Fieldlab Smart Maintenance two years underway: an interim review
One year after the official opening of the pilot plant and almost two years after the establishment of the Fieldlab Smart Maintenance Techport, the online partner meeting reflected on this moment. Where are we now and what are the expectations for the next two years?
The start
In 2018, twelve companies and knowledge institutions came together to join forces on the topic of maintenance. The digitization of industry (or Smart Industry) was more topical than ever. There was also the realization that only by providing expertise from different perspectives (manufacturer, maintenance company, sensor supplier, data analysts) can you work toward making failure behavior and thus maintenance of installations 100% predictable. This idea was the start of the Fieldlab Smart Maintenance and the 'Just in Time Maintenance' project of the 12 partners. With financial support from Europe (EFRO Kansen voor West II), the province of North Holland and the municipality of Velsen, a consortium and a collective innovation project was born.
Dipstick
Since then, the partners have been working together at asset owner and producer Tata Steel IJmuiden in a number of use cases Several sensors have been placed on installations in the Cold Rolling Mill (pickling line and annealing line) and at the Ore Preparation Plant. The challenge is to combine and analyze the data coming from the measurements using an integrated system and dashboard. All the parameters together lead to a complete picture of the state of the installations. Then, based on this data, algorithms can be learned to predict failure behavior of the installation. Finally, the challenge is to link this installation data to other data from production, planning or quality. And that is exactly what Smart Industry is about. At the same time, that is the most difficult bump, not only technically and content-wise but also because of the confidentiality of data.
Experiences
Jeffrey Schotvanger of maintenance firm Facta on the first period: "Innovation is also an exercise in patience. So far we have invested a lot of time, tried things out, learned a lot, and in the coming years it should become clear that this investment is paying off. Ultimately, predictive smart maintenance for maintenance is the future. We are at the forefront of getting started with this. It would be great if more SMEs follow suit." Wim Gielen of IJssel Technology responds, "Questions about this form of maintenance you get from the frontrunners and we have to look for those people. Small SMEs can also participate but have not really delved into this yet, it has to become more concrete for that. In addition to the work in the Fieldlab, we also have other work for Tata Steel IJmuiden, which dovetails nicely. It really works complementary for us. We see from the first results that there is room for improvement." The learning environment of a Fieldlab on the one hand offers opportunities to be allowed to try things out and on the other hand, as a group of entrepreneurs, you also want to see results as quickly as possible, be able to scale up and just do it. "There is a lot of recognition from the experience that Campionehas." says Paul van Kempen of World Class Maintenance. "You want to learn from each other and at the same time it is difficult to copy success one-to-one. Working together with multiple asset owners increases the chances of more pilot projects and prevents 'pilot fatigue.' It is important to not only continue on proof of concept but also on proof of business case."
Outlook
Techport wants to strengthen the ecosystem in the IJmond region and the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, and the Fieldlab is an important part of that. During the partner meeting, the conversation was also about whether the goals are still in line with each other and what we still want to achieve in the Fieldlab over the next two years. But also about the period after the grant and the sustainability of the cooperation between parties. The partners agree: "We want to be able to predict errors, show that our approach works, that savings are possible and downtimes are predictable. We want to know which sensors are best at what time, and then scale up and broaden, attract new partners and asset owners." Partner Inertia Technology has developed specific wireless sensors and wanted to test them in an industrial environment. Mihai Marin-Perianu of Inertia "We are working with each other in a Fieldlab and are learning a lot. Our sensor is now installed. If we get good results here, we can scale up. Proving that it works gives good showcases for the work we're doing." Ton van Oort of Sorama and fairly recently joined the Fieldlab is also enthusiastic: "We are working on an interesting case where we measure sound with sensors and can identify anomalies based on changes in it. The cooperation and communication is going well, we experience a lot of willingness to share."
Hans Sintemaartensdijk of Tata Steel IJmuiden: "Predictability is my pink cloud. If we can create that value with the Fieldlab Smart Maintenance Techport, that's something that makes us happy at Tata and with the entrepreneurs. I would like a combined dashboard where we can link data from the installation to data from production and quality, a dashboard that signals and advises early. That way you can get the most out of an installation and optimize maintenance costs."
Conclusion
Collaborations do not come naturally. It takes time to get to know each other well within a new consortium, develop innovations together and then scale them up. Processes do not always move as fast as you would like. Whether it's licensing, installation capability or learning algorithms. Collect and analyze the data, integrate education based on the insights and broaden to other producers or plants. We want to show and prove that Smart Maintenance is the future of maintenance. In the coming period, the Fieldlab will continue to see plenty of experimentation, learning and being challenged together by the sometimes unruly practice. The current use cases at Tata Steel IJmuiden already show the first results. Taking the real step towards Smart Industry sounds appealing and energizing. Full speed ahead!
