Electrocomponents plc buys Monition, adds to RS

Electrocomponents plc has today completed the acquisition of Monition, the UK-based pioneer in the design, development and application of condition monitoring systems. Monition is based in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, and will become an operating brand within the RS Technical Services operation.

Monition provides managed services in areas such as condition monitoring, predictive maintenance and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to improve their customers’ reliability, operability and maintainability. Originally founded in 1988 by Ian Jennings, Monition has more than 30 years of operational knowledge and expertise in the reliability and condition-monitoring sector, developed in co-operation with European and UK governments, leading Universities and industry specialists. It has well-established relationships within the maintenance functions in a range of blue chip clients, particularly within the food and beverage sector.

“The acquisition of Monition supports our strategy of building a range of differentiated value-added solutions such as connected factory and IIoT solutions for our customers,” said Pete Malpas, Managing Director of RS Northern Europe. “Whilst we already have an extensive range of customer solutions including calibration, eProcurement and inventory management solutions, we believe that the Monition portfolio will enable us to provide our customer base with the intelligent solutions they need to maintain their operations more effectively and as such will bring us closer to becoming first choice for our customers. We are thrilled to welcome Monition to RS and the Electrocomponents Group.”

Mike Burrows, Managing Director of Monition, commented: “We are extremely excited to become part of RS and the broader Electrocomponents Group. We share a common vision to deliver high-quality, innovative maintenance solutions to our customers. Being part of a larger Group will bring Monition benefits of scale and additional resources, which will help us accelerate the design and development of cutting-edge maintenance engineering solutions to address Industry 4.0 and digital manufacturing needs.”

Monition will retain its trading name and, as part of RS, will benefit from the financial strength, scale and international spread of the broader Electrocomponents Group.

Electrocomponents is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in the last financial year ended 31 March 2018 had revenues of £1.71Bn.

Concern over EDF reactor faults

HazardEx, the UK journal covering industrial hazards and regulations worldwide, has published an interesting update on the state of the EPR nuclear reactor being built at Flamanville, in Normandy. Potential problems at this site are of as much concern to UK residents in Southern England, as will be the case over the future reactors of the same type planned for Hinkley Point in Somerset.

HazardEx says:

The French state electricity generator Electricité De France (EDF) has put the cost of repairing recently discovered flaws at the new EPR reactor being built at Flamanville in Normandy at Euro400 million ($468 million). This takes the total cost of the project to Euro10.9 billion, more than three times its original budget.

The Flamanville plant – an EDF picture

EDF had previously warned that problems with welds at the reactor under construction in Flamanville were worse than first expected. The utility said on July 25 that out of the 148 inspected welds at the latest generation reactor, 33 had quality deficiencies and would need to be repaired.

The most recent projections envisaged the Flamanville 3 reactor loading nuclear fuel at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018, but EDF said this was now scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2019. The reactor was originally scheduled to come on stream in 2012.

Flamanville was the second EPR reactor to be constructed: the first was Olkiluoto in Finland, which has suffered comparable delays and cost overruns, and this is also now due to enter service in 2019.

This means that the first EPR to enter production will probably be at the Taishan nuclear plant in China. Work on Taishan 1 and 2 reactors has also suffered repeated delays, but not on the scale of the French and Finnish plants. At least one of the Chinese reactors is expected to be commissioned this year.

In the UK, there are currently plans to build two of these EPRs at Hinkley Point in Somerset. These reactors could be further delayed if the new problems at Flamanville are not easily resolved. The UK EPRs are already mired in political controversy over the high cost of the project.

ENDS

Sales and marketing people to admire

With the Farnborough Air Show coming over the horizon, in 2018, I thought it might be relevant to look again at the story first told in the SA Instrumentation and Control journal in 2016, just after the last Farnborough event.

First, the retail example

There is a family-run DIY shop in Winchester: it does not have the attractive displays of the DIY Supercentres, it is crammed with stuff in crowded aisles, and you have to ask where to look for anything. But then the staff know exactly where it is, are knowledgeable about how to use it, and make a good guess as to why you want it, and suggest two other things that might also be useful. So you come out with more than you wanted, but with reassurance. More important, they made the sale, helped the customer, and sold a few more bits. You have to admire their sales expertise, and their business just keeps on growing. Back in 2016, they proudly boasted that it was Rick Stein’s favourite D-I-Y shop!

