by Gary Mintchell | Dec 13, 2023 | Asset Performance Management, Operations Management
Most of us are still familiar with the variety of Fluke meters we grew up with. The company made a few acquisitions and developed the Fluke Reliability business unit. They do some cool stuff. Here is the latest news from them in the maintenance and reliability front.
- Fluke Reliability has launched the VibXpert 3 Balancer, a next-generation smart field balancing tool that can diagnose and correct rotational unbalance in the field or on the floor.
- The VibXpert 3 Balancer is equipped with six synchronous channels, making it one of the fastest and most accurate solutions available, and its user-friendly interface makes it accessible to technicians of all skill levels.
- The VibXpert 3 Balancer enhances productivity, increases uptime, and reduces maintenance costs, which is especially important in today’s challenging business environment/skills shortage.
This state-of-the-art device can diagnose and correct rotational unbalance in the field or on the floor, solving a leading cause of failure in rotating assets like fans, pumps, and motor-driven tools.
Unlike the current generation tools on the market, the VibXpert 3 Balancer is equipped with six synchronous channels, so it can record multi-channel vibration measurements simultaneously. This lets users quickly take measurements from multiple angles, compare them to historical data, and identify the root cause of the unbalance directly at the source. As a result, it’s one of the fastest and most accurate solutions available.
Detecting unbalance issues early prevents them from developing into costly, hazardous problems. The result is increased uptime, improved productivity and reduced maintenance costs. The interactive interface functions like a tablet, making it accessible to today’s workforce. Its robust and durable design withstands extreme temperatures, moisture, and dust, making it suitable for fieldwork.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 11, 2023 | Asset Performance Management, Data Management, Manufacturing IT, Operations Management
Data management and analytics are two consistent current trends in the industrial / manufacturing technology market. This announcement from Emerson, now calling itself “a global software and engineering leader,” discusses how they brought these to asset management.
AMS Device Manager Data Server securely extends intelligent field device data to outside systems to make it easier for reliability and maintenance teams to further capitalize on modern advanced analytics software, providing a step change in operational efficiency and smart manufacturing.
AMS Device Manager Data Server publishes intelligent field device data nearly instantaneously to industrial software analytics solutions already in use by customers, eliminating the need for complex custom data integration and manual workarounds that often cause delayed results and siloed data. This data is relayed via secure industry protocols.
AMS Device Manager Data Server makes it easy to import critical instrument and valve data into common dashboarding tools and applications like Microsoft PowerBI, Emerson software tools such as the Plantweb Optics platform, Plantweb Insight, Aspen MTell and AspenTech Inmation, plant historians and others.
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 30, 2023 | Asset Performance Management, Manufacturing IT, News, Operations Management, Organizations
I was able to slip into the Hexagon User Conference on a recent trip to Las Vegas. Hexagon has been busily helping consolidate the automation and industrial software market. Some acquisitions included Infor EAM, PAS, and about 168 other companies since 2000.
Many of their press releases to me dealt with metrology. A long time ago I had the role of quality assurance manager at a manufacturing plant. (Note: terrible experience.) But I related metrology to quality control. Sort of a process outside actual manufacturing. One interview I had brought me up to the present time. Much of the metrology Hexagon talks about is in-process—actually sensing for immediate feedback to the process assuring consistent quality.
They talked a lot about their new platform, Nexus. The first applications are:
- Metrology Reporting, a Nexus App: The app connects Hexagon and third-party metrology data sources in Nexus’ secure cloud environment so that companies of all sizes can immediately report on previously untapped quality control data from their equipment to spot trends and identify tolerance issues. Any user can generate interactive three-dimensional CAD-based reports and insightful trend plots, KPIs and compliance documentation and up-to-the-minute data with colleagues, customers or suppliers.
- Materials Connect, a Nexus App: An all-new, cloud-based library for material data, that empowers manufacturers or material suppliers to manage material data, physical test data and behaviour models for use in product Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) workflows.
