TECHNICAL NEWS AND TRENDS FROM PREVAS
#2 2019 Editorial Smart maintenance for competitive edge. PAGE 2
Case Göteborgs Spårvägar digitalizing maintenance of light rail fleet. PAGE 4
Case Next generation of devices for condition monitoring of wind turbines. PAGE 10
PREVAS IS INVESTING IN UX
The necessity of developing userfriendly and smart products, systems and services is increasing. Page 3
WHAT IS YOUR MAINTENANCE STRATEGY? ILIAS SOLUTION
MILITARY AND OFF-ROAD COMMERCIAL VEHICLES experience the kind of strains and stresses that would quickly break a normal vehical. The big question is, when should maintenance be performed? Page 8
PREVAS / TECH TRENDS
SMART MAINTENANCE FOR COMPETITIVE EDGE CONDITION MONITORING has become
more and more important now that we are increasingly moving from EDITORIAL scheduled maintenance to conditionbased maintenance. Service scheduled in advance can entail waste if the equipment is not used all that much. On the other hand, earlier maintenance can be necessary if the equipment is used frequently, and if this is neglected, the equipment can fail. Condition monitoring in both cases reduces costs. Either actual usage is registered and used as a basis for calculating wear and tear, or the equipment’s condition is monitored, and service is calculated thereafter. Regardless, a shift from preventive maintenance and reactive maintenance – which is performed exactly when needed or when it is too late – to condition-based maintenance entails that maintenance is performed at the optimal point in time. With lower hardware and stocking costs, monitoring more and less expensive machinery and other equipment has become a costeffective alternative. Previously, it was only profitable for larger and expensive systems such as wind turbines, which has also pushed development. It can now be used both for smaller and less expensive machinery, and for anything that requires service – from cars to appliances – as development shifts from scheduled maintenance to letting the equipment determine what is needed. With condition-based maintenance, downtime is minimized, and the equipment can also be used longer. It also opens the way for entirely new business models; thanks to monitoring, you can offer longer warranties or provide equipment as a service instead of as a product – selling miles instead of cars. You save on material since all components are used to their full extent, with no unnecessary replacements. Any failures can be anticipated, and consequential damage or downtime can thus be avoided. Moreover, monitoring enables continuous fine adjustment to the equipment for optimal resource utilization. All in all, it provides long-term sustainability with respect to the environment, materials and resources. At Prevas, we work with market-leading maintenance systems: Infor EAM (Enterprise Asset Management) for fixed assets, and IFS FSM (Field Service Management) for field service – both of which are leaders according to Gartner’s Magic Quadrant. We recently won a prestigious contract with Borås Energi och Miljö, which is building the future’s combined power, heating and sewage plant, an energy and environmental center, at Sobacken in western Sweden. They chose us because we could give them the most beneficial package; perhaps not when it comes to price, but definitely when it comes to giving them the best system and the
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best provider for managing their new facility, which represents an investment of SEK 3.7 billion – the largest-ever investment in Borås. Prevas has worked with maintenance systems for 25 years and is Scandinavia’s most experienced operational and application consulting firm in the field. Even our suppliers ask for our help, which says something about our experience. The Borås energy and environmental center stands for both long-term and sustainable development, at the same time as it is a plant that must always be operational. This is only one of several larger projects and procurements we have underway, besides the more than 100 existing customers we have all over the Nordic countries. Of the examples described in this edition’s articles, there is Brüel & Kjær Vibro, a company working with condition-monitoring to foresee any problems and to plan service thereafter. ILIAS Solutions, on the other hand, does not monitor the actual equipment – in this case vehicles – but rather how much and under which conditions the vehicles are used, which constitutes the basis for scheduling service. There are two distinct differences: Monitoring status or monitoring use, and then predicting maintenance based on these parameters. However, the goal is the same: Less downtime, lower costs, smaller inventory and lower material consumption. × For more information contact:
David Baeckström david baeckstrom@ prevas.se +46 010-4552503
SALES EXECUTIVE EAM, PREVAS AB, SWEDEN
For more information contact:
Peter Aagaard Kristensen pakr@prevas.dk +45 51 54 33 66
VICE PRESIDENT TECHNOLOGY, PREVAS A/S, DENMARK
PREVAS
PREVAS IS INVESTING IN UX The necessity of developing user-friendly and smart products, systems and services is increasing. Prevas is therefore creating a new business unit with focus on the user experience (UX). Prevas specializes in taking advantage of the opportunities of technology and digitalization. Industry after industry is digitalizing, and the transformation is moving forward quickly. Products and services are being connected and gathering substantial volumes of data. This is enabling new ways of working with information between different platforms, people and technologies. Prevas has created a new business unit with focus on user experience. The unit is headed by Helena Gautam, a new addition to the Prevas team. She has extensive experience in the consulting and agency sphere and has worked with larger e-commerce projects in recent years. She sees many parallels between how the industry has developed and how other industries are now coming up to speed. It’s about how companies are working with data-driven analysis, omnichannel strategies, usercentric design, personalization and the ability to find new business models in a rapidly changing world, to mention a few examples.
