
related to musculoskeletal symptoms
(27 percent) and psychological prob-
lems, stress, or burn-out symptoms (22
percent).
50 maintworld 2/2017
Proportion of pensionners (50-69 years)
who indicated own health or disability as
the main reason to quit working
Sectors and industries in which em-
ployees carry out physically or mentally
demanding work stood out in the report
in terms of experiencing high levels of
sickness absence. Healthcare, public
administration, construction, transport,
industry and education are sectors with
an above average level of sickness ab-
sences.
Sickness absence among people on
permanent contracts was according to
the report almost twice as high as among
those on temporary contracts. Employ-
ment agency employees and on-call
employees also had a relatively low rate
of sickness absence. Rates of sickness ab-
sence are relatively high among women,
older employees, employees with poor
educational qualifications, employees
with a chronic or long-term condition,
divorced and widowed employees, and
those who act as informal caregivers for
family or friends. In the case of older
employees, the higher levels of sickness
absence can be explained largely by the
fact that they are more likely to have
chronic diseases. Employees with poor
educational qualifications are also more
likely to have health problems and work
in relatively more demanding condi-
tions. The higher levels of sickness ab-
sence among informal caregivers may be
explained mostly from the fact that they
are older on average, and therefore have
more chronic health problems.
Working Conditions
In many areas, the Netherlands com-
pares favourably with the rest of Europe.
Compared with the rest of Europe,
working conditions (both psychological
and physical) are favourable for Dutch
employees, according to a 2015 survey
among employees in every European
country. More often than their coun-
terparts in the rest of Europe, Dutch
employees said that their work has a
positive influence on their health, that
they are less emotionally exhausted due
to work, and that they are more engaged
in their work. Dutch employees also
stated that they see themselves being
able to continue working up to a higher
age, on average, than employees living
in other European countries. However,
Dutch employees also reported more
frequently than employees elsewhere
in Europe that they have faced verbal
threats, humiliation, physical violence,
and discrimination in the work place.
This can be explained in part by the
number of service-provision functions
in the Netherlands being slightly higher
on average than in the rest of Europe.
Another possible explanation to this is
that workers in the Netherlands have
fewer barriers to reporting aggression
experienced in the work place.
With a sickness absence rate of 4 per-
cent, the Netherlands is above average of
all EU nations (3 percent). The propor-
tion of employees who have reported
sick at least once in the past 12 months is
greater than average in the Netherlands
(53 percent compared to 48 percent for
Europe). However, the proportion of
work-related sickness absence in the
Netherlands is relatively low: 14 percent
of employees who had been on sickness
absence stated that one or more of their
days absence had been work-related.
Of the total for the 28 EU countries, this
is 19 percent. Differences between the
member states could be the result of dif-
ferences in financial compensation for
those who report sick, of the socio-de-
mographic features of the working popu-
lation, and of the structure of the various
sectors in the employment market, and
the related working conditions.
For work-related accidents that result
in at least four days of sickness absence,
the Netherlands, with almost 1,400 ac-
cidents per 100 thousand employees,
is slightly below the average of the 28
EU countries. The number of fatal
work-related accidents is lower in the
Netherlands than in any other European
country.
Read further: http://www.oshnether-
lands.nl
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