- Materials Enrich, a Nexus App: A first-of-its-kind Enrich app, it uses the Nexus platform’s machine learning capabilities and cloud-accelerated material behaviour simulations to help users find and simulate optimal materials that may have never been made or measured, improving the performance and sustainability of their products.
- Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM), a Nexus Solution: A pre-configured Solution that makes it easier and more efficient for teams to jointly develop an optimal metal 3D-printed part and prepare it for a successful print using the laser powder bed fusion (PBF) process. Customers can use the Nexus web interface to connect Hexagon’s MSC Apex Generative Design and Simufact Additive process simulation software with AM Studio from CADS Additive and Materials Connect via the cloud, and easily manage user access to projects.
In addition to the conference, this news was released from the Asset Lifecycle Intelligence division—AcceleratorKMS 4.0.
A key component of Hexagon’s Smart Digital Reality, the new AcceleratorKMS operates like previous versions of the knowledge management suite while improving the way organizations operate through better clarity about who is working or training, and how they are being trained.
“Companies are challenged to drive time-to-competency down from the standard of three years down to one,” said Blair Morgan, AcceleratorKMS Vice President. “AcceleratorKMS’ integration capability, new features and the AcceleratorLXP module offer organizations a complete digital ecosystem that will help them achieve that goal. This marks a new evolution in AcceleratorKMS not yet seen.”
The enhanced search function, templating, user experience, file management and API in AcceleratorKMS 4.0 connects with the AcceleratorLXP module to enhance the tracking of user learning interactions. AcceleratorKMS and AcceleratorLXP together share an integrated User Interface that allows users to complete tasks while seeing their digital training steps.
“AcceleratorKMS 4.0 empowers the connected worker on a new level, with reliable and familiar experiences to enhance their fieldwork with tools they trust to advance their skills,” said AcceleratorKMS Product Manager Jana Redford. “Authors and learning managers can leverage the power of a full content management solution to collaborate and integrate training in the lifecycle of the content. This cuts friction from the worker experience for better outcomes and increased performance.”
Hexagon acquired Innovatia Accelerator Inc., headquartered in Saint John, New Brunswick, and its flagship solution in April 2022 to enable clients to easily manage, govern and distribute the up-to-date critical operational content field workers require to keep operations running optimally and smoothly.
by Gary Mintchell | May 12, 2023 | Asset Performance Management, Automation, Interoperability, Networking, Operator Interface
FDT Group’s latest significant release seems to be gaining traction. This release from M&M Software offers a migration path for users and vendors supporting modern intelligent device management and monitoring initiatives.
M&M Software released fdtCONTAINER version 4.8, a point-to-point device configuration tool supporting the latest FDT 3.0 specification to meet user demands for modern intelligent device management and monitoring initiatives. This release also includes updated developer tools which simplify the migration to FDT 3 systems and smart device DTMs for the vendor community.
Smart manufacturing initiatives drive end users and suppliers of industrial automation systems and devices to seek modern and comprehensive device management solutions that use interoperable, efficient, and sustainable plug and play engineering tools. FDT, an IEC 62453 embedded software standard, normalizes device data and communication between any host and device. The standard rooted in the host and device environment provides users a single tool for intelligent device management, operation, diagnosis, and maintenance. The latest FDT 3.0 specification enables a FDT Unified Environment (FDT UE) for IT/OT data-driven operations via authenticated OPC UA, FDT UE and mobile clients.
M&M Software’s FDT UE-ready product line includes:
- OEM fdtCONTAINER application 4.8 – Free point-to-point device management and configuration tool supporting all DTM generations for users.
- fdtCONTAINER component 4.0 (aka. FDT UE – Desktop Common Component) – The official component for integrating the FDT 3.0 interface and DTM runtime into an engineering application for system vendors with branded customizations and other value-add features.
