Context
In the past, a small manufacturing plant had been outsourcing condition monitoring of the plant’s numerous crucial conveyor belt motors to external consultants. The consultants had regularly sent experts to the plant to record motor vibration and conduct visual inspections of the surrounding environment. It had taken the consultants several weeks to receive analysis results from the consultants.
Although the manufacturing plant employed engineers capable of performing condition monitoring and basic vibration analysis, the plant’s management had decided to outsource due to economical reasons – At the time of the decision, there wasn’t an affordable condition monitoring solution that was comprehensive and easy enough to use for the plant’s engineers.
Once the plant’s management found out about VibCloud, it became feasible to move most of the previously outsourced activities inhouse and reduce condition monitoring costs and the time to get hold of condition monitoring report.
Key Benefits for the Manufacturing Plant
- Reduce costs by moving previously outsourced condition monitoring program in house - Utilize own expertise to reduce costs and time to get hold of condition monitoring reports.
- Get started quickly with minimum training and on-boarding efforts.
- Save on IT infrastructure costs - No need to deploy software in-house or on client sites thanks to a hosted solution.
- Save on hardware costs through use of own mobile devices.
- Not locked in to a single solution – Ability to utilize external vibration experts to analyse collected data if required.
| How VibCloud Helps | VibCloud Features Used |
|---|---|
| The manufacturing plant starts by installing the VibCloud mobile application on each employee’s mobile device and makes a minimum investment in purchasing additional devices for employees that don’t yet utilize a company mobile device. | Asset register for identification of equipment via barcodes and GPS coordinates |
| The plant continues by cataloging all its equipment that will be regularly monitored. In order to save time, the plant’s management send employees to record details of each motor using their mobile devices. The employees record identification and location details, descriptions and take photos of each motor. The equipment details get immediately saved in the VibCloud asset register. | Cataloging equipment in the asset register using the mobile application. |
| The plant managers later review the cataloged assets and double check all details in the asset register in their office using the VibCloud web portal. | Web-based asset register. |
| While cataloging the motors, employees record the first benchmark vibration measurements and take high resolution photos of the surrounding environment as part of a visual inspections. The employees can diagnose and report any major vibration-related problems directly on the mobile device. All collected data also gets automatically saved in the VibCloud central database for tracking long-term condition trends. | Recording of high-quality vibration measurements On-the-spot diagnosis using the VibCloud mobile application Recording non-vibration data points |
| The plant managers generate a report of the first inspections to identify critical problems and compare results to previous inspections conducted by the contractors. | Assessment of equipment condition & advanced vibration analysis Creating and sharing reports in seconds |
| For analysis of complicated vibration issues, the management prefer to get a second opinion of a local vibration expert consultant. They export selected vibration data into a CSV file and send it to the expert for analysis via email. | Controlled, role based web access for third parties to analyse vibration data online. |
| The managers decide on the frequency of further inspections and the most efficient inspection route around the plant. They use VibCloud to schedule regular inspections for each employee as part of his on-site duties. | Planning and managing inspection routes |