A different approach, in industrial calibration

The Trescal postcard give-away

Occasionally you recognize similar marketing initiative in industry. In the public display days at the Farnborough Air Show 2016 there were aircraft enthusiasts (like me) lined up along the barriers, all probably with jobs that impinge on aviation, or engineering, or similar. So while waiting all day for his 10 minute display slot, Jean-Marc d’Hulst, the pilot of a French Starduster SA300 aerobatic biplane, walked along the crowd line handing out postcards showing his aircraft, chatting to anyone interested, and listened to by everyone around.

Turning the postcard over you realize that it is advertising the Trescal Group – which explains the name painted on the side of the aeroplane. This group is a world-wide network of companies that provide calibration, repair and verification services, specialising in the requirements of the avionics industry. These days, with traceability and accountability paramount, such services are in high demand, not just from the aerospace industry, and are usually bought in from a third party, so the records can be seen as from independent inspectors, and the third party supplier takes on all the hassle of maintaining the traceability for their test equipment.

My photo of his display, in a grey Farnboro sky

Jean-Marc d’Hulst is a VP of Trescal: the company news on their website shows they seem to acquire another laboratory in another country every few months. They now have 180 laboratories in 21 countries: these labs cover Europe, Asia, USA, South America and North Africa at the moment. Trescal also provide engineering training and consultancy on measurement problems to improve process performance for all types of industry. Jean-Marc has displayed this year at the Paris, Farnborough, Berlin and Marrakech air shows, and indeed his company expertise was also broadcast during the public commentary at each display. With these marketing skills also applied to the group acquisition and expansion strategy, maybe Jean-Marc will take his Starduster display to South Africa very soon!

2017 Update

While the comment about South African expansion was aimed at the readers of SAIC, the news this November is that Trescal has made another acquisition in South America, Trescal has acquired Teclabor, a calibration services provider based in Recife (Brazil). This is the third acquisition in Brazil, expanding their local geographical coverage into Pernambuco state.

Founded in 1985, Teclabor is an accredited one-stop-shop calibration laboratory, with strong capabilities in liquid flow, volume, mass (scales), temperature and humidity. Teclabor employ 30 people, generating a turnover of 3,3 million Brazilian Reais (approx 1,0 million Euro), and is mainly active in the Food & Beverage sector.

During 2017 Trescal has also acquired several other companies: Gebhardt Instruments in Germany, Acucal Inc in the USA, and Pyrometro Services in Malaysia.

 

E+H acquires Blue Ocean Nova

A new Endress+Hauser press release says the company is further expanding its portfolio of products, solutions and services in the field of process analytical measurement, by  acquiring Blue Ocean Nova AG, a manufacturer of innovative inline spectrometers for monitoring quality-relevant process parameters. 

Blue Ocean Nova will operate under the umbrella of the Endress+Hauser centre of competence for liquid analysis headquartered in Gerlingen, Germany: the 15 employees currently located in Aalen, Germany will be retained. “The intelligent process sensors developed by Blue Ocean Nova will enhance our offering in the field of process analytical measurement, adding a strategic building block,” said Dr Manfred Jagiella, Managing Director of Endress+Hauser Conducta GmbH+Co. KG. As a member of the Group’s Executive Board he is also responsible for the analytics business. 

Innovative concept

The process sensors developed by Blue Ocean Nova cover the relevant optical spectroscopy regions of UV-VIS, NIR and MIR to analyze liquids, gases and solids inline. The innovative technology allows the spectrometer to be directly integrated into the measurement probe, even in explosion-hazardous areas. The sensors can furthermore be automatically cleaned and easily integrated into process control systems.

The systems from Blue Ocean Nova are utilized in the food & beverage, oil & gas, chemicals and life sciences industries for applications such as concentration and moisture measurements and for measuring relevant quality parameters. The technology enhances the Group’s portfolio, which already encompasses Raman spectroscopy, tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) and process photometers.

Extensive experience

Blue Ocean Nova was founded by Joachim Mannhardt and Stefan Beck in 2015, bringing extensive product development experience in the field of industrial spectroscopy and process analytical measurements to the company. “Endress+Hauser opens the door to international markets and customers for us,” explains Stefan Beck. Joachim Mannhardt adds: “We’re convinced that our technology will be an ideal enhancement to Endress+Hauser’s optical portfolio.”

