Engineer the best out of your machine

The Machinebouw event is more than just a trade fair

Congrescentrum 1931 in Den Bosch will open its doors on December 12 for the Machine building event. 43 exhibitors welcome visitors, who can enjoy the extensive range of companies present, in addition to a variety of seminar program.

By: Hans Risseeuw

I'm speaking with Erwin Rodenburgh, Product Marketing Specialist at ABBHe will give the presentation for the Machinebouw event Engineer the best out of your machine. How do you stay ahead of the competition and at the same time contribute to a sustainable world?

“This is actually a call to the engineers: how do you get the best out of your machine,” says Erwin. “And this starts with setting clear goals.”

“In practice, engineers are often driven by the madness of the day.” The danger is that this will affect the intended goal, or that you are so driven that you no longer have the time and space to learn from possible mistakes and adjust your plan. He hopes that ABB can support engineers in achieving the intended goals.

From conventional to smart

“Today you still see a lot of conventional technology in mechanical engineering,” says Erwin. This can be partly explained by the fact that the transition from conventional machines to more advanced models is price-driven. The purchase price of a machine is an important factor in making the transition from conventional to more advanced technology. But in addition to the purchase price, legislation, market demand and, for example, safety issues also play a role. All these different factors must be taken into account in order to make a good decision to choose between conventional or advanced.

“What is perhaps overlooked is personnel and knowledge,” he states and he explains this using a fictitious example:

“A service technician who, purely through years of experience, walks along the machines by ear and ‘hears’ whether a machine is running smoothly, is of course an extremely valuable technician. But the moment this technician retires, your ears literally run out of the building. Personnel and knowledge (loss) are a factor that you can no longer ignore. Advanced machines that use innovative digital technology to signal to the manufacturer or production manager when they are ‘not running smoothly anymore’ offer a solution in times of a shrinking labour market.”

Erwin misses the ambition in companies to capture the knowledge they still have with the help of technology and automation. “Based on measuring vibration, temperature and electrical parameters, we can, in collaboration with the experienced maintenance engineer, develop logarithms with which we can make enormous steps.”

Future-proof machines: a joint task for the machine builder and the machine user

“Another explanation why machine builders tend towards conventional techniques and do not yet make the step to advanced models,” says Erwin, “is that the advanced models mainly benefit the user, and not so much the machine builder.” He takes a pause and explains: “you have a machine that you simply control analogously. When you start digitizing this machine, and thus producing data, you can start thinking about predictive maintenance, for example. But also about other cost models about how you are going to market this machine. The digitization drive gives the user a lot of extra insight. But this extra insight is only for the user. For the manufacturer, the machine builder, conventional is 'simpler.' Advanced machines require advanced maintenance, generate data that has to be sent somewhere, which may again involve subscriptions. The advantages of an advanced machine are, for example: higher production, less failure, less downtime, etc. For the manufacturer, these advantages entail risks. When a manufacturer makes the switch from conventional to advanced, he has to revise his entire business model. And what the manufacturer then worries about is its competitive position: conventional machines are cheaper than more advanced models.”

During the seminar Engineer the best out of your machine Erwin gives examples of how the machine builder can immediately start designing future-proof machines.

Content driven events

Does an event stand or fall by its content? I ask. Or, to put it another way: does an event thrive on a strong substantive seminar program?

Erwin confirms this emphatically. “We feel the responsibility to show some leadership as a major player in our industry and to profile ourselves in this way.” A crucial part for ABB to participate in an event like Machinebouw is knowledge sharing and bringing and sharpening vision; adjusting and directing developments within the market. ABB has the ambition to excel within certain themes. Based on this ambition, it is essential for ABB to make a substantive contribution to the seminar program. “In addition, ABB is a commercial company and an important aspect of an event like Machinebouw is to get in touch with existing and potential customers.”

“Machinebouw is much more than a trade fair,” says Erwin. By this he means that Machinebouw is not only known as a trade fair, but as a knowledge event. An event that largely revolves around the content, the seminar program, knowledge sharing and thus attracts a very specific audience; the technicians and engineers who visit the event. ABB focuses on this target group during Machinebouw and Erwin therefore also focuses on the engineers during his presentation. The technicians who form the backbone of the technical companies, of our members, of FHI and of the Machinebouw event.

Sign up here for a free visit to the Machinebouw event on December 12 at the 1931 conference center in Den Bosch.