Drives & Controls June 2022

NEWS n 5 THE UK GOVERNMENT is providing £20m to help set up a “data innovation hub” at Ulster University that will assist UK manufacturers to accelerate the development of digital technologies. The £50m Smart Manufacturing Data Hub (SMDH) will help small- and medium-size manufacturers to capture their data and use it better, thus boosting their productivity, growth and sustainability. Nearly 10,000 manufacturers across the UK are expected to benefit from the hub and 13,000 jobs will be supported, helping to boost economic growth and level up regions across the UK. The £20m of Government funding is coming from its Made Smarter Innovation Programme, with £30m coming from business co-investment. Announcing the hub, industry minister Lee Rowley said it “will support companies to implement cutting-edge production and process techniques themselves, helping bring the next generation of products to our shelves in a more efficient and sustainable way. “As we embrace the digital manufacturing revolution,” he added, “it is vital manufacturers across the UK can capitalise on the productivity and growth gains that come with the adopting the latest data-led digital technologies.” The hub will host an online Manufacturing Data Exchange Platform that will allow companies to submit their manufacturing data and receive recommendations in return, helping them to improve their products and processes. A £5m fund will offer them grants to make further improvements. Virtual manufacturing testbeds will allow companies to create “digital twins” to simulate the implementation of digital technology on their own processes, taking advantage of data from other manufacturers that have already adopted the technologies. The SMDH will also provide manufacturers with expert analysis of their emissions and energy data, helping them to cut waste and energy use, and ultimately to improve sustainability. For its first few months, the SMDH will be accessible only to SME manufacturers based in Northern Ireland, before going live for companies across the rest of the UK. The programme will be supported across the UK by 12 delivery partners, including the University of Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing, Industry Wales and Scottish Engineering. The Government funding for the hub is part of the £300m Made Smarter Innovation Challenge – a collaboration between UK Government and industry designed to support the development and increased use of new and existing industrial digital technologies, including AI (artificial intelligence) and VR (virtual reality). “As we embrace the digital manufacturing revolution, it is vital manufacturers across the UK can capitalise on the productivity and growth gains that come with the adopting the latest data- led digital technologies.” www.drivesncontrols.com June 2022 ABB HAS ANNOUNCED a digital service that will help industrial operators to maximise their energy efficiency and boost their sustainability by identifying their motor-driven equipment with the biggest energy-saving potential. The ABB Ability Digital Powertrain Energy Appraisal service will draw data from fleets of digitally- connected electric motors and VSDs (variable-speed drives) to show where – and how much – energy could be saved by upgrading to the latest technologies. ABB says that converting to high- efficiency technologies is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to cut energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. If the world’s 300 million industrial motor-driven systems were converted to high-efficiency systems, global electricity demand could be cut by up to 10%. “The challenge for an industrial operator is knowing where to start in a fleet of hundreds of electrical motors,” points out Adrian Guggisberg, president of ABB’s Motion Services division. “ABB developed the new Digital Powertrain Energy Appraisal service to provide clarity by analysing motor data and identifying where businesses should focus investment to maximise energy efficiency gains that reduce operating costs and CO 2 emissions.” One operator that is already benefitting from the service is Waggeryd Cell, a pulp mill in southern Sweden which produces about 190,000 tonnes of pulp per year. It already had an ABB Ability condition- monitoring system collecting data via 92 smart sensors attached to motors, 42 on bearings, ten on gearboxes and 11 on other process pumps. These sensors measure power consumption, speed, vibration frequencies and temperatures. ABB experts took data from the sensors and used it to identify the ten motors with the biggest potential for further improving energy efficiency. The mill has now prioritised replacing six of these motors to cut its energy consumption and emissions. https://new.abb.com/service/motion/ data-and-advisory-services Digital service identifies motors with the biggest energy-saving potential Rowley: the hub will support companies to implement cutting-edge production £50m data innovation hub will help UK SMEs to go digital