Endress+Hauser acquired Blue Ocean Nova effective 31 October 2017. Both parties agreed not to disclose the details of the transaction. Joachim Mannhardt and Stefan Beck will remain on the management team of the innovative company. “With this acquisition, we are continuing to pursue our strategy of strengthening the process analytical measurement portfolio and in the future supporting our customers from the lab to process,” says Manfred Jagiella.

 

Yokogawa/Cosasco ISA100 deal

Yokogawa has signed a sales agreement with Rohrback Cosasco Systems, a US-based manufacturer of corrosion monitoring systems to distribute the Cosasco ISA100 wireless-based MWT-3905 and CWT-9020 corrosion monitors: also Cosasco will distribute the Yokogawa ISA field wireless system devices. Yokogawa systems operating to ISA100.11a-2011 include an application layer with process control industry standard objects, device descriptions and capabilities, a gateway interface, infrared provisioning, and a backbone router.

Yokogawa therefore has now added corrosion sensors to its line-up of field wireless devices that help customers efficiently maintain facilities and ensure safety at their plants. For Cosasco, the ability to offer its corrosion monitors in combination with Yokogawa field wireless devices is expected to increase sales.

Yokogawa Objectives

With a field wireless system, plant field devices and analysers are able to communicate wirelessly with host-level monitoring and control systems. The rising need to improve productivity and enhance safety by collecting more data on plant operations is driving the demand for field wireless devices, which can be installed even in difficult to access locations. Field wireless devices have the added advantage of reducing installation costs.

Yokogawa has developed ISA100 Wireless-based technologies and products such as wireless access points and management stations, and Cosasco has a long global track record in supplying various kinds of corrosion monitors to the oil and gas, petrochemical, chemical, and other industries. Through this agreement, Yokogawa aims to increase sales for its field wireless business by being able to offer a wider field wireless device lineup.

Cosasco Wireless Corrosion Monitors

Corrosion sensors monitor the thinning or deterioration of the metal walls of pipes and other installations. A variety of technologies are employed, including electrical resistance and ultrasonics. The Cosasco MWT-3905 and CWT-9020, the devices covered by this sales agreement, are direct measuring type corrosion sensors that use high speed electrical resistance and linear polarisation resistance (LPR) technology. This enables corrosion rate measurement at a low installed cost in all process environments, including hazardous areas. The units are particularly applied for the monitoring of corrosion in facilities at offshore platforms and other types of oil and gas installations, plus petrochemical plants, chemical plants, and water and sewage treatment plants.

Rohrback Cosasco is a part of Halma plc, a UK conglomerate.

Emerson acquires PermaSense

Emerson has announced the acquisition of UK-based Permasense Ltd, a leading provider of non-intrusive corrosion monitoring technologies for the offshore and onshore oil production, refining, chemical, power, pipelines, metals and mining and other industries. Permasense monitoring systems use unique sensor technology, wireless data delivery and advanced analytics to continuously monitor for metal loss from corrosion or erosion in pipes, pipelines or vessels, and reliably deliver high-integrity data from even the harshest environments.

The acquisition represents another step forward in the Emerson strategy to invest in its core business platforms and expand in markets that hold significant long-term growth opportunity.

“Corrosion and erosion can significantly impact the safe and reliable operation of our industrial customers’ infrastructure, which can have dire consequences. Wireless non-intrusive corrosion monitoring is a transformational shift that helps customers immediately understand the health and integrity of their infrastructure in real-time and enables them to fully optimise their operations while maximising safety,” said Mike Train, president, Emerson Automation Solutions. “For example, with the increasing complexity of the types of crude oil coming into a refinery, corrosion is becoming a significant issue in the uptime and profitability of a refinery. Now refinery infrastructure can be monitored and controlled using this non-intrusive technology.”

The Permasense product line will become part of the Rosemount portfolio of measurement and analytical technologies. Permasense technologies complement the Emerson Roxar intrusive corrosion monitoring and non-intrusive sand management systems and strengthen the company’s Pervasive Sensing applications that provide customers a more complete view of their operations and facilities. With Permasense and Roxar technologies in its portfolio, Emerson will be the largest provider of integrity and corrosion management solutions in the marketplace.

Lal Karsanbhai, group vp, measurement and analytical technologies, Emerson Automation Solutions, added: “The addition of patented Permasense technologies along with our existing Roxar technologies enables Emerson to provide customers with a more complete corrosion monitoring solution and a clearer picture into the performance of their infrastructure based on what they’re demanding of it and the strategies needed to optimise production.”

