Tuesday, 20 December 2011 14:16
PTDA Canadian Conference scheduled for June 7 to 9 in Victoria, B.C.
Since its debut in 2002, the Power Transmission Distributors Association (PTDA) Canadian Conference has become a powerful business conclave for Canada’s power transmission/motion control industry. The event features intimate business networking opportunities, unsurpassed business educational information, and The Industry Showcase, a program designed for those marketing product in Canada.
This eleventh annual PTDA Canadian Conference, scheduled for June 7 to 9, 2012, will be held at the historic Fairmont Empress hotel, which is located in Victoria, B.C.
“The PTDA Canadian Conference delivers unmatched value for members,” said Mitch Bouchard, secretary treasurer of Ottawa-based General Bearing Service Inc. and the newly elected PTDA board of directors president. “There is no other organization that can deliver such thorough networking and educational opportunities in such an efficient package.”
Bouchard said the planning committee is optimistic about 2012, as the latest PTDA Market Forecast indicates the Canadian market will be steadily increasing in strength and growth throughout the year.
“We believe the Fairmont Empress will be the ideal location on the west coast to host this important Canadian-specific networking event,” said Bouchard.
Details regarding registration and program will be available in March at www.ptda.org/CanadianConference.
This eleventh annual PTDA Canadian Conference, scheduled for June 7 to 9, 2012, will be held at the historic Fairmont Empress hotel, which is located in Victoria, B.C.
“The PTDA Canadian Conference delivers unmatched value for members,” said Mitch Bouchard, secretary treasurer of Ottawa-based General Bearing Service Inc. and the newly elected PTDA board of directors president. “There is no other organization that can deliver such thorough networking and educational opportunities in such an efficient package.”
Bouchard said the planning committee is optimistic about 2012, as the latest PTDA Market Forecast indicates the Canadian market will be steadily increasing in strength and growth throughout the year.
“We believe the Fairmont Empress will be the ideal location on the west coast to host this important Canadian-specific networking event,” said Bouchard.
Details regarding registration and program will be available in March at www.ptda.org/CanadianConference.
Published in
News
Friday, 16 December 2011 12:07
GM to produce Impala at Oshawa, Ont., plant; will invest $68M, secure 350 jobs
The General Motors assembly plant in Oshawa is in line for a major new investment: it’s going to build the new version of its Chevy Impala.
The federal government says the company will invest $68 million in the plant in a move that will secure 350 jobs.
The announcement follows a decision by GM earlier this year to build the new Cadillac XTS at the Oshawa plant.
That decision created or saved 400 jobs on the flexible assembly line.
The Oshawa assembly plant has had major changes in the last year, with new vehicle models and expanded production.
GM and its Canadian subsidiary were bailed out by the U.S., Canadian and Ontario governments two years ago and restructured its operations. In Canada, the company shut down a truck plant in Oshawa and a transmission plant in Windsor, Ont, and cut its workforce.
GM Canada president Kevin Williams appeared at the plant Friday morning with the announcement. Among the invited guests were federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Brad Duguid, Ontario’s minister of economic development and innovation.
GM had been tight-lipped on just what will be announced, including the size of its planned investment. However, speculation correctly centred on the new version of its popular Chevrolet Impala sedan.
GM’s Oshawa operations have seen a number of positive changes over the last year or so, with new vehicle models and expanded production that has added two new shifts and 1,300 jobs.
In August, GM announced a $117-million investment to prepare the plant to build the new Cadillac XTS next year. The automaker said the that move would create or save 400 jobs on the flexible assembly line in Oshawa, site of the company’s Canadian headquarters and main car-making operations.
However, union leaders have also been concerned by the company’s decision to shift a percentage of the next generation Impala to an assembly plant in Michigan.
“The ratio has not been locked down yet, but we will share production with our counterparts in the United States,” said Chris Buckley, president of the Oshawa Local of the Canadian Auto Workers union, who noted the current versions is produced exclusively in Canada at the consolidated plant in Oshawa.
That plant, which currently employs some 2,400 CAW members, is scheduled to close in the first quarter of 2013. The new Impala would be produced at the flex plant, which currently makes the Chevy Camaro, Buick Regal and soon, the Cadillac XTS. About 2,000 CAW members currently work at the flex plant.
“So this is a good news story,” Buckley said, “because it reconfirms the commitment on investment, reconfirms the products that we bargained — that we had recommitted during the auto crisis.”
“But at the end of the day, we’re still going to have a plant that’s closing. So we are going to suffer job loss.”
As a result, Buckley said the union will continue to press the federal and provincial governments help it convince General Motors to put additional products in Oshawa to keep the consolidated plant open.
“We have yet to be successful, but we are going to continue to try,” he said.
In 2009, Ontario partnered with the Canadian and American governments to help GM restructure. GM has since repaid its loans and announced approximately $1 billion in new investments.
GM's other investments in Ontario include:
The federal government says the company will invest $68 million in the plant in a move that will secure 350 jobs.
The announcement follows a decision by GM earlier this year to build the new Cadillac XTS at the Oshawa plant.
That decision created or saved 400 jobs on the flexible assembly line.
The Oshawa assembly plant has had major changes in the last year, with new vehicle models and expanded production.
GM and its Canadian subsidiary were bailed out by the U.S., Canadian and Ontario governments two years ago and restructured its operations. In Canada, the company shut down a truck plant in Oshawa and a transmission plant in Windsor, Ont, and cut its workforce.
GM Canada president Kevin Williams appeared at the plant Friday morning with the announcement. Among the invited guests were federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Brad Duguid, Ontario’s minister of economic development and innovation.
GM had been tight-lipped on just what will be announced, including the size of its planned investment. However, speculation correctly centred on the new version of its popular Chevrolet Impala sedan.
GM’s Oshawa operations have seen a number of positive changes over the last year or so, with new vehicle models and expanded production that has added two new shifts and 1,300 jobs.
In August, GM announced a $117-million investment to prepare the plant to build the new Cadillac XTS next year. The automaker said the that move would create or save 400 jobs on the flexible assembly line in Oshawa, site of the company’s Canadian headquarters and main car-making operations.
However, union leaders have also been concerned by the company’s decision to shift a percentage of the next generation Impala to an assembly plant in Michigan.
“The ratio has not been locked down yet, but we will share production with our counterparts in the United States,” said Chris Buckley, president of the Oshawa Local of the Canadian Auto Workers union, who noted the current versions is produced exclusively in Canada at the consolidated plant in Oshawa.
That plant, which currently employs some 2,400 CAW members, is scheduled to close in the first quarter of 2013. The new Impala would be produced at the flex plant, which currently makes the Chevy Camaro, Buick Regal and soon, the Cadillac XTS. About 2,000 CAW members currently work at the flex plant.
“So this is a good news story,” Buckley said, “because it reconfirms the commitment on investment, reconfirms the products that we bargained — that we had recommitted during the auto crisis.”
“But at the end of the day, we’re still going to have a plant that’s closing. So we are going to suffer job loss.”
As a result, Buckley said the union will continue to press the federal and provincial governments help it convince General Motors to put additional products in Oshawa to keep the consolidated plant open.
“We have yet to be successful, but we are going to continue to try,” he said.
In 2009, Ontario partnered with the Canadian and American governments to help GM restructure. GM has since repaid its loans and announced approximately $1 billion in new investments.
GM's other investments in Ontario include:
- $480 million in the engine and transmission facility in St. Catharines, securing 800 jobs.
- $117 million to prepare the Oshawa assembly plant for the production of the new Cadillac XTS, creating and securing 400 jobs.
- $96 million to expand capacity at its CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll.
- The addition of a new shift for GM's Oshawa operations securing over 1,300 jobs.
Published in
Industry News
Friday, 16 December 2011 09:30
Canada, U.S. border deal eases trade; Canadian industry welcomes agreement
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is hailing a new set of border agreements between Canada and the United States as a merger between security concerns and the need for commerce and travel.
The wide-ranging plan pledged to expedite the movement of goods. There will be screening of cargo from foreign countries to Canada and the U.S., so that it is screened just once for both nations, the document stated.
Some companies in either Canada or the U.S. that ship goods across the border will be given “trusted status” so that the shipment is pre-screened at the factory instead of the border.
Several Canadian manufacturing and trade organizations — including the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, Food & Consumer Products of Canada, the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce — welcomed the agreements. See detailed comments from these groups below.
