Pilot setup for smarter maintenance opened
Techport's Fieldlab Smart Maintenance is a physical place where a smarter way to do maintenance can be developed. "You don't put a factory process on hold for a while, which is why we now have a Fieldlab where we can do plenty of testing," said Simon Jagers of Semiotic Labs. "In the Fieldlab we will simulate processes from factories, test sensors and we can convert plant data into information and knowledge. By linking data from plant and production, we can optimize existing maintenance models." The ultimate goal is to make maintenance 100 percent predictable and to set up the production process so that as much as possible is produced at the lowest possible cost and energy consumption.
That the Fieldlab is located in IJmond is no coincidence according to Jeroen Verwoort, alderman for the municipality of Velsen: "For over 100 years, IJmond has been one of the leading manufacturing and maintenance regions of the Netherlands. This is because a number of prestigious companies are located here. The processes are continuously getting smarter and we continue to innovate. The companies do this together. By co-financing this project as a municipality, we are giving an important and visible boost to the regional innovation climate."
Techport's Smart Maintenance Fieldlab is one of 39 national Smart Industry Fieldlabs and is seen as a center for smart maintenance. "In the coming years we are going to further expand the network of companies and knowledge institutions," says Henno van Horssen, Techport program manager. "Only the frontrunners from the manufacturing and maintenance industry can connect and work together here. We will also give demos and the results we obtain will be used for educational purposes."
Participating partners of the Fieldlab Smart Maintenance Techport include Tata Steel, Techport, ROC Nova College, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, SKF, Bosma & Bronkhorst, Semiotic Labs, IJssel Technology, Inertia Technology, Facta, VanDerEng, Municipality of Velsen and Province of North Holland.
