The mining industry in Western Australia continues to expand at a rapid rate, particularly for iron ore exports. The demand from overseas is so high that end users are looking to invest in additional mining companies to fulfil orders. Mining companies may need to expand their operations in order to meet their obligations.

In technical literature, reliability-centred maintenance (RCM) continues to show up as the prominent future strategic direction in machinery maintenance, and for good reason. RCM is the best method to use when optimising the operational reliability of plant equipment. It is important for reliability professionals to understand RCM and how condition-monitoring tools fit into the RCM picture.

The old saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of care” may have been coined by process and plant engineers tired of repairing or replacing pumps. Pumps are often the most underserviced pieces of equipment in process automation when it comes to maintenance and prevention best practices.

Regulators are available in a variety of types, designs and materials of construction, and choices should be made with care.

A key aspect of the ‘perfect plant’ is having the right information in the right place at the right time. However, in the modern plant, the right time to view this information is not when you are standing in front of an operator console. It is when you are in the field, in front of a failing piece of equipment or discussing a problem while on the move. More often than not, the right way to deliver information is by putting it in the hands of a mobile worker.

Convenience food manufacturer Greencore Group has achieved significant savings in downtime and repair costs on the water treatment plant by installing a Bredel SPX50 high-pressure peristaltic hose pump from Watson-Marlow Pumps Group.

Australia is yet to discover the real potential of automation in the manufacturing, mining and processing industries though many processes are already automated to a degree. Factories of the future will undergo a digital revolution, which will herald a new world of productivity excellence.

Forward-thinking manufacturers constantly work to maximise asset utilisation, productivity and uptime - as well as integrate these with other aspects of the enterprise through plant-wide optimisation. The convergence of manufacturing and enterprise functions is more easily achieved using a common network technology. Gordon Bartlett discusses the implications.

Urtekram International A/S is the largest Danish manufacturer of organic body-care products such as cream, shampoo and liquid deodorant. Recently the company has achieved an increase in its production capacity by installing new batch-mixing technology.

In Parts 1 and 2 of this article on vortex shedding flowmeters we looked in detail at how they work and how they are constructed. In Part 3 we look at what needs to be considered in the application of vortex flowmeters.

The increasing use of nonlinear electrical loads in all types of industrial and commercial applications has resulted in the introduction of potentially harmful problems. Active filters provide a reliable and cost-effective solution.

There comes a point in machine safety design when the designer needs to decide if it makes more sense to use multiple safety relays or to upgrade to a safety controller.

Sensor-equipped grippers enhance quality and productivity of automated assembly processes and can enable fully automatic, recipe-driven flexible production.

As the marine chronometer demonstrated, simply keeping accurate time is a huge competitive advantage: it allows you to precisely coordinate complex systems.

In today’s highly competitive global marketplace, improving outputs and increasing productivity is a key organisational priority. That means the focus for most industries in 2011 and beyond will be to improve processes and efficiencies, and wherever possible, automate.