Harper says the deals on perimeter security and regulatory harmonization represent the most significant steps forward in Canada-U.S. co-operation since the North American Free Trade Agreement.
In the text of a speech delivered after a meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington, Harper says the agreements create a “new, modern border for a new century.”
The prime minister says Canada shares U.S. security concerns, but he adds measures to deal with criminal and terrorist threats can thicken the border and hinder efforts to create jobs and growth.
He calls the border deals “practical steps to reverse that direction.”
Both countries agree the best way to deal with trouble is with smarter systems at the continental perimeter, minimizing multiple inspections of freight and baggage.
“We also believe that, just as threats should be stopped at the perimeter, trusted travellers should cross the border more quickly,” Harper said.
“Indeed, these priorities are complementary: The key that locks the door against terrorists also opens a wider gate to cross-border trade and travel.”
The second joint initiative will reduce regulatory barriers to trade by streamlining and aligning standards “where it makes sense to do so.”
“Naturally, in this area, as in all others, no loss of sovereignty is contemplated by either of our governments,” Harper said.
“Every rule needs a reason,” he added, and “where no adequate reason exists for a rule or standard, and that standard hinders us from doing business on both sides of the border, that rule needs to be re-examined.”
IT COMES AS WELCOME NEWS:
Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association: “We are very pleased,” said Mark Nantais, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, which represents such car companies as Ford, Chrysler and General Motors. “The direction is what the industry has asked for.”
"We have invested heavily as trusted traders," he said. "We want to make sure we get the full benefit of these programs and the fact that these programs are going to be more in line with the United States is exactly what we've been looking for. Execution in terms of these action plans is what we have to work on quickly."
The governments' pledge to harmonize standards for such goods as automobiles also pleased Nantais. "Over time there have been differences that add additional cost to industry for no real public benefit and only complicate matters in terms of compliance," he said. "Part of the exercise moving forward is to deal with existing regulatory differences and work toward a process for dealing with future regulatory development on a truly binational basis.(source)
Food & Consumer Products of Canada: “The plan released by Prime Minister Harper and President Obama is an exciting, and much needed step forward that will save taxpayers money and benefit Canadians with innovative products that are made in Canada. It will also help boost the economy, enable Canadian companies to better compete on the global stage, while maintaining Canadian sovereignty and the world-class safety and quality of the products Canadians trust.” (www.fcpc.ca)
The Chemistry Industry Association of Canada: “Canada’s chemistry industry sends 76 percent of its exports — more than $20 billion worth of products — to the U.S. every year,” says Richard Paton, CIAC’s President and CEO. “The measures outlined in the Border Action Plans are critical to keeping our industry competitive, and to strengthening Canada’s manufacturing sector.” (www.ccpa.ca)
Canadian Chamber of Commerce: “Sometimes governments get it right, and that’s the case today,” said Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. “Today’s announcement is a major victory for businesses and citizens on both sides of the border.” (www.chamber.ca)
The wide-ranging plan pledged to expedite the movement of goods. There will be screening of cargo from foreign countries to Canada and the U.S., so that it is screened just once for both nations, the document stated.
Some companies in either Canada or the U.S. that ship goods across the border will be given “trusted status” so that the shipment is pre-screened at the factory instead of the border.
Several Canadian manufacturing and trade organizations — including the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, Food & Consumer Products of Canada, the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce — welcomed the agreements. See detailed comments from these groups below.
Harper says the deals on perimeter security and regulatory harmonization represent the most significant steps forward in Canada-U.S. co-operation since the North American Free Trade Agreement.
In the text of a speech delivered after a meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington, Harper says the agreements create a “new, modern border for a new century.”
The prime minister says Canada shares U.S. security concerns, but he adds measures to deal with criminal and terrorist threats can thicken the border and hinder efforts to create jobs and growth.
He calls the border deals “practical steps to reverse that direction.”
Both countries agree the best way to deal with trouble is with smarter systems at the continental perimeter, minimizing multiple inspections of freight and baggage.
“We also believe that, just as threats should be stopped at the perimeter, trusted travellers should cross the border more quickly,” Harper said.
“Indeed, these priorities are complementary: The key that locks the door against terrorists also opens a wider gate to cross-border trade and travel.”
The second joint initiative will reduce regulatory barriers to trade by streamlining and aligning standards “where it makes sense to do so.”
“Naturally, in this area, as in all others, no loss of sovereignty is contemplated by either of our governments,” Harper said.
“Every rule needs a reason,” he added, and “where no adequate reason exists for a rule or standard, and that standard hinders us from doing business on both sides of the border, that rule needs to be re-examined.”
IT COMES AS WELCOME NEWS:
Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association: “We are very pleased,” said Mark Nantais, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, which represents such car companies as Ford, Chrysler and General Motors. “The direction is what the industry has asked for.”
"We have invested heavily as trusted traders," he said. "We want to make sure we get the full benefit of these programs and the fact that these programs are going to be more in line with the United States is exactly what we've been looking for. Execution in terms of these action plans is what we have to work on quickly."
The governments' pledge to harmonize standards for such goods as automobiles also pleased Nantais. "Over time there have been differences that add additional cost to industry for no real public benefit and only complicate matters in terms of compliance," he said. "Part of the exercise moving forward is to deal with existing regulatory differences and work toward a process for dealing with future regulatory development on a truly binational basis.(source)
Food & Consumer Products of Canada: “The plan released by Prime Minister Harper and President Obama is an exciting, and much needed step forward that will save taxpayers money and benefit Canadians with innovative products that are made in Canada. It will also help boost the economy, enable Canadian companies to better compete on the global stage, while maintaining Canadian sovereignty and the world-class safety and quality of the products Canadians trust.” (www.fcpc.ca)
The Chemistry Industry Association of Canada: “Canada’s chemistry industry sends 76 percent of its exports — more than $20 billion worth of products — to the U.S. every year,” says Richard Paton, CIAC’s President and CEO. “The measures outlined in the Border Action Plans are critical to keeping our industry competitive, and to strengthening Canada’s manufacturing sector.” (www.ccpa.ca)
Canadian Chamber of Commerce: “Sometimes governments get it right, and that’s the case today,” said Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. “Today’s announcement is a major victory for businesses and citizens on both sides of the border.” (www.chamber.ca)
Published in
Industry News
Wednesday, 14 December 2011 16:41
Backlash: Pipeline industry rejects notion Canadian pipelines are unsafe
Responding to a recent report that indicated potential gaps in regulatory oversight, the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA) says it does not in any way mean that the Canadian pipeline industry is unsafe.
"Commitment to safety is our industry's number one priority," the association said in a press release, responding to the report by the Federal Commissioner of the Environment and of Sustainable Development (covered in PEM recently). "It is in our best interest and of the public to operate a safe and reliable system. As a result of that commitment, we transport oil and gas products 365 days a year with a reliability factor of 99.98 percent. We are the safest mode of transportation of energy products."
The association says the industry assesses and adopts new technologies and shares best practices continuously: "Our industry has adopted the CEPA Integrity First Program, an industry-wide management system whose goal is to reach zero pipeline incidents. In fact, Canadian pipeline operators are responsible for having developed many state of the art technical advancements and our pipelines are among the safest in the world."
CEPA is very concerned when reports fail to provide context to their stories and create unnecessary public fears when the facts clearly show that the opposite is true.
"One of the assertions made is that aging pipelines are a problem in Canada," the release stated. "That is not true.
"Pipeline operators adopt different management procedures and controls based on the characteristics of a particular pipeline system including age. Similar to a home, a 50-year-old home can be as safe and livable as a five-year-old home if you adopt proper maintenance procedures."
As an industry that has built a vast network of energy highways for the past 60 years that has allowed Canadians to enjoy affordable, reliable and safe use of energy, the association is says it is proud of the industry's record and responsibilities to the public we serve.
CEPA represents Canada's transmission pipeline companies who operate more than 100,000 kilometres of pipeline in Canada and the United States. Its members transport 97 percent of Canada's daily crude oil and natural gas from producing regions to markets throughout North America.
www.cepa.com
"Commitment to safety is our industry's number one priority," the association said in a press release, responding to the report by the Federal Commissioner of the Environment and of Sustainable Development (covered in PEM recently). "It is in our best interest and of the public to operate a safe and reliable system. As a result of that commitment, we transport oil and gas products 365 days a year with a reliability factor of 99.98 percent. We are the safest mode of transportation of energy products."
