Asset owners, service providers, public authorities and training and knowledge institutes from Limburg brainstormed during the kick-off of World Class Maintenance Zuid on process-based and technological innovations across eight maintenance topics.
The regional innovation network, which was recently launched, aims to use collaboration to initiate and accelerate sustainability and innovation in asset management amongst asset owners in the Limburg region.
Infra, process industry, road and water, aerospace all benefit from asset management innovation. It also contributes to a strong smart industry cluster in Limburg.
The propositions are not only of interest for the south, but also for the rest of the Netherlands. Topics in other regions are being set up and will be developed further in the coming period. After all, maintenance management is a crucial part of operations for all companies managing technical installations (assets). Managing maintenance is beneficial for plant availability, management costs and controlling risks at operational level.
WCM South was set up by Brightlands, the Limburg Employers Association, Sabic, Sitech Services, Stork, Spie, USG and World Class Maintenance, the smart maintenance network that aims at 100 per cent predictable maintenance.
Infra, process industry, road and water, aerospace all benefit from asset management innovation. It also contributes to a strong smart industry cluster in Limburg.
The propositions are not only of interest for the south, but also for the rest of the Netherlands. Topics in other regions are being set up and will be developed further in the coming period. After all, maintenance management is a crucial part of operations for all companies managing technical installations (assets). Managing maintenance is beneficial for plant availability, management costs and controlling risks at operational level.
WCM South was set up by Brightlands, the Limburg Employers Association, Sabic, Sitech Services, Stork, Spie, USG and World Class Maintenance, the smart maintenance network that aims at 100 per cent predictable maintenance.
These are the eight topics in asset management for WCM South:
- By 2025 at the latest, confined spaces no longer need to be entered by humans.
Robotics can increasingly perform visual inspection work, NDT (Non Destructive Testing) and even cleaning and repair work. This development may accelerate to such an extent that it will reduce the inherent risks of entry to practically zero.
In the next five years, wearables will make it possible to extend the employability of people in industry by 2.5 years.
Workforce employability in industry is a growing concern. There is an increasing stream of wearables and other tools available that can relieve these employees and thus will increase employability even into later life. This topic can significantly accelerate development and adoption of these tools
- Due to far-reaching digitalisation, entering operating installations for maintenance work will be the exception after 2025.
Entering operating installations inherently involves risks. Digitalisation makes remote monitoring and adjustment of equipment increasingly possible, thus reducing the need to carry out work on site. Far-reaching implementation of these digital possibilities reduces exposure and leads to better means of ensuring a safe workplace.
- Over the next three years, an RBI (Risk Based Inspection) system for external degradation due to Corrosion Under Insulation (COI) will be developed that will reduce damage due to COI by 50 per cent within five to 10 years.
Until now, COI can only be controlled at very high cost and this regularly leads to narrow escapes. Through WCM and VNCI, a national project has been launched to get such an RBI system working. Part of this is a working group looking for an innovation that can be used to determine insulation degradation by non destructive testing(NDT) without removing the insulation. Another working group is looking for which innovative coating can provide the best protection over a long period of time. A similar initiative has been started at KI</MPI in Terneuzen.
- Developing outsourcing packages based on asset management - for sewers, safeties, floor fields, among others - could lead to significant cost benefits in the region within a short time.
Today, similar maintenance activities are not widely distributed in the market and/or carried out by asset owners themselves. As most of the same preconditions have to be met, this offers opportunities to work together on innovative and cheaper solutions. - Implementing Condition Based Maintenance instead of periodic maintenance would yield substantial savings in maintenance. Regional exchange of practices could provide a breakthrough in this. The earlier there is knowledge of potential failures, the better they can be managed and the lower the loss and maintenance costs (PF curve). Systems and methodologies are now available that enable this much better than a few years ago. It is now cheaply possible to collect data on failures with wireless smart sensors. ^P or ^T measurements can also be brought directly to a maintenance system via DCS. One example is the Sitech Asset Health Centre and Campione, which is achieving highly innovative results in the region.
- Better connection between education and business will be a win-win within four years.
Currently, there is a considerable gap between the needs of the business community and the curriculum at educational institutes. A highly interactive collaboration, where pupils, students, teachers and business encourage each other to get the best out of it will lead to that win-win, good motivated students and teachers who can link theory and practice and asset owners who can recruit quickly deployable employees. An example of a joint initiative is the Maintenance Practice Centre (MPC). - 3 D Engineering and implementing 3D Reality (the digital twin) in the relatively old installations of the regional industry will prove necessary within five to 10 years to meet the demands of the time. For new plants, it is customary for them to be 3 D engineered. Employees are also trained in this direction and this is happening in all sectors of industry. However, existing plants and, unfortunately, also recently built plants are not managed digitally. As a result, information is lost and employees cannot deliver their maximum added value.
