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For many organisations today, the most important issue is how to reduce costs to compete profitably in global markets.  The two key approaches to manufacturing cost reduction are Lean and TPM (Total Productive Maintenance).Lean reduces costs by eliminating waste in the end to end process, following Henry Ford's original dictum "the longer anything is in my factory, the more it costs me".

Total Productive Maintenance reduces costs by eliminating losses in equipment based processes - once you have a lean flow, the key is to run equipment as efficiently as possible. Both Lean and TPM are based on a foundation of 5S and Continuous improvement (Kaizen) and our success is based on helping companies develop this foundation as well as applying more advanced Lean and TPM approaches.

Condition monitoring of fuels and lubricants used in industrial plant and equipment has become one of the main weapons in the fight to reduce premature failure of engines, gearboxes and hydraulic systems. In particular, determining the presence of water or the gradual degradation of the TBN (Total Base Number) of the engine oil can be one of the first indicators of potentially expensive and possibly catastrophic failure of the plant.

Regular sampling and analysis of fuel, lubricating and hydraulic oils will enable maintenance engineers to assess the condition and performance of their machinery oils over time, allowing critical adjustments to be made to ensure maximum operational performance and efficiency.  Downtime is extremely costly and in most cases avoidable if proactive maintenance of critical machinery is adopted. 

Key indicators for oil condition include; Total Base Number, Total Acid Number, Water in Oil, Density, Compatibility, Viscosity, Insolubles and Pour Point.  Effective management and control of these parameters is essential to meet the daily operational requirements of the machine.

Implementing an oil analysis sampling frequency strategy is fundamentally an identical process whatever the industry.  However, this leads to the perception that the implementation is a

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Project Summary Sara Lee now has a better compressed air system at its industrial bakery , because of an energy efficiency project recently completed. Earlier, a pressure/flow controller had failed, causing a substantial decline in the compressed air system

With the Kyoto protocol due to be renewed next month and road vehicles contributing to four-fifths of the total emissions in the UK that apply to transport - transport as a whole makes up a quarter of the UK

With the Kyoto protocol due to be renewed next month and road vehicles contributing to four-fifths of the total emissions in the UK that apply to transport - transport as a whole makes up a quarter of the UK

UK manufacturer Midland-ACS as part of an ecology product drive has extended its water hydraulic valve range

With governments and organisations the world over pursuing ways to reduce emissions in power generation, one of the oldest but most favoured methods of generation is experiencing a resurgence as of late. Producing essentially no carbon dioxide or other harmful emissions, and not significantly contributing to global warming through CO2, hydroelectric power at present supplies about 715,000 MW
or 19% of world electricity (16% in 2003), and more large dams are still being built, 10 of which will be in China, the worlds biggest hydroelectric power producer.

As part of their ongoing work on hydroelectric projects worldwide, UK manufacturer Midland-ACS has extended their range of Stainless Steel Water Hydraulic control valves for use on Hydro-Electric Power Plants.

 October 10, 2007 - Infor today announced availability of Infor EAM Advanced Mobile, an adaptable portable asset management solution that supports multiple applications from a single device.

The solution is delivered through partnership with Blue Dot Solutions, a leading provider of intuitive mobile and wireless computing solutions for asset intensive companies. Deployed in conjunction with Infor's family of EAM solutions, including Infor EAM Enterprise Edition, Infor EAM Business Edition, and Infor EAM MP2, Advanced Mobile enables organisations to seamlessly extend robust asset management capabilities to workers in the field.

"In many instances, entering collected data in an office computer isn't the most productive way to manage asset performance," said Marty Osborn, senior director of industry product management for Infor EAM.  "Advanced Mobile unleashes asset management from the desktop and puts it in the hands of the people who need it most. The ability to create new applications based on business-specific templates means that companies have a highly intuitive, configurable solution that can support their needs well into the future."