The association says the industry assesses and adopts new technologies and shares best practices continuously: "Our industry has adopted the CEPA Integrity First Program, an industry-wide management system whose goal is to reach zero pipeline incidents. In fact, Canadian pipeline operators are responsible for having developed many state of the art technical advancements and our pipelines are among the safest in the world."
CEPA is very concerned when reports fail to provide context to their stories and create unnecessary public fears when the facts clearly show that the opposite is true.
"One of the assertions made is that aging pipelines are a problem in Canada," the release stated. "That is not true.
"Pipeline operators adopt different management procedures and controls based on the characteristics of a particular pipeline system including age. Similar to a home, a 50-year-old home can be as safe and livable as a five-year-old home if you adopt proper maintenance procedures."
As an industry that has built a vast network of energy highways for the past 60 years that has allowed Canadians to enjoy affordable, reliable and safe use of energy, the association is says it is proud of the industry's record and responsibilities to the public we serve.
CEPA represents Canada's transmission pipeline companies who operate more than 100,000 kilometres of pipeline in Canada and the United States. Its members transport 97 percent of Canada's daily crude oil and natural gas from producing regions to markets throughout North America.
www.cepa.com
Published in
News
Wednesday, 14 December 2011 16:03
Kuka Robotics Canada opens new Ontario facility
Kuka Robotics Canada has relocated to a new modern facility in Mississauga, Ont., which the company says offers customers an opportunity to experience KUKA’s latest robotic technology.
The facility is home to KUKA Robotics Canada’s sales, applications, service and engineering staff to support customers in reviewing applications and applying robotics technologies to improve productivity and quality while reducing costs and ergonomic related injuries. The fully equipped facility includes spare parts, training, and a demonstration area to provide customers with an opportunity for hands-on experiences with the latest technologies and products.
“The location is well-suited to Kuka's needs, allowing our Canadian team to offer greater support of products and services to KUKA's growing customer base," said Chris Claringbold, president of Kuka Robotics Canada.
“Our focus is to make sure our customers, both machine integrators and end-users, are provided an opportunity to learn about the latest advances in robotic technology and show them how we can help improve manufacturing productivity. We want to help Canadian manufacturers remain competitive and profitable in Canada.”
www.kukarobotics.com
The facility is home to KUKA Robotics Canada’s sales, applications, service and engineering staff to support customers in reviewing applications and applying robotics technologies to improve productivity and quality while reducing costs and ergonomic related injuries. The fully equipped facility includes spare parts, training, and a demonstration area to provide customers with an opportunity for hands-on experiences with the latest technologies and products.“The location is well-suited to Kuka's needs, allowing our Canadian team to offer greater support of products and services to KUKA's growing customer base," said Chris Claringbold, president of Kuka Robotics Canada.
“Our focus is to make sure our customers, both machine integrators and end-users, are provided an opportunity to learn about the latest advances in robotic technology and show them how we can help improve manufacturing productivity. We want to help Canadian manufacturers remain competitive and profitable in Canada.”
www.kukarobotics.com
Published in
Industry News
Monday, 19 December 2011 15:32
From Data to Action: Real-time asset information benefits everyone
Optimizing a mining process requires an initial understanding of all parties involved. It is important to know what is at stake from one process to the next and, just as important, to know the stakeholders. Whenever the implementation of a real-time maintenance management system is discussed, the most commonly identified groups are operations and maintenance departments.
However, limiting the stakeholders to these departments alone misses the bigger picture — ignoring several groups within mining organizations and the industry at large that benefit from the information gathered. Implementing a real-time maintenance system directly impacts several groups whose active involvement in the implementation process allows faster recognition of the inherent benefits.
Who holds a stake?
It is well established that maintenance managers rely heavily on information to develop long-term strategies. To ensure current equipment can meet future demands, managers require information on fleet reliability, cost and operating characteristics. Superintendents and supervisors implement maintenance plans based on priority, manpower and cost of repairs. Planners and schedulers work to predict preventive maintenance schedules, component replacement intervals and warrantee work based on the information provided them. Maintenance engineering groups desire the necessary data to understand and research opportunities for continuous improvement. Finally, mechanics desire to work efficiently, without constantly changing priorities.
Operations departments gain from maintenance planning, scheduling, diagnostics and predictive process optimizations. Operational managers and superintendents examine specific details of the mine plan, seeking ways equipment configurations can meet or surpass material movement goals. Field supervisors and fleet dispatchers require maintenance schedules for equipment rotation and daily plans to maximize their production goals. Lastly, operators depend on maintenance to provide equipment that operates safely and reliably.
Supporting departments play a huge role in the day-to-day and long-term plans of successful organizations. Tire shops, lube and fuel services, and reliability-centred maintenance (RCM) technicians all rely on operations and maintenance to work cohesively for operational and mechanical excellence. Tire life, rotations and budgeting are determined by reviewing available information. Inconsistent or non-existent data regarding tire life can cause large discrepancies in the operational budget. Lube and fueling operations provide the lifeblood of the equipment. Without information on fluid levels, production is compromised. RCM technicians ensure oil, vibration, ultrasound and thermal imaging, providing information back to the organization facilitating value-added decisions on machinery health. Without predictable schedules from maintenance, repairing or replacing onboard technology, or performing RCM tasks, adds to unscheduled downtime.
In modern mines, there are onsite groups ensuring the regulatory agencies expectations are exceeded. These reporting parties help maintenance and operations provide environmentally sound processes and employee safety. Safety departments audit and report on the organization’s ability to provide the safest equipment and working conditions for the employees. Environmental services must be able to view and report on carbon emissions and the success of the fluids management.
OEMs continuously strive to produce better components and outperform their competition. There are also opportunities for contract maintenance, which requires cost control and KPI tracking to maintain customer satisfaction. Providing real-time data to the experts leads to long-term maintenance success and, at times, information to help OEMs produce better products.
A real-time maintenance system with remote monitoring and data capturing abilities assists all of these stakeholders in achieving capacity assurance. The keys to its effectiveness — to a significant ROI — are the proper implementation and organizational participation. Once groups recognize they hold a stake, they must play their part and work together. Overall, maintenance management software is a steppingstone towards the integration of proactive maintenance into daily routines and continuous improvement.
What are the benefits?
Moving forward with an insertion of technology and data into the maintenance realm has numerous benefits, which allow an organization to move beyond the reactive practices of post-failure download diagnostic or having operators report abnormal conditions occurring onboard. The new proactive process is relatively easy to implement, providing immediate returns to the entire organization.
Furthermore, the remote data collection aspect of a maintenance system allows for an organization to institute reliability engineering or RCM practices in addition to the real-time maintenance. RCM implements engineering analysis of the operating characteristics of components and ensures resistance to failure, typically measured by mean time between failures (MTBF). Also, RCM implements the engineering analysis into a predictive model to identify the probability a failure is likely to occur. The focus on acting early will result in less repair time and lower repair costs, which translates to predictive maintenance.
Real-Time Benefits
In a fleet management system, all equipment has operational data captured regardless of type or model. Having all of these data gathered and displayed in one single software package optimizes the troubleshooting, actions and reporting, eliminating the need for separate software packages for each OEM. Real-time maintenance systems show active alarm conditions for all equipment regardless of manufacturer, immediate diagnostics for an active fault code through snapshots and the association of the troubleshooting or repair guides for alarms.
Viewing real-time raw sensor data can indicate the root cause of faults as well as parts necessary to fix, perform preventive maintenance (PM) inspections, or provide the details necessary to identify a larger issue — whose immediate correction could avoid a catastrophic failure. The application also reduces the time to dispatch a mechanic to an equipment unit or simply eliminates unnecessary trips. However, to limit the benefits to a single group or department will hinder acceptance; delaying deployment and ROI. Identifying and maximizing the benefits for each stakeholder will amplify the acceptance and shorten the timetable for successful implementation.
Remote Data Collection Features
Historical information and data collection for analysis can move an organization from reacting to alarm conditions in order to prevent an impending failure to a more proactive approach involving statistical analysis, component-level root-cause analysis and failure mode effects analysis. This is what is expected through historical analysis and research. The benefits typically are listed only to assist those directly assigned to ensure reliability. To ensure successful implementation, a stakeholder must again be aware of the entire organization and recognize all potential benefits of remote data collection.