“Prevas is not alone in taking this path,” says Helena Gautam, “but with Prevas’ solid experience in the field of smart industry and smart products, I’m convinced that it is here that the best conditions exist for helping companies to create more user-friendly and sustainable products that work seamlessly between digital and physical environments. At Prevas, we are experts in user experience and interfaces where the user experience must be intuitive, simple and consistent, both when it comes to the digital and physical interfaces. We work extensively with today’s technologies and are very familiar with the challenges and opportunities they provide.” UX is about how users interact with and experience a certain product, system or service. With a people-centric approach, we create innovative, sustainable solutions for our customers. At Prevas, we always focus on making a difference, adding value and improving day-today life for people. With today’s work methods, we are seeing increased loyalty
and engagement among users, which subsequently results in stronger brands, clear competitive advantages and increased profitability. “There is enormous potential in the market,” says Helena. “Within a year, we expect to have 10 people in Malmö and more at other locations. At the same time, it’s of the utmost importance that we grow with people having the right skills.” Our designers are along from the start and make sure that UX permeates entire projects. We are helping with everything from research and user testing to surveys of needs and goals. We even work with availability, requirement specification and strategy, and provide graphical interfaces and detailed visual design. “We can provide both consultants and comprehensive solutions in strategy, conceptual and prototyping services, UX/UI design and development of complete web applications,” Helena adds. ×
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CASE
GÖTEBORGS SPÅRVÄGAR DIGITALIZING MAINTENANCE OF LIGHT RAIL FLEET 4 / Innovation for Growth
PREVAS / TECH TRENDS
WITH 160 KILOMETERS OF TRACK AND MORE THAN 250 LIGHT RAIL VEHICLES, GÖTEBORGS SPÅRVÄGAR IS THE BASE FOR MASS TRANSIT IN GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN. BECAUSE THERE IS SO MUCH TO KEEP TRACK OF, THE COMPANY HAS INVESTED IN A NEW AND FUTURE-SAFE MAINTENANCE SYSTEM. As early as the 1980s, Göteborgs Spårvägar introduced its first digital maintenance system, largely using in-house resources. It has been complemented and expanded over the years, but it became increasingly difficult to manage and the limitations became increasingly obvious. On the initiative of the maintenance technicians, work was begun in 2012 with procuring and implementing a digitalized and future-safe maintenance system. “We had a good perception of the needs in our operations,” says Khenny Hermansson, production planner at Göteborgs Spårvägar. “Among other things, we wanted to increase traceability to keep track of who had done what. We wanted to move away from manual work and printed lists. It should be simpler and more fun for our people.” After a tendering process, Göteborgs Spårvägar decided to go with Infor EAM, which is the market’s largest cloud-based maintenance system. Prevas is the Nordic distributor of Infor and was engaged to handle the implementation. From Prevas’ side, Håkan Sjöberg was responsible for the project. “It was no longer possible to efficiently work with the existing system,” says Håkan Sjöberg. “Our customer was having problems in extracting the data they needed. Infor EAM is easy to deploy and use. At the same time, it’s scalable. New functionality can be added to deal with future changes and challenges.” TRACEABILITY AND MOBILITY MAKE THINGS EASIER Göteborgs Spårvägar has three maintenance and repair shops – Rantorget, Majorna and Slottsskogen. To be able to receive the new M33 vehicles, which will be delivered during 2019, a fourth shop will soon be constructed on Ringön. The maintenance system must be able to keep track of more than 250 vehicles, along with materials and spare parts. Infor EAM provides traceability on the component level and facilitates work orders for more than 270 technicians who use the system. “We’ve become more efficient in turnovers,” says Khenny Hermansson. “We might previously have lifted in a motor, for example, that still needed to be properly torqued. Someone had begun the job but hadn’t had time to finish before the end of the shift. The technician who took over wasn’t sure of what had been done and thus had to begin by checking the previous steps.” All jobs are now registered in Infor EAM – with what has been done and the tools that have been used. The responsible techni-
