Gasum is selling its subsidiary Gasum Tekniikka Oy to the industrial maintenance partner Viafin Service Oyj. This arrangement is part of Gasum’s strategy of focusing on the development of the gas market and energy infrastructure in the Nordic countries. The transaction is expected to be closed by the end of February 2019. The acquisition will make Gasum Tekniikka part of the Viafin Service Group.

A growing number of companies want to use big data analytics in their predictive maintenance and are also investing in the resources needed for this. Of the companies already using this technology, no less than 95 percent say that they have already achieved concrete results. This is the conclusion of a follow-up study conducted by PwC and Mainnovation among 268 companies in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.

World-leading industrial company Metso has delivered the first valves with 3D printed parts from its Helsinki plant. The valves include 3D printed metal components that allow the valves to perform in a particularly demanding application where they need to withstand numerous fast open-close cycles without maintenance.

Over the years, the evolution of technology and the adaptability of the people to it, has been increasing drastically. This process has brought about a boom in the service sector, making the IT subunit of it, the most successful.

Change is inevitable in the process of evolution. With the kind of dynamism involved in the organizational structure and the current trends in the service sector, the need for a change has become increasingly important from time-to-time. Any organization that is moving towards an ambitious target, is bound to undergo appropriate changes at different levels in order to rejuvenate itself along with all its stakeholders and prepare for the journey ahead. This change will help the enterprise to take the much-required paradigm shift that can drive them towards higher ambitions and greater success. This reinstates the potential of bringing about a change in an organization.

At Bentley Systems, we have been talking to our users, especially owners, and it has become clear that despite our collective best efforts, there is a gap in the market.  Owners need easy access to real-time, accurate, engineering information and they need tools that make it simple to keep engineering data up-to-date, especially those engaged in brownfield and revamp projects.  It takes too much time and effort to gather and verify the information they need to make decisions effectively. And for older plants that do not have 3D models, there is simply no visual way to verify and check information easily.

For many organizations, their history with maintenance operations and facilities management evokes a typical multi-system, break-fix reactionary model. In most cases, these applications would involve multiple disparate systems; one for controls, one for HVAC, one for security, one for work order management… Typically, few of these systems, often sourced from different vendors, would connect to each other or interact. Maintenance operations would wait until a problem occurred and then send a technician out with a work order.

We have all read about it: leak detection should be a top priority since, if no leak detection program has been implemented, leaks can account for 30 to 40% of consumed volume. So, why is this issue still on the table? Why is it difficult to change things in the field?

In today’s operating and production environments, systems and equipment must routinely perform at levels that were not possible a decade ago and which were unthinkable thirty years ago.  Requirements for increased availability, throughput, product quality, agility, and operating effectiveness within a rapidly-changing demand environment continue to elevate the tempo and intensity of operations.

Failed assets can quickly ruin your day. As any facility manager can attest, an asset that fails unexpectedly takes time and money away from the business. With the right tools and methods, however, any maintenance team can detect and solve problems within mechanical assets before they break. Here's how benchmarking and ultrasonic technology can improve how your facility prevents asset failure.