Predictive maintenance – not clairvoyance but clarity!

Predictive maintenance – not clairvoyance but clarity!

Close connection of engineering to PdM reduces time and errors

At Hannover Messe (Hanover Trade Fair) 2016, Aucotec will be the first CAE provider to show how consistently connecting the engineering system when configuring predictive maintenance (PdM) solutions greatly reduces the work involved and errors. Aucotec's database-driven software Engineering Base (EB) can be used for this purpose as a central source which provides both the PdM and the control system in parallel with all relevant data.

Manually "feeding" big data?

PdM systems are big data applications that calculate optimised maintenance intervals from the analysis of the huge amounts of live plant data sent continually by the control system or identify an impending breakdown in advance.

The correct interpretation of the measured status data is required for the analysis. Aucotec's solution enables the PdM to obtain this knowledge directly from the software platform EB. The engineering information previously had to be read manually into the PdM or via various interfaces and lists that had to be compiled laboriously. This signifies a mammoth task for often 50,000 or more control system signals, even without the usual plant changes in operation.

Single source of truth

The close connection to the PdM is only possible because EB can represent abstract objects, e.g. measurement types such as bar or degrees Celsius, which are classified under a sensor. Such information cannot be mapped without the database-driven platform because it is not included in circuit diagrams or P&IDs.

50 % reduction in maintenance costs

EB's PdM connection is already used by a large, globally operating machine manufacturer, which offers global maintenance of its customers' plants. It expects a reduction of about 50% in its maintenance costs as a result.

"EB's PdM support shows that predictive maintenance is not rocket science, but an efficient and feasible practice already implemented along the path to Industry 4.0", explains Executive Officer of Aucotec Markus Bochynek. However, the fact that the PdM solution fits so perfectly to this year's Digital Factory focus at Hannover Fair wasn't anticipated according to the Executive Officer.

Aucotec at Hannover Messe 2016: Hall 6, Stand K17