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cian signs off each step digitally, and the next one can continue from where the previous one stopped. The cloud-based system also provides entirely new opportunities for mobile solutions. “We have special vans that we use in making repairs to in-service vehicles,” says Lalla Fondin, system administrator at Göteborgs Spårvägar. “Within the immediate future, our technicians will be able to prepare fault reports via a mobile app and even append photos and videos. Preparations are made in the shops for larger repairs and maintenance, and work can begin immediately when the vehicles come in.” BROAD SUPPORT IN THE ORGANIZATION Establishment of the new maintenance system began as an initiative among the technicians at Göteborgs Spårvägar. There has been a renewal in management at the company in recent years, and management’s engagement has increased. Ideas and questions – as well as demands – are now coming from management. Development is also being driven by an internal work group with personnel from several of the company’s units, both technicians and supervisors. “There are many people with suggestions and ideas, both from above and among our technicians,” says Lalla Fondin. “Working together in the group, we can more easily determine how we should prioritize our efforts and what is feasible to implement. It’s a good way of working, providing both understanding and transparency.” Göteborgs Spårvägar has a 4-year, general agreement with Prevas. The agreement encompasses expertise and activities regarding the implementation of Infor, but Prevas is also providing assistance when capacity is strained due to operational peaks. “The personnel from Prevas are knowledgeable and creative, and they regularly come with suggestions and ideas for how our approaches can be refined,” says Khenny Hermansson. “For simpler questions, we’ve been able to get answers quickly, and when we’ve needed to discuss larger development packages, the dialog has been excellent.”
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CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT Despite implementation of Infor EAM being completed, there are several development projects underway, including integration of the new M33 light rail vehicle. When the new cars are put in service, they have to be entered in Infor EAM. Maintenance must be handled as efficiently as possible and a structure must be created for administration of warranty cases. “Bombardier, who will be delivering the M33s, will be working directly in Göteborgs Spårvägar’s system,” says Håkan Sjöberg. “This means, among other things, that the approximately 200 components subject to the supplier’s warranty will be added automatically. This will give Infor EAM the potential to continuously collect large amounts of data in the future. It can be, for example, the number of kilometers that each vehicle has travelled, and further on, the total number of door openings, starts, stops and so forth. “This is information that will form the basis of our maintenance activities,” says Lalla Fondin. “We the can take action before a particular part wears out or fails. We’ve already taken a giant step forward, and we’re now seeing major opportunities for adding more functionality and value.” ×
ABOUT INFOR EAM •
An installation of Infor EAM takes about 4–6 weeks, depeding on the resources the customer can make available.
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Prevas has completed more than 80 installations to date for customers in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.
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Previous installations show that maintenance can be made more efficient by up to 50 percent – freeing time for planning and preventive measures.
For more information contact:
Ylva Amrén
ylva.amren@ prevas.se +46 (0)73 075 71 52
BUSINESS REGION MANAGER, GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN
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CASE CASE
ILIAS SOLUTIONS TAKE VEHICLE MAINTENANCE TO THE NEXT LEVEL Military and off-road commercial vehicles, such as tanks and dumper trucks, experience the kind of strains and stresses that would quickly break a normal vehicle. Although built from the ground up using ruggedized mechanics, they still rely on regular maintenance to detect and fix problems to ensure a long service life. The big question is, when should maintenance be performed?