Abnormal conditions can lead to larger failures or reduce the overall ability of equipment to perform at the desired level. Behind these alarms are the individual sensors with raw values triggering notifications. The context surrounding these signals provides the details necessary to prevent continual accumulation of abnormal conditions. While sensor information is critical, detailed logs for unscheduled downtime events are also necessary to better understand opportunities for improvement. Time tracking allows detailed information that can be related back to the abnormal or alarm conditions being captured in the system.
Temperatures, pressures, speed and operating conditions, among other factors, are critical to understanding the history behind the capacity of a particular component, and whether it is achieving the desired productivity and/or life cycle. When looking to implement technology to improve performance or reduce costs, looking beyond just maintenance benefits will ensure success.
Real-time maintenance systems are designed to allow users to take raw data and convert that into information — and to then take action. This concept is used frequently, and it should be a focus for an organization considering maintenance management technologies. All this should come back to benefits. A system’s ability to turn data into information and information into action should benefit as many groups inside the organization as possible. Implementation without organizational buy-in is possible, but with microscopic tracking of return on investments, it is not probable. Once groups recognize they are stakeholders in the implementation, that there are qualitative and quantitative benefits to all parties, organizational buy-in and acceptance is achievable. The entire organization participating and benefiting from the decision to implement technology into their maintenance program will ultimately provide a sustainable and repeatable predictive/preventive maintenance ratio. When the ratio is sustainable and repeatable, the entire organization is successful.
Justin Johnsen is the maintenance product manager at Modular Mining Systems Inc. For more information, visit www.mmsi.com.
However, limiting the stakeholders to these departments alone misses the bigger picture — ignoring several groups within mining organizations and the industry at large that benefit from the information gathered. Implementing a real-time maintenance system directly impacts several groups whose active involvement in the implementation process allows faster recognition of the inherent benefits.
Who holds a stake?
It is well established that maintenance managers rely heavily on information to develop long-term strategies. To ensure current equipment can meet future demands, managers require information on fleet reliability, cost and operating characteristics. Superintendents and supervisors implement maintenance plans based on priority, manpower and cost of repairs. Planners and schedulers work to predict preventive maintenance schedules, component replacement intervals and warrantee work based on the information provided them. Maintenance engineering groups desire the necessary data to understand and research opportunities for continuous improvement. Finally, mechanics desire to work efficiently, without constantly changing priorities.
Operations departments gain from maintenance planning, scheduling, diagnostics and predictive process optimizations. Operational managers and superintendents examine specific details of the mine plan, seeking ways equipment configurations can meet or surpass material movement goals. Field supervisors and fleet dispatchers require maintenance schedules for equipment rotation and daily plans to maximize their production goals. Lastly, operators depend on maintenance to provide equipment that operates safely and reliably.
Supporting departments play a huge role in the day-to-day and long-term plans of successful organizations. Tire shops, lube and fuel services, and reliability-centred maintenance (RCM) technicians all rely on operations and maintenance to work cohesively for operational and mechanical excellence. Tire life, rotations and budgeting are determined by reviewing available information. Inconsistent or non-existent data regarding tire life can cause large discrepancies in the operational budget. Lube and fueling operations provide the lifeblood of the equipment. Without information on fluid levels, production is compromised. RCM technicians ensure oil, vibration, ultrasound and thermal imaging, providing information back to the organization facilitating value-added decisions on machinery health. Without predictable schedules from maintenance, repairing or replacing onboard technology, or performing RCM tasks, adds to unscheduled downtime.
In modern mines, there are onsite groups ensuring the regulatory agencies expectations are exceeded. These reporting parties help maintenance and operations provide environmentally sound processes and employee safety. Safety departments audit and report on the organization’s ability to provide the safest equipment and working conditions for the employees. Environmental services must be able to view and report on carbon emissions and the success of the fluids management.
OEMs continuously strive to produce better components and outperform their competition. There are also opportunities for contract maintenance, which requires cost control and KPI tracking to maintain customer satisfaction. Providing real-time data to the experts leads to long-term maintenance success and, at times, information to help OEMs produce better products.
A real-time maintenance system with remote monitoring and data capturing abilities assists all of these stakeholders in achieving capacity assurance. The keys to its effectiveness — to a significant ROI — are the proper implementation and organizational participation. Once groups recognize they hold a stake, they must play their part and work together. Overall, maintenance management software is a steppingstone towards the integration of proactive maintenance into daily routines and continuous improvement.
What are the benefits?
Moving forward with an insertion of technology and data into the maintenance realm has numerous benefits, which allow an organization to move beyond the reactive practices of post-failure download diagnostic or having operators report abnormal conditions occurring onboard. The new proactive process is relatively easy to implement, providing immediate returns to the entire organization.
Furthermore, the remote data collection aspect of a maintenance system allows for an organization to institute reliability engineering or RCM practices in addition to the real-time maintenance. RCM implements engineering analysis of the operating characteristics of components and ensures resistance to failure, typically measured by mean time between failures (MTBF). Also, RCM implements the engineering analysis into a predictive model to identify the probability a failure is likely to occur. The focus on acting early will result in less repair time and lower repair costs, which translates to predictive maintenance.
Real-Time Benefits
In a fleet management system, all equipment has operational data captured regardless of type or model. Having all of these data gathered and displayed in one single software package optimizes the troubleshooting, actions and reporting, eliminating the need for separate software packages for each OEM. Real-time maintenance systems show active alarm conditions for all equipment regardless of manufacturer, immediate diagnostics for an active fault code through snapshots and the association of the troubleshooting or repair guides for alarms.
Viewing real-time raw sensor data can indicate the root cause of faults as well as parts necessary to fix, perform preventive maintenance (PM) inspections, or provide the details necessary to identify a larger issue — whose immediate correction could avoid a catastrophic failure. The application also reduces the time to dispatch a mechanic to an equipment unit or simply eliminates unnecessary trips. However, to limit the benefits to a single group or department will hinder acceptance; delaying deployment and ROI. Identifying and maximizing the benefits for each stakeholder will amplify the acceptance and shorten the timetable for successful implementation.
Remote Data Collection Features
Historical information and data collection for analysis can move an organization from reacting to alarm conditions in order to prevent an impending failure to a more proactive approach involving statistical analysis, component-level root-cause analysis and failure mode effects analysis. This is what is expected through historical analysis and research. The benefits typically are listed only to assist those directly assigned to ensure reliability. To ensure successful implementation, a stakeholder must again be aware of the entire organization and recognize all potential benefits of remote data collection.
Abnormal conditions can lead to larger failures or reduce the overall ability of equipment to perform at the desired level. Behind these alarms are the individual sensors with raw values triggering notifications. The context surrounding these signals provides the details necessary to prevent continual accumulation of abnormal conditions. While sensor information is critical, detailed logs for unscheduled downtime events are also necessary to better understand opportunities for improvement. Time tracking allows detailed information that can be related back to the abnormal or alarm conditions being captured in the system.
Temperatures, pressures, speed and operating conditions, among other factors, are critical to understanding the history behind the capacity of a particular component, and whether it is achieving the desired productivity and/or life cycle. When looking to implement technology to improve performance or reduce costs, looking beyond just maintenance benefits will ensure success.
Real-time maintenance systems are designed to allow users to take raw data and convert that into information — and to then take action. This concept is used frequently, and it should be a focus for an organization considering maintenance management technologies. All this should come back to benefits. A system’s ability to turn data into information and information into action should benefit as many groups inside the organization as possible. Implementation without organizational buy-in is possible, but with microscopic tracking of return on investments, it is not probable. Once groups recognize they are stakeholders in the implementation, that there are qualitative and quantitative benefits to all parties, organizational buy-in and acceptance is achievable. The entire organization participating and benefiting from the decision to implement technology into their maintenance program will ultimately provide a sustainable and repeatable predictive/preventive maintenance ratio. When the ratio is sustainable and repeatable, the entire organization is successful.
Justin Johnsen is the maintenance product manager at Modular Mining Systems Inc. For more information, visit www.mmsi.com.
Published in
Features
Tuesday, 13 December 2011 15:27
Risky Business: The risk analysis game is changing right under our noses
Have asset-intensive industries learned anything from recent disasters and world events? Because the risk analysis game is not just for oil & gas companies.
Organizations around the world have grown in size and spread across the globe over several years with the nature, scale and range of operations changing with newer technologies and processes. In the face of increasing competition and demand, organizations, especially in highly asset-intensive industries like oil & gas, utilities, and discrete and process manufacturing, have ramped up their output generation by expanding their operational, production and distribution facilities and channels.
