Ultrasound technology has become one of the essential tools in predictive maintenance, condition monitoring and reliability, due to its quick learning curve, ease of use and flexibility. Leak detection has been one of the most common applications for ultrasound, but we now see the technology more and more being used together with sound analysis software to diagnose specific mechanical and electrical faults.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd is testing Thermocell plastic film made of cellulose and fatty acids in the production of food packaging in cooperation with Arla Foods, Paulig, and Wipak.  Thermocell plastic material, which is made from renewable components, is to be used in the same way as fossil-based plastic. Thanks to the development work, many features of the film already meet the requirements of the food industry, and cooperation has advanced to the testing of industrial production.

SKF has remanufactured more than 39,000 bearings, weighing more than 400 tonnes, for steelmaker Severstal over the last 10 years. The bearings are used in the steelmaker’s continuous casting machines (CCMs). Remanufacturing has helped the company reduce carbon emissions by more than 65 tonnes per year.

If an inspection frequency that is too short, equipment will be over maintained, and resources are wasted.   If it is too long, some failures are going to be missed.  

ODVA  announced that it has entered into separate agreements to further integrate FDT and FDI technologies into EtherNet/IP™. Additional device description work on the next generation xDS™ for CIP™ devices also continues to move forward. 

Thirty-five years after the Russian cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya was the first woman to take a spacewalk, a new historical event took place above our heads on 18 October 2019. Two Nasa astronauts took the first all-female spacewalk. It was not just for fun, Christina Koch and Jessica Meir were responsible for replacing defective equipment from the International Space Station (ISS), and in that way also formed the first female maintenance team in the space.

Euromaintenance 2016 will take place in Athens at the end of May. It is the ideal moment to reflect on maintenance in a European context. Euromaintenance is known as the summit for all involved in maintenance across Europe, it’s the place to be. The conference, with the support of the EFNMS, is the only commercially independent conference covering the topics we deal with in the maintenance world.