- dtmMANAGER development suite 4.0 – The comprehensive FDT 3.0 DTM development suite provides a simplified environment for device vendors to develop DTM’s allowing vendors to focus on the value-add device model features.
by Gary Mintchell | Feb 21, 2023 | Asset Performance Management, Interoperability, Operations Management, Sensors, Software, Standards, Technology
Still catching up on news I learned at ARC Industry Forum in early February. This one is expansion of the device integration model enabled by the latest version of FDT. Earlier, I wrote about Migrating to FDT 3. I sat in a couple of sessions where a senior engineer at a consumer packaged goods company pleaded with suppliers to make integrating and applying technologies more user-friendly. This is one such technology.
FDT Group announced that the PACTware consortium released its latest software version, PACTware 6.1, based on the latest FDT3 standard. PACTware 6.1 is one of the first FDT3 stand-alone device configuration environments available. The software tool’s source code is available to the PACTware Consortium membership consisting of 22 automation vendors who offer the FDT-enabled hosting product to the user community at no cost.
By leveraging the modern FDT3 Unified Environment for intelligent device management, PACTware 6.1 users will enjoy the ability to support their current FDT DTM install base and support modern FDT3 web-based DTMs that are scalable for IIoT architectures. This release also supports integration with FDI Device Packages.
Suppliers of industrial automation systems and devices want to provide solutions that enable the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). To meet their customers’ needs, it is vital for suppliers to enhance their system and device offerings with standards-based, platform-independent, information-driven business models. The new FDT3 standard is accelerating the digital manufacturing journey by enabling an ecosystem of FDT-based solutions providing a unified environment for industrial device management with IT/OT data-driven operations.
In addition to the new FDT3 standard that fully describes the FDT Desktop environment and FDT web-based device DTM, the standard also defines a cloud-based FDT Server environment for distributed control. The new FDT3 DTM and FDT Server are OPC UA- and -mobile ready without any coding, allowing users an easy to use and scalable migration path of OT data to IT enterprise applications.
by Gary Mintchell | Feb 20, 2023 | Asset Performance Management, Data Management, Operations Management
This ARC Forum company update looks at a new Business Unit of AspenTech called AspenTech DataWorks. Probably relevant to this discussion is a quote from Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Fooled By Randomness, “The more data we have, the more likely we are to drown in it.”
The founders of inmation Software, recently acquired by Aspen Technology must have had this in mind as they developed technology for making sense from data.
The week in Orlando every year always gives me a chance to catch up with Mike Brooks, Global Director of APM Solutions at AspenTech. He always has something interesting to talk about. He was part of the leadership team that sold Mtell to Aspen Technology in 2016. That brought predictive and preventive maintenance technology applications to the AspenTech portfolio. Under the covers of the tech was the use of machine learning—a technology now hitting all the media headlines as AI.
Brooks always grounds my thinking about ML as a useful technology not for the marketing hype but for actually using AI as an enabler for asset management. He explained how ML is more adaptable than model predictive control because of its iterative nature. It analyzes data iteratively and can then run the scenario out for 40 days in a predictive mode.
Dwain Plauche, Sr. Manager DataWorks Product Marketing, joined the meeting to explain the new business unit, DataWorks.
They consider the past of turning data into value as a trickle. The idea of the new AIoT Hub plus inmation Software is to turn that trickle into a stream. Now known as AspenTech DataWorks, the rebranded business unit provides customers with a singular solution to access and manage their industrial data, whether at the plant level or enterprise wide, in support of their digital transformation strategies.
Asset-intensive industries looking to maximize value from industrial data often are challenged to do so securely and economically as the data is often trapped in different silos across the organization. AspenTech DataWorks addresses these challenges by aggregating and contextualizing data, both transactional and real-time, from assets across the enterprise using powerful integration technology. With this unique, industry leading offering, organizations are now able to realize successful digital transformation, with capabilities including:
Data Governance – Centralized, flexible data management that supports contextualization and user access control, as well as encryption for all data types
Connectivity – Vendor-neutral connectivity to all major OT and IT interfaces that allows organizations to integrate data from disparate sources and manage from a centralized system
Data Integration– Value-added application enablement such as advanced analytics, decision support, and AI