The risk analysis game is changing right under our noses, and not for the better. The resource industry, for example, may be grossly underestimating its potential liabilities. Over the years, potential liabilities from accidents have jumped from calculable with a decent level of certainty to incalculable with a high degree of uncertainty. Risk analysis and risk management are struggling to keep up.
Numerically speaking, risk can be simplified to a formula: anticipated cost multiplied by likelihood or, if deemed likely, multiplied by frequency. Common sense tells us, however, these estimates and predictions will never be easy. Actual costs from roughly similar operating failures and accidents can vary from a few million dollars to more than a billion dollars, an enormous range to fit into any calculation. Because they require predicting the future, likelihood/frequency can be even harder to quantify.
Among many other imponderables in risk analysis are the consequences of on-the-spot operational decisions that have enormously different consequences. An example comes from two drilling rigs owned by Transocean Ltd., one of the world’s largest offshore drilling contractors, and decisions made just a few days apart in April 2010. The decisions were to replacing drilling fluids (“mud”) with seawater, a common practice in offshore operations. On both rigs, blowouts occurred.
The blowout on one rig, Sedco 711 in the North Sea, was contained by the rig’s blowout preventer; there were no serious injuries and damage was less than US$10 million. The other blowout was the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. As it caught fire, exploded and sank, 11 workers died. For BP, to which Transocean had contracted Deepwater Horizon, that disaster has led to pretax charges against earnings of US$43.5 billion as of May 2011.
Virtually all industry players are rethinking how they design, engineer and build for the Gulf of Mexico. The same is true for Canada’s sprawling oilsands in Northern Alberta and the pipeline projects that get this oil to market.
Technological advances need to go hand in hand with changes in corporate culture. Designers need to speak out about risks they perceive and explain why they are skeptical. Risk analysts and risk managers need to be more open to the skeptics and be more skeptical themselves about safety margins, engineering rules of thumb, and industry standards that have been in use for many years.
Upper managements need to allocate time and money in globally competitive marketplaces for deep dives into real-world risks and liabilities, and ascertaining the ramifications of responsibilities and decisions.
In oil & gas, engineers are tasked with designing equipment that grows bigger and more complex every year. As every engineer is taught, uncertainty can grow geometrically, and perhaps even exponentially, as size and complexity increase. Layers of uncertainty pile on — starting with who really, deep down, fully understands how these enormous new oil & gas structures work. Economy of scale leads to mammoth projects to extract hydrocarbons profitably from increasingly difficult places.
Industry standards, safety factors and rules of thumb have a built-in bias toward incremental steps and away from innovation. And in part due to litigation, a hostile media and unfriendly regulators, risk taking is being discouraged just when it’s most needed. Unfortunately these challenges aren’t going away anytime soon. From a business perspective, however, understanding risks properly can be an opportunity to differentiate one’s firm from the competition.
Risk-analysis experts are fully aware that many time-honored guidelines no longer stand up to scrutiny. Common sense tells us these guidelines bear hidden risks of their own; over-reliance on them makes iffy situations worse. This adds up to what SimuTech Group regards as Exhibit A for the transformation in the ways we look at risk.
Engineering-intensive organizations, such as SimuTech Group, are being contracted more frequently to apply the latest numerical techniques and solutions — especially for analytics, the science of understanding inherent behaviors of systems. Our insights, based on decades of experience, are sought by many oil & gas companies to beef up their internal risk-analysis processes.
Over the past 20-plus years, we have learned that nothing is ever foolproof. Nor are there any straightforward, easily grasped answers, much as we wish there were. We at SimuTech Group believe the oil & gas industry has entered a new era of risk analysis and risk management. In this new era, anything may be dangerous if its engineering relies on outdated company safety margins/factors, obsolete engineering rules of thumb, or industry standards that no longer apply. We can help build the requisite body of knowledge, put it through peer review and then transfer that knowledge to the users’ simulation tools and, finally, add it to their best practices.
There are four fundamental factors in up-to-date risk analyses:
This means conventional, tried-and-true risk metrics cannot reliably assess the scale, scope and magnitude of foreseeable impacts — especially if the metrics are simply based on the costs of reimbursing customers for failed components, assemblies or systems.
Constraining the liability metrics to a bill of materials is completely inadequate and unrealistic. This blinkered approach can lead to grossly underestimating potential impacts. This is why traditional risk analysis is losing ground to the more predictive approach of failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA).
Other factors are at work in the persistent underestimation of risk. At the leading edge in any industry, accidents happen more frequently than across the entire industry; this is obscured by industry averages commonly used to calculate risks. Historical industry data underestimate future costs of spills, blowouts, fires and rig explosions; some indirect costs may have been left out.
Conventional risk analyses usually represent too conservative a view of conditions in the field, and often embody outdated views of components and systems. This gets to an engineering and risk-analysis paradox: What seems like a prudent, and even cautious, approach itself has hidden risks, in some of them unacceptably high.
Risk lies at the heart of engineering. For us at SimuTech Group dealing successfully with risk is the heart of engineering, and thus at the heart of innovation as well.
What to do? Start with words, numbers and expertise. “Failures in waiting” is a much more descriptive, and more accurate, way to characterize risks than “potential liabilities.” Viewing risk as the sum of potential liabilities can never suffice. It’s too easy to ignore or rationalize away, and won’t grab the attention of hard-pressed upper managements. “Potential” merely implies a probabilistic eventuality, a statistical function, a bell-shaped curve. Statistics, dry or otherwise, rarely change the course of events except maybe after the fact, when it’s too late.
Then insist on questioning all the numbers in every risk evaluation. That won’t be easy, of course, but avoiding euphemisms in favor of more compelling terminology should help garner the necessary support in time, data and budget. And finally, outside expertise can be of enormous value. n
Robb Knock is the regional director of SimuTech Group Inc. in Calgary, and he can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For more information, visit www.simutechgroup.com.
Organizations around the world have grown in size and spread across the globe over several years with the nature, scale and range of operations changing with newer technologies and processes. In the face of increasing competition and demand, organizations, especially in highly asset-intensive industries like oil & gas, utilities, and discrete and process manufacturing, have ramped up their output generation by expanding their operational, production and distribution facilities and channels.
The risk analysis game is changing right under our noses, and not for the better. The resource industry, for example, may be grossly underestimating its potential liabilities. Over the years, potential liabilities from accidents have jumped from calculable with a decent level of certainty to incalculable with a high degree of uncertainty. Risk analysis and risk management are struggling to keep up.
Numerically speaking, risk can be simplified to a formula: anticipated cost multiplied by likelihood or, if deemed likely, multiplied by frequency. Common sense tells us, however, these estimates and predictions will never be easy. Actual costs from roughly similar operating failures and accidents can vary from a few million dollars to more than a billion dollars, an enormous range to fit into any calculation. Because they require predicting the future, likelihood/frequency can be even harder to quantify.
Among many other imponderables in risk analysis are the consequences of on-the-spot operational decisions that have enormously different consequences. An example comes from two drilling rigs owned by Transocean Ltd., one of the world’s largest offshore drilling contractors, and decisions made just a few days apart in April 2010. The decisions were to replacing drilling fluids (“mud”) with seawater, a common practice in offshore operations. On both rigs, blowouts occurred.
The blowout on one rig, Sedco 711 in the North Sea, was contained by the rig’s blowout preventer; there were no serious injuries and damage was less than US$10 million. The other blowout was the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. As it caught fire, exploded and sank, 11 workers died. For BP, to which Transocean had contracted Deepwater Horizon, that disaster has led to pretax charges against earnings of US$43.5 billion as of May 2011.
Virtually all industry players are rethinking how they design, engineer and build for the Gulf of Mexico. The same is true for Canada’s sprawling oilsands in Northern Alberta and the pipeline projects that get this oil to market.
Technological advances need to go hand in hand with changes in corporate culture. Designers need to speak out about risks they perceive and explain why they are skeptical. Risk analysts and risk managers need to be more open to the skeptics and be more skeptical themselves about safety margins, engineering rules of thumb, and industry standards that have been in use for many years.
Upper managements need to allocate time and money in globally competitive marketplaces for deep dives into real-world risks and liabilities, and ascertaining the ramifications of responsibilities and decisions.
In oil & gas, engineers are tasked with designing equipment that grows bigger and more complex every year. As every engineer is taught, uncertainty can grow geometrically, and perhaps even exponentially, as size and complexity increase. Layers of uncertainty pile on — starting with who really, deep down, fully understands how these enormous new oil & gas structures work. Economy of scale leads to mammoth projects to extract hydrocarbons profitably from increasingly difficult places.
