MechChem Africa September-October 2022

⎪ Maintenance and asset management ⎪

At HannoverMesse 2022, SKF launched SKF Axios, a solution that reinvents the fields of industrial machine reliability and predictive maintenance based on a collaboration be tween SKF andAmazonWeb Services (AWS). SKF Axios is a fully automated condition monitoring solution comprised of sensors, gateways and amachine learning service that is easy to install, commission and scale with no experience necessary, allowing sensors and apps to be operational within minutes. It detects anomalies and pushes notifications allowing for quick action to avoid unexpected machine failures. SKF’s team of vibration analysts and en gineers will continue to be an integral part of helping customers to improve the reliability of their equipment. SKF Axios complements SKF’s current portfolioof sophisticatedcondi tion monitoring products and now provides industrial companies with a simple solution SKF exhibits SKF Axios tive maintenance approach takes time. Transitioning, or adding to a technician’s skill set early in theprocess and introducing things like smarter tools will help combat the grow ing need for amore technologically advanced workforce and will make each consecutive addition to the programme that much easier. By adding condition monitoring based on anasset criticality list, companies can improve personnel and plant efficiency and take qual ity, proactiveactions basedondata toprevent equipment failures before they happen. Reliability is a journey and not a destination. Never stop documenting successes or a new directive will cancel the great accomplish criticalmachines—monthly; Non-critical machines—quarterly. Diagnosis: schedule mid-level techni cians using vibration testers tomeasure and diagnose faults on: star machines— weekly; critical machines—quarterly; other machines—as needed. Alignment: schedule mid-level techni cians to perform alignment checks and corrections on: starmachines—monthly; critical machines—yearly; other ma chines—as needed. Analysis —schedule senior technicians/ engineers or contractors to perform advanced analysis and resonance test ing on: star machines—quarterly; criti cal machines—annually and as needed; semi-critical machines—as needed. Keep in mind that, although the asset criti cality analysis list serves as a strong guide, it also needs to be flexible enough that unique considerations or decisions can be made as needed. Making the switch to a more proac • • •

An example of an Asset Criticality list.

to broaden their rotating asset predictive maintenance programmes. JohnSchmidt, SKFPresident for Industrial Region Americas says: “With SKF Axios, we are able to provide a larger portion of the industrial market with actionable insights leading to improved decision making and more efficient maintenance planning and scheduling. Through leveraging these insights and SKF’s knowledge of rotating equipment, customers can improvemachineperformance and overall reliability of their operations.” Vasi Philomin, Vice President ments that have been seenwith the reliability programme. Future steps might include the addition of a Cloud-based computer main tenance management system (CMMS), such as eMaint, which allows access to data from FlukeConnect™-enabledhandheldtoolsusing a desktop, smartphone or tablet. In conjunc tion with tools such as thermal imagers and vibration screening tools, aCMMS easily con nects workers, like technicians and reliability engineers, to critical historical and real-time data—anytime, anywhere. Fluke’s twoguidingvaluesare that custom ers’ opinions, needs and wants are closely listened to and, as a consequence, Fluke meters are continuously improved. The Fluke

805FCVibrationmeter, for example, through improved features such as: set up equipment andmaintenance routes usingFlukeConnect; push work orders and routes to the techni cian’s smartphone via Fluke Connect; add work orders directly to the unit using the Fluke Connect mobile App; easily upload results after measurements are made; share andviewresults remotely, receivealertswhen equipment heath changes, and view active trends of multiple parameters. This greatly improves theeaseof perform ing vibration screen routes for technicians and managers, enabling better management and monitoring of workflow. www.comtest.co.za associated with unplanned equipment downtime. We remain committed to offering our expertise in cloud solutions, IoT systems, and machine learning to enable SKF to constantly innovate and enhance its industrial products and services.” Inventory for SKF Axios was made avail able in July 2022 in North America with other regions expected to follow throughout the year. www.skf.com/axios

of AI Services at AWS, says: “SKF Axios represents a tremendous op portunity for industrial customers of all sizes to benefit fromscalable, data-driven, machine-learning technologies offered by AWS. These solutions enable industrial customers to make better deci sions faster; increasingoperational efficiency and reducing the costs

The new SKF Axios condition monitoring solution powered by AWS provides a fully automated anomaly detection solution for proactive maintenance.

September-October 2022 • MechChem Africa ¦ 11