by GE Fanuc Automation, the Charlottesville, Va., automation supplier, paid for itself in less than six months through reduced downtime at the BMA Saraji open cut coking coal mine near Dysart, Australia. The BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) is Australia’s largest coal miner and exporter, and the world’s largest supplier to the seaborne coking coal market.

Engineers at the mine carried out programmable logic controller (PLC) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) maintenance manually. Documentation of changes was done by the “hope” method—they hoped someone did it. Of course, this method is not reliable, and it became difficult to track changes and to maintain the correct copies.

Automation IT, a Queensland, Australia integrator, designed and implemented an automated system to improve engineering processes along with reducing engineering and maintenance costs through implementing the Proficy Change Management software with a custom front end. The client/server architecture provided for a server housed at the central office, with clients located out in the mine. Users could diagnose problems without lengthy drives from the central office out to the sites.

In another application, this time fleet management, Clark Johnson, director of Emerging Markets for Premier Manufacturing Support Services Inc., in Cincinnati, a maintenance outsourcing company, describes a system for cutting maintenance costs and improving maintenance for a fleet of forklifts.

Premier, using technologies from Atlanta asset management supplier Infor and from Blue Dot Solutions, of Denver, has developed a fleet asset management solution using radio frequency identification (RFID) to track forklifts and optimize maintenance.

“We measure just two to four indicators on a fork lift, and this is enough to acquire sufficient knowledge about its use to be able to evaluate maintenance needs,” says Johnson. “The indicators include engine hours, up and down movement of the forks and a g-force sensor to measure acceleration and deceleration of the equipment. These readings are done in real time. The state-of-the-art prior to this was to have someone read the engine hour meter on the equipment. But these sometimes break. Or maybe they measure whenever the key is ‘on,’ not just when the engine is running.”

Automatic data

Johnson notes that a device connected directly to the engine is much more accurate. “Instead of manual data entry, someone just walks through the area with an RFID reader in a holster on a belt and automatically reads the devices,” he explains. “They return to the office, dock the reader and upload data directly to the computer and asset system.”

Premier is able to generate reports on utilization. A comparative analysis is possible, tracking products from several manufacturers, so after time, the best and worst forklift suppliers can be determined directly from the data. Adds Johnson, “We prefer to do PMs based upon total actual utilization because you lower the cost.”

So however you define it, asset management still turns things into cash.  

For more information, search keyword “ asset management ” at www.automationworld.com.