Industry standards, safety factors and rules of thumb have a built-in bias toward incremental steps and away from innovation. And in part due to litigation, a hostile media and unfriendly regulators, risk taking is being discouraged just when it’s most needed. Unfortunately these challenges aren’t going away anytime soon. From a business perspective, however, understanding risks properly can be an opportunity to differentiate one’s firm from the competition.
Risk-analysis experts are fully aware that many time-honored guidelines no longer stand up to scrutiny. Common sense tells us these guidelines bear hidden risks of their own; over-reliance on them makes iffy situations worse. This adds up to what SimuTech Group regards as Exhibit A for the transformation in the ways we look at risk.
Engineering-intensive organizations, such as SimuTech Group, are being contracted more frequently to apply the latest numerical techniques and solutions — especially for analytics, the science of understanding inherent behaviors of systems. Our insights, based on decades of experience, are sought by many oil & gas companies to beef up their internal risk-analysis processes.
Over the past 20-plus years, we have learned that nothing is ever foolproof. Nor are there any straightforward, easily grasped answers, much as we wish there were. We at SimuTech Group believe the oil & gas industry has entered a new era of risk analysis and risk management. In this new era, anything may be dangerous if its engineering relies on outdated company safety margins/factors, obsolete engineering rules of thumb, or industry standards that no longer apply. We can help build the requisite body of knowledge, put it through peer review and then transfer that knowledge to the users’ simulation tools and, finally, add it to their best practices.
There are four fundamental factors in up-to-date risk analyses:
- Accidents and spills, even in remote areas, are televised and often go viral on YouTube and other social media.
- There is no real security for corporate and professional reputations in conforming to guidelines, yesterday’s or today’s. Many once-reliable margins, rules and standards have been made irrelevant. They are industry road kill, kicked to the curb by technology, economics and the steady accumulation of experience and understanding of the systems and components we build.
- Caps on damage liabilities, statutory or otherwise, have been made meaningless by litigation, especially in the U.S. Litigation can dwarf all the other costs of an accident combined; for engineers, it is becoming the risk factor.
- Liabilities have become open ended and can quickly can add two or three zeroes to a company’s exposure.
This means conventional, tried-and-true risk metrics cannot reliably assess the scale, scope and magnitude of foreseeable impacts — especially if the metrics are simply based on the costs of reimbursing customers for failed components, assemblies or systems.
Constraining the liability metrics to a bill of materials is completely inadequate and unrealistic. This blinkered approach can lead to grossly underestimating potential impacts. This is why traditional risk analysis is losing ground to the more predictive approach of failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA).
Other factors are at work in the persistent underestimation of risk. At the leading edge in any industry, accidents happen more frequently than across the entire industry; this is obscured by industry averages commonly used to calculate risks. Historical industry data underestimate future costs of spills, blowouts, fires and rig explosions; some indirect costs may have been left out.
Conventional risk analyses usually represent too conservative a view of conditions in the field, and often embody outdated views of components and systems. This gets to an engineering and risk-analysis paradox: What seems like a prudent, and even cautious, approach itself has hidden risks, in some of them unacceptably high.
Risk lies at the heart of engineering. For us at SimuTech Group dealing successfully with risk is the heart of engineering, and thus at the heart of innovation as well.
What to do? Start with words, numbers and expertise. “Failures in waiting” is a much more descriptive, and more accurate, way to characterize risks than “potential liabilities.” Viewing risk as the sum of potential liabilities can never suffice. It’s too easy to ignore or rationalize away, and won’t grab the attention of hard-pressed upper managements. “Potential” merely implies a probabilistic eventuality, a statistical function, a bell-shaped curve. Statistics, dry or otherwise, rarely change the course of events except maybe after the fact, when it’s too late.
Then insist on questioning all the numbers in every risk evaluation. That won’t be easy, of course, but avoiding euphemisms in favor of more compelling terminology should help garner the necessary support in time, data and budget. And finally, outside expertise can be of enormous value. n
Robb Knock is the regional director of SimuTech Group Inc. in Calgary, and he can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For more information, visit www.simutechgroup.com.
Published in
Features
Sunday, 18 December 2011 15:21
Can You Dig It? Advanced shovel-monitoring systems reduce downtime
For many modern open-pit mines, shovels are one of the most critical components in the production process. These multi-million-dollar machines are the first to handle the material before transporting and processing begins. Because of this, the shovel must be closely monitored to avoid any unnecessary downtime and to ensure it is in peak operating condition. Any unnecessary downtime can cost a mine thousands of dollars per hour in lost production time.
One of the common causes of shovel downtime for many mines is worn or missing shovel teeth or adaptors. Operating with worn teeth reduces the performance of the shovel, resulting in increased energy usage, slower operation and an increased likelihood of missing teeth or adaptors.
Replacing the worn teeth must be carefully planned as an unplanned change-out can result in up to two hours of unexpected downtime. When factoring in the opportunity cost of lost production, a 2009 case study of an American copper mine determined that the total cost of an unplanned change-out is US$41,368 — compared to US$3,000 for a planned change-out.
In hard-rock mining, such as iron or copper ore mining, it is not uncommon for the shovel teeth to go missing in normal operation. During the digging cycle, the extreme forces can cause the teeth to break off completely and become mixed with the loaded material. Big problems occur when a load with a shovel tooth accidentally makes its way to the crusher. Because the shovel teeth are made of a very durable metal, when a tooth enters the crusher, it jams the crusher and can disable it for hours or even days at a time. If the mine has no other primary crushers or has little or no stockpile of crushed ore to feed the next stages of production at the time, the mine production could be put to a complete halt, which can result in millions of dollars in lost production time for every occurrence.
To address issues with worn or missing shovel teeth or adaptors, a Canadian company, Motion Metrics International Corp., has developed two innovative tooth monitoring solutions: ToothMetrics and WearMetrics. The ToothMetrics system constantly monitors the shovel teeth with advanced image processing techniques and artificial intelligence algorithms, and alerts the shovel operator when a shovel tooth or adaptor is missing. Once detected, the tooth or adaptor can be located and prevented from reaching the crusher. The WearMetrics system automatically monitors the shovel tooth-wear and provides the status of each shovel tooth by displaying the remaining length of the tooth expressed as a percentage of the original length. This assists the mine engineers in planning teeth replacements, and helps avoid any unplanned change-outs. Both solutions share the same rugged embedded CPU platform and hardware components, reducing the total cost of ownership for any mine.
The system works by installing a rugged camera mounted on the boom of an electric rope shovel or on the stick of a hydraulic face shovel. The high-sensitivity, monochrome camera provides a clear view of the shovel teeth directly to the embedded CPU, which is installed in the shovel operator’s cab. Due to intense shock and vibration experienced by the shovel during operation, Motion Metrics has designed shock-absorbing camera brackets specifically for each different type of shovel, including P&H and Bucyrus/CAT electric rope shovels, as well as Komatsu, Liebherr, Terex/CAT, Hitachi and other makes of hydraulic shovels.
The open-pit mining environment is also subject to a number of environmental conditions such as dirt, dust and varying lighting conditions, a key challenge for any mining system to deliver consistent results. To counter lighting variations, a heavy-duty, high-intensity LED light is installed alongside the camera to illuminate the shovel teeth during night operations. Advanced artificial intelligence algorithms continuously monitor the incoming video to exclude images when the view of the teeth is blocked by dirt, dust or shadows and select only optimal images for tooth analysis.
Building on this successful shovel-monitoring platform, Motion Metrics has added the optional safety and collision avoidance components: ViewMetrics and RadarMetrics. Due to the sheer size and vast blind spots of mining shovels, the frequent and swift swinging action of the shovel is a common concern for open-pit shovel operations as there is always a risk of collision with other equipment or personnel working in close proximity.
The ViewMetrics addition provides the shovel operator with three additional wide-angle surveillance views around the shovel blind spots in the left, right, and rear of the shovel for greater visibility. RadarMetrics enhances the operator’s awareness even more by providing intelligent proximity sensing and active feedback to the operator. This addition seamlessly combines a strategically placed array of heavy-duty pulsed radar sensors with the three surveillance views from ViewMetrics to provide visual and audible alerts to the operator when an object enters the shovel’s swing radius. Optional warning lights can also be installed around the shovel to extend the warning to any nearby equipment or personnel, providing an extra level of safety. This unique patent-pending approach, according to Motion Metrics, is the “only collision avoidance system for mining shovels [that] takes into account the swing radius of the shovel when alerting the shovel operator.” This additional level of intelligence helps eliminate unnecessary alarms that would otherwise be distracting to the operator.
