The empowered operator: drives and motors
Author : Paul Pryor, VSD Product Marketing Manager at Schneider Electric
06 June 2019
Often, we are witnessing the reduction in the size of engineering and maintenance teams. Instead, manufacturers and integrators are largely sought after to fill this gap. The reason for this shift can quite simply be attributed to cost savings. But businesses need to remember that things aren’t always what they seem – and, outsourcing can be the costlier option.
Empowering operators and maintenance teams
Rather than simply outsourcing, businesses ought to consider empowering their operators and maintenance teams with the right tools required. A great example of this in action is our recent launch of the world’s first service-oriented drive, the Altivar Process. This incorporates useful functions and information which helps to empower the plant operators and maintenance teams by simplifying the interaction with the modern variable speed drives (VSDs).
This empowerment utilises standard smart mobile devices, with standard free software applications, to access key information in the Altivar Process and directly link the operator to service information using passive and dynamic QR codes. Ultimately, it makes the role of the operator and maintenance team both simpler – and more cost effective.
How much is machine downtime costing your business?
If businesses were to analyse the time lost from the moment when a breakdown occurs to the moment when the machine is back up and running again – we can guarantee one thing. That is that the time spent looking for information on products and faults will have been both significant and costly, especially during unplanned failures.
Therefore by allowing operators and maintenance teams to access the system generated dynamic QR codes through technology advancements, key fault and product information can be directly served to their smart device while they are local to the machine, in a fraction of the time it would normally take. The benefit of this is that it helps operators to diagnose and fix the simple faults almost instantly. This experience could be further enhanced with the automatic creation of technical support requests helping to speed up the resolution of more complex fault situations.
Futureproofing the process
Smart functions in products like the Altivar Process offer opportunities for both increased energy efficiency and enhanced asset management.
Ultimately, these benefits make it a no-brainer. Businesses need to be implementing technology that will help to future proof their business, whilst reducing downtime and cutting costs. We must remember to explore all the options available to us, rather than simply outsourcing as a first port of call. Technology like QR codes are vital in improving the overall equipment efficiency (OEE). So, why wait? It’s time to make our machines and plants more profitable.
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