Industry news

NEW APPOINTMENT FOR CEMB HOFMANN UK

SEAN BROMLEY HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS AREA Sales Manager for the east of England at CEMB Hofmann UK. He took up the role in August, joining an established team of sales, engineering and technical support experts. Sean is responsible for advising and building close working relationships with existing customers, in addition to companies looking for a new partner to resolve their balancing or vibration issues.

Reporting to Managing Director Rob Jeffery, Sean will work across the company's comprehensive dynamic balancing service portfolio, including new machine sales, sub-contract balancing and support services, offering customers objective advice to ensure that they get the best possible solution to their dynamic balancing requirements.

Sean will also be involved in ensuring the smooth installation and support of dynamic balancing machines.To successfully achieve this, he will work across the whole implementation process, from early requirement identification and machine specification through to machine ordering, installation and the identification and roll-out of any relevant support services.

EXPANSION OFFERS A ONE-STOP-SHOP FOR ENGINEERING SUPPLIES

MOTOR REPAIR AND PROVIDER, Rotamec, has expanded its portfolio of parts and consumables for the engineering sector after joining the Troy group of industrial suppliers.

The move will provide Rotamec customers with equipment from PPE to bearings at a heavily discounted rate, with the ease of purchasing through a single supplier.

Troy is a UK-wide group of over 400 suppliers, providing engineering equipment including MRO products, workwear, power tools and hand tools, fasteners, and cutting tools and specialist equipment. Membership of the group will enable Rotamec to provide its customers with products from across all Troy members, in addition to providing its core service of repair and sourcing pumps, motors, gearboxes, generators and power transmission components.

Commenting on the announcement, Simon Brooks, Managing Director at Rotamec, said: "We can now offer our customers all the items they could need thanks to the support of Troy and its over 500-strong supplier base."

QUARTZELEC TEAMS UP WITH AI-BASED PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE SPECIALIST

QUARTZELEC HAS SIGNED A partnership agreement with automated AI-based predictive maintenance solutions specialist NanoPrecise.

Complementing its LIFEVIEW suite of partial discharge (PD) monitoring solutions and the popular Motion Amplification surveys, the NanoPrecise range of wireless, non-intrusive and scalable technologies will further enhance the company's market and machine monitoring presence in the global industry and infrastructure markets.

NanoPrecise offers an AI + IoT based analytics approach using Machine Doctor sensors & RotationLF software that diagnoses machinehealth by recording the real-time RPM, sound, vibration, temperature, humidity, magnetic flux, and other key parameters to detect anomalies in near real-time, to predict the Remaining Useful Life (RUL) of machine components. The system empowers users/ operators to carefully manage operational decisions that may cause major damage or unplanned downtime.

"Asset breakdowns can happen without warning, and the challenge has always been to spot the signs early enough to schedule repairs," said Paul Oliver, Business Manager of Quartzelec's Aberdeen-based operations. "LIFEVIEW is a key component in reducing total cost of ownership over the lifetime of a machine and an integral element of any reliability centred maintenance (RCM) and repair strategy. By focusing on early detection solutions, our customers can cost-effectively implement preventative maintenance and avoid costly machine failures. Having the luxury of further enhancing our offering to include additional monitoring solutions that complement our PD and wider condition monitoring solutions should create a formidable, compelling, and cost-effective package of solutions."

UPGRADED BURN-OFF OVEN DOUBLES REWINDING CAPABILITIES

JJ LOUGHRAN HAS RECENTLY upgraded its repair workshop burn-off oven to a new Rotary Engineering unit, designed specifically for the electric motor repair industry.

With an internal volume of 10m 3 , the new oven will enable JJ Loughran to more than double its rewinding capability.

The burn-off oven cleans motors and their parts through a process known as pyrolysis – which sees parts heated in a controlled manner to burn off the insulation, resins, paint and other contaminants but leaving the motor stator undamaged.

The high-temperature burn-off oven can operate up to 400˚C to safely burn off old insulations before a full motor rewind. A correctly controlled burnoff process eliminates damage to the stator during the repair. A water injection system regulates oven temperature if 'runaway' conditions occur, with a 450˚C ultimate safety cut out.

To meet regulatory, and JJ Loughran's internal environmental standards, the burn-off oven provided includes an afterburner chamber, which operates in excess of 850˚C to convert the output from the main chamber into carbon dioxide and water vapour.

UNLOCKING VALUABLE DATA AT CARBON CAPTURE FACILITY

A NEW CARBON CAPTURE PLANT IN the UK, the largest of its kind, has chosen smart sensor technology from ABB to provide remote condition monitoring on critical motors, thereby reducing the number of man-hours required on site.

Tata Chemicals Europe's Winnington site has installed 11 smart sensors from ABB to enable it to identify trends in the performance and condition of a series of motors across the facility.

Using the data, which is collected autonomously by the sensors, the plant can identify faults, reduce unplanned stoppages, minimise the duration of any outages, and plan maintenance tasks in advance of them becoming critical to the ongoing operation of the site.

Matthew Shepherd, Technical Manager for Tata Chemicals Europe in the UK, said: "The Smart Sensors enable remote condition monitoring of our motor-driven processes, enabling us to greatly reduce the number of manned hours on site. The data provides an ongoing trend view of vibration, temperature and bearing condition, and a host of other operational parameters, so we can react before problems arise."

Due to the nature of the carbon capture process, the sensors are required to be ATEX certified as a fault condition within the system could potentially create a hazardous environment.

The installation is part of a pilot scheme, with Tata keen to move towards more data-driven production methods. "The ability to monitor trends was a key motivation for us with this project," said Matthew. "From the start, we were able to establish a baseline of what an optimal process looks like, so we will always have a benchmark. This means we can look at process efficiencies and optimisations whenever parameters are changed and monitor the effect they have on other processes at the plant."

SCOTTISH WATER DV2 FRAMEWORK PARTNERS ANNOUNCED

WGM ENGINEERING LTD AND BGEN Ltd (formerly Boulting) have been awarded a MEICA Framework contract with Scottish Water for 2021-2027, with the option of an additional six years post 2027. Scottish Water is forecasting to invest one billion pounds a year, and the initial six-year period is estimated to be worth around £270m for the joint venture.

Commenting on the joint venture success, Ian Mathieson, Managing Director of WGM Engineering Ltd, said: "I am delighted that as a joint venture, we have secured our position on this long-term framework. Working closely with Scottish Water, we are committed to investing in local communities and creating jobs in those communities throughout the period of the framework. We have aligned our ambitions to reduce carbon emissions with Scottish Water, to fully support their Beyond Net Zero Emissions ambition by 2040. Our commitment to innovation, continuous learning and improvement in the way we work, will enhance productivity, reduce cycle times and improve efficiency. "We are looking forward to working with Boulting and Scottish Water in a truly integrated and collaborative way over the next 12 years".

Robin Whitehead, Managing Director of BGEN, said: "This award is a huge accolade for our joint venture and recognition of the monumental work performed by our teams leading up to this point. I am incredibly excited to be working in partnership with WGM on this long-term contract with Scottish Water. Through this award, we will be committing to helping address a countrywide water sector skills gap and shortage, giving our existing people and new recruits the opportunity for coaching, personal development and growth, to enable everyone to achieve the very best they can"