As real estate in the operator’s cab is limited, the company has managed to integrate all five of the shovel monitoring solutions mentioned above into a single embedded CPU platform and a 12-inch touchscreen display installed in the cab.
The operator-oriented interface displays the shovel bucket camera view from the ToothMetrics and WearMetrics systems, along with the three surveillance views from the ViewMetrics systems. As an object enters the shovel’s swing radius, RadarMetrics displays a graphical bird’s-eye view of the shovel to indicate the direction and proximity of the object, and also makes an audible alarm to grab the shovel operator’s attention.
Motion Metrics is also a provider of payload monitoring systems for large hydraulic mining shovels, such as the Terex/CAT RH340/400 and the Komatsu PC8000. Many mines only have weighing systems on their haul trucks, but this makes it difficult for the shovel operator to know when a truck is being overloaded, since the weight will not be known before the load is in the truck. Furthermore, many truck scales require the truck to be in motion before the weighing system is able to provide an accurate measurement. To prevent voiding the manufacturer’s warranty, overloaded trucks must dump their load immediately, resulting in a significant loss of productivity, as the same load will need to be reworked and loaded a second time. On the other hand, underloaded trucks requires the truck to make more trips, thereby increasing the mine’s haulage cost per ton.
One of the key features of the LoadMetrics system is to provide the bucket-by-bucket payload information directly to the shovel operator, allowing the operator to determine whether dumping the current load will overload or underload the haul truck. The system also provides helpful warnings to the operator when the shovel is reaching its cylinder extension or retraction limits. Repeated over-extending or retracting of the shovel’s hydraulic cylinders can cause the cylinders to burst, thus requiring premature replacements.
As a crucial element in open-pit mining operations, shovels should be closely monitored to maximize productivity and minimize downtime. The cost of any unnecessary downtime can easily cost the mine thousands or millions of dollars in lost production time. To address many of these challenges, Motion Metrics has developed a unique collection of shovel monitoring solutions. Their proven systems have been installed in various combinations in over 150 mining shovels and in over 30 mines around the world since 2003.
Enoch Chow is the marketing manager with Motion Metrics International Corp. For more information, visit www.motionmetrics.com.
One of the common causes of shovel downtime for many mines is worn or missing shovel teeth or adaptors. Operating with worn teeth reduces the performance of the shovel, resulting in increased energy usage, slower operation and an increased likelihood of missing teeth or adaptors.
Replacing the worn teeth must be carefully planned as an unplanned change-out can result in up to two hours of unexpected downtime. When factoring in the opportunity cost of lost production, a 2009 case study of an American copper mine determined that the total cost of an unplanned change-out is US$41,368 — compared to US$3,000 for a planned change-out.
In hard-rock mining, such as iron or copper ore mining, it is not uncommon for the shovel teeth to go missing in normal operation. During the digging cycle, the extreme forces can cause the teeth to break off completely and become mixed with the loaded material. Big problems occur when a load with a shovel tooth accidentally makes its way to the crusher. Because the shovel teeth are made of a very durable metal, when a tooth enters the crusher, it jams the crusher and can disable it for hours or even days at a time. If the mine has no other primary crushers or has little or no stockpile of crushed ore to feed the next stages of production at the time, the mine production could be put to a complete halt, which can result in millions of dollars in lost production time for every occurrence.
To address issues with worn or missing shovel teeth or adaptors, a Canadian company, Motion Metrics International Corp., has developed two innovative tooth monitoring solutions: ToothMetrics and WearMetrics. The ToothMetrics system constantly monitors the shovel teeth with advanced image processing techniques and artificial intelligence algorithms, and alerts the shovel operator when a shovel tooth or adaptor is missing. Once detected, the tooth or adaptor can be located and prevented from reaching the crusher. The WearMetrics system automatically monitors the shovel tooth-wear and provides the status of each shovel tooth by displaying the remaining length of the tooth expressed as a percentage of the original length. This assists the mine engineers in planning teeth replacements, and helps avoid any unplanned change-outs. Both solutions share the same rugged embedded CPU platform and hardware components, reducing the total cost of ownership for any mine.
The system works by installing a rugged camera mounted on the boom of an electric rope shovel or on the stick of a hydraulic face shovel. The high-sensitivity, monochrome camera provides a clear view of the shovel teeth directly to the embedded CPU, which is installed in the shovel operator’s cab. Due to intense shock and vibration experienced by the shovel during operation, Motion Metrics has designed shock-absorbing camera brackets specifically for each different type of shovel, including P&H and Bucyrus/CAT electric rope shovels, as well as Komatsu, Liebherr, Terex/CAT, Hitachi and other makes of hydraulic shovels.
The open-pit mining environment is also subject to a number of environmental conditions such as dirt, dust and varying lighting conditions, a key challenge for any mining system to deliver consistent results. To counter lighting variations, a heavy-duty, high-intensity LED light is installed alongside the camera to illuminate the shovel teeth during night operations. Advanced artificial intelligence algorithms continuously monitor the incoming video to exclude images when the view of the teeth is blocked by dirt, dust or shadows and select only optimal images for tooth analysis.
Building on this successful shovel-monitoring platform, Motion Metrics has added the optional safety and collision avoidance components: ViewMetrics and RadarMetrics. Due to the sheer size and vast blind spots of mining shovels, the frequent and swift swinging action of the shovel is a common concern for open-pit shovel operations as there is always a risk of collision with other equipment or personnel working in close proximity.
The ViewMetrics addition provides the shovel operator with three additional wide-angle surveillance views around the shovel blind spots in the left, right, and rear of the shovel for greater visibility. RadarMetrics enhances the operator’s awareness even more by providing intelligent proximity sensing and active feedback to the operator. This addition seamlessly combines a strategically placed array of heavy-duty pulsed radar sensors with the three surveillance views from ViewMetrics to provide visual and audible alerts to the operator when an object enters the shovel’s swing radius. Optional warning lights can also be installed around the shovel to extend the warning to any nearby equipment or personnel, providing an extra level of safety. This unique patent-pending approach, according to Motion Metrics, is the “only collision avoidance system for mining shovels [that] takes into account the swing radius of the shovel when alerting the shovel operator.” This additional level of intelligence helps eliminate unnecessary alarms that would otherwise be distracting to the operator.
As real estate in the operator’s cab is limited, the company has managed to integrate all five of the shovel monitoring solutions mentioned above into a single embedded CPU platform and a 12-inch touchscreen display installed in the cab.
The operator-oriented interface displays the shovel bucket camera view from the ToothMetrics and WearMetrics systems, along with the three surveillance views from the ViewMetrics systems. As an object enters the shovel’s swing radius, RadarMetrics displays a graphical bird’s-eye view of the shovel to indicate the direction and proximity of the object, and also makes an audible alarm to grab the shovel operator’s attention.
Motion Metrics is also a provider of payload monitoring systems for large hydraulic mining shovels, such as the Terex/CAT RH340/400 and the Komatsu PC8000. Many mines only have weighing systems on their haul trucks, but this makes it difficult for the shovel operator to know when a truck is being overloaded, since the weight will not be known before the load is in the truck. Furthermore, many truck scales require the truck to be in motion before the weighing system is able to provide an accurate measurement. To prevent voiding the manufacturer’s warranty, overloaded trucks must dump their load immediately, resulting in a significant loss of productivity, as the same load will need to be reworked and loaded a second time. On the other hand, underloaded trucks requires the truck to make more trips, thereby increasing the mine’s haulage cost per ton.
One of the key features of the LoadMetrics system is to provide the bucket-by-bucket payload information directly to the shovel operator, allowing the operator to determine whether dumping the current load will overload or underload the haul truck. The system also provides helpful warnings to the operator when the shovel is reaching its cylinder extension or retraction limits. Repeated over-extending or retracting of the shovel’s hydraulic cylinders can cause the cylinders to burst, thus requiring premature replacements.
As a crucial element in open-pit mining operations, shovels should be closely monitored to maximize productivity and minimize downtime. The cost of any unnecessary downtime can easily cost the mine thousands or millions of dollars in lost production time. To address many of these challenges, Motion Metrics has developed a unique collection of shovel monitoring solutions. Their proven systems have been installed in various combinations in over 150 mining shovels and in over 30 mines around the world since 2003.