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ILIAS Solutions’ philosophy of “Collect, Connect, Compute” has created a ruggedized monitoring system called I-HUMS® comprising of sensors, data storage, edge computing and an analysis platform. “We’ve effectively created a black box data recorder for land vehicles that transfers logged data to our central vehicle health monitoring platform”, says Søren Theodorsen, Head of NVO Technology at ILIAS Solutions, “Our intelligent monitoring platform utilizes algorithms developed over 4 years of trial vehicle operations. Prevas has developed the compact ruggedized military electronics and software package, together with a robust enclosure and mounting design. The device monitors the vibrations, accelerations and temperature events that the vehicle experiences, which together with a highly accurate GPS receiver enables the I-HUMS platform to determine the type of terrain the vehicle was driving over at a specific time. In addition, connection to MilCAN and OBD busses are supported, allowing engine usage data to also be acquired and logged. For long duration missions without a return to base, the device has sufficient storage to log high-resolution data for at least 6 months of usage. Once back at base, the device automatically comes out of radio silence and securely transfers the logged data via a wireless link, whilst at the same time receiving any software updates or new mission parameters. “We took ILIAS Solutions’ prototype system, which was assembled with expensive off-the-shelf components, and created a cost-effective palm-sized device” says Christian Ward, Senior Project Manager at Prevas A/S, “The challenges have been numerous, but using our extensive experience of embedded systems and military technology, we now have a product undergoing field trials”. “The real power of the system is in the intelligent data driven analysis that is performed on the platform, and our ability to then present that analysis in an easy to
understand manner to vehicle operators”, says Søren Theodorsen. “Understanding what a vehicle has experienced allows preventive maintenance to be scheduled in advance of any component failure, which together with the ILIAS Defence Platform, connects the dots from Mission to Logistics” adds Jean-Pierre Wildschut, Managing Director of ILIAS Solutions. Considering its military credentials, the device was ready for field trial in record time. “Delivering this project in the timescales involved was in a large part due to the close partnership that was formed between Prevas and ILIAS Solutions”, says Henrik Møller, President Prevas A/S, “This enabled both sides to quickly brainstorm and find solutions when issues arose”. The sentiment is also echoed by Søren Theodorsen, “In Prevas I think we have found a partner who is willing to go the extra mile to make the product a success, so I see this development as just the start of what we will achieve together in the future”.
For more information contact:
Henrik Møller
henrik.moller@ prevas.dk +45 29 49 92 02
PRESIDENT PREVAS DENMARK
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CASE
EDGE COMPUTING CREATES VALUE FOR BKV Brüel & Kjær Vibro has joined with Prevas in developing the third generation of its system for remote monitoring and diagnostics for rotating machinery. Machine learning, artificial intelligence and not the least, edge computing, are very much at the forefront these days. “We’ve had extensive collaboration for the past 12–14 years and I expect it to continue,” says Anders Reske-Nielsen, Head of Development at Brüel & Kjær Vibro. “We see it as a partnership more than a collaborative arrangement, and our operations are based on this.
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PREVAS / TECH TRENDS
Brüel & Kjær Vibro is a Danish multi-national company that provides machinery safeguards, condition monitoring and diagnostics. With Prevas as its development partner, Brüel & Kjær Vibro has developed the next generation of devices for condition monitoring of wind turbines and other rotating machinery. The system can continuously measure and analyze data in real-time and is designed for connected devices with limited bandwidth through edge computing. MAKING SENSE OF BIG DATA Edge computing entails processing as much data as possible as far out in the network as possible, preferably at the source of the data to be processed – in this case at the rotating application. The amount of data collected is sufficiently large and simultaneously complex that it must be processed and cleaned before being sent to the cloud so as not to take up unreasonable bandwidth. “It’s a matter of very advanced edge computing, where everything of interest is extracted and stored locally before being sent on,” explains Peter Aagaard Kristensen, VP Technology at Prevas A/S in Denmark. “It’s not only sent in real-time, it’s also saved with the opportunity to be retrieved further on. Here it’s often customer requirements and preferences that determine how and when, but it makes it easy to connect together equipment with different communication solutions.” The information from the individual wind turbines (or other machinery) is an essential tool in work with preventive maintenance. Thanks to real-time monitoring, downtimes can be minimized at the same time as maintenance costs are reduced. Since the system constantly reports machinery health, maintenance technicians usually know what will happen before it happens, thus facilitating planning and avoiding the need for emergency responses. CONDITION MONITORING AND PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE Brüel & Kjær Vibro has worked with condition monitoring and preventive maintenance for several years but it is actually only now that others are beginning to seriously take interest. There is major potential here, and in their