News in brief Battery power
QINOUS has won an international tender process to supply the battery system for a Diesel-PV-Battery Hybrid project in an Aboriginal community in northern Australia. The 800 kW/1987 kWh lithiumion battery system stores excess solar energy and also provides grid-forming functions of the diesel generators, which so far were the single source of power of the Daly River community. “By temporarily storing excess energy as well as managing and stabilising the grid, our system allows the diesel generators to be switched off completely during the day. This leads to an increase of renewable energies in hybrid systems, and ensures the supply of affordable and clean energy in the community,” says Steffen Heinrich, Technical Director at QINOUS.
£1.8m savings
Rolls Royce has saved almost £2m in just over a year, after investing in virtual reality software. The nuclear arm of the business was the first in the UK to invest in the 4K system in 2014 and it has revolutionised the way the company operates. The systems use of Lean principles has reduced bottlenecks on the factory floor and solved challenges in facility creation and product movement, as well as product realisation.
Next level safety
A new addition to SICK’s flagship safety light curtain family, the deTec4 Prime is an extra-rugged, highperformance light curtain that is easy to install and use. It is ideal for a wide variety of applications such as machine tool operation; automotive production; warehousing and logistics and FMCG goods handling and packaging. Dr. Martin Kidman, SICK UK Safety Specialist highlighted more benefits: “Launching the deTec4 Prime enhances our portfolio of next generation light curtains, ready for use in the Industry 4.0 Smart Factory. Through the space saving, robust design of the SICK deTec4 Prime, machine integration is optimised in order to achieve higher operator productivity.” With integrated laser alignment for simple installation, the SICK deTec4 Prime provides full end-to-end protection with no blind zones and a wide scanning range up to 21m. Configuration and range adjustment is automatic, requiring no additional set-up; diagnostics indication is simple and additional functions such as EDM monitoring or manual reset are activated automatically by connection. It complements the highly successful deTec4 Core safety light curtain that has set new protection performance standards since its launch in 2013.
Fresh challenge
The logistics partners of B&Q have formed the first ever cross-company team to enter The Fresh Connection supply chain training contest. XPO Logistics, Wincanton and BRS have joined forces to take part in the UK & Ireland competition, run by SCALA Consulting, and help develop B&Q’s ‘One Logistics Team’ operational ethos. Kingfisher Group made the ‘One Logistics Team’ approach a key requirement when it awarded long-term logistics contracts for B&Q last year following a strategic review of its supply chain.
Best behaviour
Schneider Electric has been recognised as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute, the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices. This is the sixth consecutive year that Schneider Electric has received this accolade. At Schneider Electric, ethics and governance are considered key drivers of growth and of competitiveness. They are managed through its Principles of Responsibility, a set of guidelines designed to provide the Group’s employees with a framework for responsible behaviour.
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Too much ‘reactive’ maintenance
A third of manufacturers consider their maintenance programmes to be reactive rather than planned or predicted, according to a recent study. The report, published by Bosch Rexroth and the Institute of Engineering and Technology, surveyed nearly 300 engineers in UK industry and found that maintenance practices continue to be a cause for concern. Thirty two per cent of those who took part in the survey described their maintenance as being reactive with less than 30 per cent implementing either predictive or preventive maintenance regimes. “There is still some way to go both to help bridge the gap for those that continue to take a reactive approach and helping forward looking manufacturers take that extra step towards a more planned maintenance programme,” said Richard Chamberlain, UK Service Manager at Bosch Rexroth. One of the key barriers to adopting a more forward thinking approach by maintenance teams is resource, according to the report. Fifty three per cent of respondents answered that maintenance budgets have stagnated or decreased in recent years, and 64 per cent responded that maintenance personnel numbers have similarly stayed the same or reduced. “Maintenance resource is the major issue for manufacturers,” says Richard. “All-too-often, maintenance teams are stretched too thinly to be able to be more planned and predictive, instead resorting to firefighting to keep machines running.”