Enoch Chow is the marketing manager with Motion Metrics International Corp. For more information, visit www.motionmetrics.com.
Published in
Features
Monday, 12 December 2011 16:40
Rockwell launches online, mobile app energy-saving calculators
A new tool from Rockwell Automation conveniently allows manufacturers to use mobile devices or computers to calculate potential savings derived from variable frequency drives to power pumps and fans. Manufacturers can use the online energy savings calculator or download the free mobile application to their iPad, iPhone, Blackberry or Android systems (see links below).
With this new tool, users can compare conventional methods, such as valves for pump control and dampers for fan control, to variable frequency drives and see estimated cost savings of installing an Allen-Bradley PowerFlex drive. The tool offers two ways to calculate energy consumption. Users can enter the minimum pump or flow percentages, annual operating hours, cost per kilowatt and other information about their own factory, or use the sample data provided by Rockwell Automation built into the tool.
“We’re committed to providing a comprehensive approach to meeting companies’ sustainability objectives to reduce energy waste,” said Doug Weber, business development manager, Rockwell Automation. “That’s why we designed these simple, online and mobile calculators. Now manufacturers can quickly and easily plug in information about their own systems to discover energy-savings opportunities, which is often the first step in pursuing them.”
The tool is part of the Rockwell Automation Intelligent Motor Control portfolio, which helps manufacturers easily access and control their motor assets. The technology behind Intelligent Motor Control – including variable frequency drives, intelligent software and condition-monitoring devices – helps manufacturers improve motor control performance for greater overall production efficiency.
“With the increasing prices of energy, manufacturing executives can no longer ignore the impact energy reductions can have on an organization's bottom line,” explains Nuris Ismail, senior research associate, Aberdeen Group. “We’ve found that business capabilities and tools designed to cut wasteful energy consumption can help them surpass energy and operating margin goals, as well as improve their operating equipment effectiveness by as much as 89 percent.”
www.rockwellenergycalc.com
Download information:
• Pump Energy Savings Calculator for Android
• Pump Energy Savings Calculator for iPhone and iPad
• Fan Energy Savings Calculator for Android
• Fan Energy Savings Calculator for iPhone and iPad
With this new tool, users can compare conventional methods, such as valves for pump control and dampers for fan control, to variable frequency drives and see estimated cost savings of installing an Allen-Bradley PowerFlex drive. The tool offers two ways to calculate energy consumption. Users can enter the minimum pump or flow percentages, annual operating hours, cost per kilowatt and other information about their own factory, or use the sample data provided by Rockwell Automation built into the tool.
“We’re committed to providing a comprehensive approach to meeting companies’ sustainability objectives to reduce energy waste,” said Doug Weber, business development manager, Rockwell Automation. “That’s why we designed these simple, online and mobile calculators. Now manufacturers can quickly and easily plug in information about their own systems to discover energy-savings opportunities, which is often the first step in pursuing them.”
The tool is part of the Rockwell Automation Intelligent Motor Control portfolio, which helps manufacturers easily access and control their motor assets. The technology behind Intelligent Motor Control – including variable frequency drives, intelligent software and condition-monitoring devices – helps manufacturers improve motor control performance for greater overall production efficiency.
“With the increasing prices of energy, manufacturing executives can no longer ignore the impact energy reductions can have on an organization's bottom line,” explains Nuris Ismail, senior research associate, Aberdeen Group. “We’ve found that business capabilities and tools designed to cut wasteful energy consumption can help them surpass energy and operating margin goals, as well as improve their operating equipment effectiveness by as much as 89 percent.”
www.rockwellenergycalc.com
Download information:
• Pump Energy Savings Calculator for Android
• Pump Energy Savings Calculator for iPhone and iPad
• Fan Energy Savings Calculator for Android
• Fan Energy Savings Calculator for iPhone and iPad
Published in
News
Monday, 12 December 2011 12:47
Higher Learning: Technical training on bearings pays off
For professionals dealing with highly specialised mechanical components like rolling bearings, a general technical understanding of the products can help them improve productivity and cut costs. Unfortunately, the “formal education” at technical schools hardly covers the practical skills needed for the industry. To fill this void, many leading bearing manufacturers offer specialised training courses.
Generally, any company dealing with bearings benefits from such training programs — optimised efficiency at workplace and motivated employees are just two of the direct results of appropriate training.
For machinery manufacturers, design and product development engineers can maximise equipment performance and minimize the life-cycle costs by optimal design of bearing locations. In one case, after acquiring adequate knowledge, a product design engineer could save 50 percent costs on one bearing location without sacrificing performance.
Equipment end-users can profit from bearing training too. According to experts, human errors are a major cause of equipment failures. Correct handling of bearings — such as storage, lubrication, and mounting/dismounting — not only ensures less bearing damage and longer bearing service life, but also results in lower maintenance costs, improved safety and more equipment uptime.
Not only engineers and technicians benefit from bearing knowledge. Commercial personnel such as sales and purchasing professionals can improve their job performance through bearing training. For example, a buyer can reduce costs by choosing a technically equivalent product variant for the application, or sourcing bearings from an alternative supplier with equal quality.
How to choose bearing training
First of all, the training needs and goals of a company should be identified. It has to be determined who should be trained in which fields. Next, the training has to be incorporated into the staff-training plan. The following factors should be considered when choosing a bearing training program:
Learning does not stop when training is over. What has been taught in the classroom must be practised in the real world. Depending on programs, the trainees should show improved performance within days to months after the training. The post-training evaluation should be taken into consideration when planning for the next programs.
Training is an investment in productivity. It equips technical and commercial professionals with the essential knowledge to enhance their job performance. For the company, it means optimized product development, reduced procurement and maintenance costs, increased facility uptime, enhanced safety, employee loyalty and customer satisfaction. All these contribute to the long-term success of a business.
This is an edited article provided by NKE. In Canada, NKE products are distributed through Global Bear Inc.
Generally, any company dealing with bearings benefits from such training programs — optimised efficiency at workplace and motivated employees are just two of the direct results of appropriate training.
For machinery manufacturers, design and product development engineers can maximise equipment performance and minimize the life-cycle costs by optimal design of bearing locations. In one case, after acquiring adequate knowledge, a product design engineer could save 50 percent costs on one bearing location without sacrificing performance.
Equipment end-users can profit from bearing training too. According to experts, human errors are a major cause of equipment failures. Correct handling of bearings — such as storage, lubrication, and mounting/dismounting — not only ensures less bearing damage and longer bearing service life, but also results in lower maintenance costs, improved safety and more equipment uptime.
Not only engineers and technicians benefit from bearing knowledge. Commercial personnel such as sales and purchasing professionals can improve their job performance through bearing training. For example, a buyer can reduce costs by choosing a technically equivalent product variant for the application, or sourcing bearings from an alternative supplier with equal quality.
How to choose bearing training
First of all, the training needs and goals of a company should be identified. It has to be determined who should be trained in which fields. Next, the training has to be incorporated into the staff-training plan. The following factors should be considered when choosing a bearing training program:
- Reliable training provider: Reputable bearing manufacturers, such as NKE, offer well-organised training seminars to business partners.
- Curriculum design: Ask the training provider for a curriculum outline. You should find out whether the courses are targeted to your employees (commercial, technical or workshop personnel), as well as the breadth, depth and structure of the courses. If the standard modules do not completely suit your needs, ask for customised courses.
- Instruction methods: Usually bearing training is conducted in small classroom groups (maximum 10 to 15 people) for a dedicated learning environment and individual attention. Visual aids and handout notes should be provided. For practical topics such as bearing handling, hands-on exercises should be included.
- Instructors: The instructors should possess a combination of solid theoretical foundation and practical experience in bearing applications. They should be competent in knowledge sharing and training.
Learning does not stop when training is over. What has been taught in the classroom must be practised in the real world. Depending on programs, the trainees should show improved performance within days to months after the training. The post-training evaluation should be taken into consideration when planning for the next programs.
Training is an investment in productivity. It equips technical and commercial professionals with the essential knowledge to enhance their job performance. For the company, it means optimized product development, reduced procurement and maintenance costs, increased facility uptime, enhanced safety, employee loyalty and customer satisfaction. All these contribute to the long-term success of a business.
This is an edited article provided by NKE. In Canada, NKE products are distributed through Global Bear Inc.
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