partnership, Brüel & Kjær Vibro and Prevas have a head start. By combining knowledge of monitoring with new analytical capabilities in machine learning and artificial intelligence, they can add even more advanced algorithms that can predict possible damage. “Prevas is our partner in hardware and software development, as well as in signal processing and development in mechanical engineering,” Anders Reske-Nielsen, Head of Development at Brüel & Kjær Vibro. “We contribute our expert knowledge and utilize them for the expertise that we don’t have. They have the resources and can bring in specialist knowledge as needed.” The system is based on Prevas Industrial Linux (PIL) and adapted for operation 24/7. Its flexibility also enables adaptation to a wide variety of other systems for monitoring and control, from SCADA to IoT cloud solutions such as OPC-UA and Azure IoT. This flexibility also provides opportunities for several different monitoring strategies, from traditional spectrum analysis to state-of-theart machine learning. STRONG COLLABORATION Collaboration between the companies began with development of Brüel & Kjær Vibro’s first monitoring system and Prevas is still very much involved now that the third generation is being launched. Much of what was done for the previous generations has been transferred to digital domains with powerful hardware for more effective analysis and diagnostics. “We’re still working with the embedded components of their system, developing all the electronics, software and FPGA,” Peter explains. “We’re talking about everything on the machine, the components that collect data, the processes and the devices for transmitting of information.” Brüel & Kjær Vibro’s core area is in the actual analysis of rotation and vibration – the interpretation of what the readings mean regardless of it is a matter of a transmission or propeller blade. The field of windpower turbines is expansive, as is the market for remote monitoring in general. Preventive maintenance has become much more common than it was only a few years back. “It’s not just on those large and expensive windpower turbines that it’s practical,” says Peter. “The costs of the equipment and analysis have gone down, so even if you don’t have an extremely expensive machine, preventive maintenance is still worthwhile.” The overall objective from the beginning of the project is unchanged, but certain conditions have naturally changed along the way. It can be a matter of everything from development and market demands to customization and new additions. “From an agility perspective, Prevas has been very good and quick with scaling up when we’ve come with new ideas,” Anders emphasizes. “Sometimes they can almost be too agile with some of the crazy ideas we’ve come up with...” Anders says with a chuckle that it might be better if Prevas discouraged their ideas now and then. Nonetheless, the project has been completed according to Brüel & Kjær Vibro’s wishes despite certain additions, and within the frameworks for time and resources. “It’s great with a partner who can manage almost everything we need, even if it requires resources,” says Anders. “Regardless, they’ve definitely met our highly placed goals.” p Innovation for Growth /
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USING THA LATEST IN TECHNICAL DEVELOPOMENT Brüel & Kjær Vibro’s system can be used on all machines that entail rotation – larger motors for stationary installations and machines for drilling and transport in the mining and processing industries, just to mention a few examples. Wind turbines constitute a sizeable sector, but it is far from being the only application. “No two turbines are the same, all rotations are unique and all of these differences must be handled by the same software and hardware,” says Peter. “The only way of managing this is to benefit from previous experiences at the same time as we added considerable flexibility for the end-customers in making special adaptations or building in additional functionality.” According to Peter, it is mainly the latter that separates this generation from the previous – the capability for customization without needing to make overly comprehensive changes. Besides the high quality of the devices, they must also be designed for many years of dependable service. Because it is a matter of industrial applications, they will be in use for up to 20 years. Peter expects the previous generations’ devices to last another 10 years and that the new ones will be in service for 10 to 20 years with periodic updates. Brüel & Kjær Vibro now has a platform on which to build further on even if the equipment as such may not be what drives their business in 10 to 20 years. With today’s technological developments, long-term planning on that scale is impossible. There are many influencing factors, from the security aspects to communication technology, and even if the platform is good enough, updates will be necessary, but with long-term collaboration facilitating continuous development. “We’ve had extensive collaboration for the past 12–14 years and I expect it to continue,” says Anders Reske-Nielsen. “We see it as a partnership more than a collaborative arrangement, and our operations are based on this. We have no reservations in saying that we are extremely satisfied with Prevas, and we would be happy to share our experiences.” ×
For more information contact:
Henrik Møller
henrik.moller@ prevas.dk +45 29 49 92 02
PRESIDENT PREVAS DENMARK
Innovation for Growth Prevas has approximately 600 employees and is the primary supplier and development partner for many leading companies in the energy, automotive, defense, life science, telecom and manufacturing industries.If you do not want to receive Tech Trends from us, you can decline at any time by sending an email to info@prevas.com.
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