Central to Permasense corrosion monitoring systems are sensors that employ proven ultrasonic wall thickness measurement principles. The sensors are battery powered and communicate wirelessly, which minimises the cost of installation and enables use in remote areas and on a large scale. The sensors are also designed so they can be deployed in hazardous areas.

Raman analyser at Huntsman Petrochemicals

 

Raman laser-based technology in Rosemount Analytical unit helps plant deliver 99.7% purity by reducing feedstock variability in paraxylene purification.

Huntsman Petrochemicals produces up to 360 Ktonnes per year of paraxylene at its Wilton site in the UK, a plant where control was recently transferred to a DeltaV digital automation system, a technology of Emerson Process Management. Further investment, in a Rosemount Analytical Raman on-line laser spectrometer from Emerson, has resulted in added process optimisation and performance improvement, and allowed site engineers more insight into their production process.

Paraxylene is a key starting material in the creation of polyester resin and fibre, used in the manufacture of clothing, films, drink bottles and food containers. The pure product is separated from the other two xylene isomers – orthoxylene and metaxylene – in a process that involves selective crystallisation from a chilled solution and centrifuging the resulting suspension. Optimum efficiency is maintained by controlling the composition of the incoming feed stream to the purification plant.

The previous method of monitoring the process stream composition used on-line melting point analysers, confirmed with frequent grab samples delivered for laboratory analysis. The delays inherent in providing meaningful data from either of these techniques led to a variability of 2 – 3% in feed composition. Early in 2003, a Rosemount Analytical Raman Analyser was installed, allowing full on-line composition monitoring of the feed to the purification plant. With composition information being updated every minute, process variability has been dramatically reduced by an order of magnitude to 0.25% with a consequent improvement in plant stability.

Data that improves plant performance

“The Raman analyser is definitely helping the plant performance,” says Tom Liddle, Plant Manager for the paraxylene plant at Wilton. “By reducing the variability of the process composition, we can run the plant at the optimum settings. We have improved plant efficiency, improved consistency, and we get the 99.7% quality required first time, all the time.”

Steve Gill, Process Engineer at Huntsman Petrochemicals, who pioneered this first use of a Raman spectrometer on-line at Wilton, says, “Considering that we are doing in-line dilution, I am very pleased with the performance. While the main benefit of the purification control scheme is to give consistent solids feed to our centrifuges, an additional benefit has been the ability to see the impact of upstream changes on variability. We’ve never been able to see that in real time before.”

Tom Liddle is also pleased to see the plant running smoother: “Without the on-line control provided by the Raman, variability in the process would occasionally lead to excessive solids loading in the centrifuges, resulting in vibration and potential bearing damage. Now we run at maximum output, and have reduced wear on the centrifuges.”

Raman Spectroscopy

Raman spectrometry uses single wavelength laser light to probe the sample stream. On the molecular level, a very small fraction of the light intensity is scattered. While most of this scattered light occurs at the same laser wavelength (Rayleigh scattering) an even smaller fraction of the incident light is shifted to longer wavelengths (Raman scattering).

The shift in wavelength from that of the laser source represents an exchange of energy with sample molecules. From the pattern of wavelength shifts and intensity of Raman scattering, both qualitative (molecular species) and quantitative (concentration) information can be determined. In practice a multivariate calibration model is developed for the application, allowing multi-component analysis to be performed.

Analysis of four streams

The Process Raman Analyser at Wilton will be used for simultaneous measurements at four separate process locations on the plant – feed and recycled material as described above, plus two final product streams to monitor paraxylene purity. “We are still learning what the analyser can do,” added Tom Liddle, “and have a little more to understand to get the on-line quality measurements on the product streams fully operational.”

The analyser is located in a control building. The laser light is transmitted through fibre optic cables onto the plant to the four measuring locations: optical probes provide the interface to the process streams. At each probe, light scattered by the sample is collected and transmitted back to the analyser through the return fibre. The derived analysis and concentration data are transmitted via Modbus communications to the Emerson DeltaV process control system, and the signals used to control plant feed dilution.

The Rosemount Analytical Raman support team, working on both sides of the Atlantic, worked with engineers from Huntsman Petrochemicals to provide project guidance from the early consultation and application engineering through to calibration and commissioning. The Rosemount Raman analyser is monitored remotely by Emerson engineers in Ohio, to allow on-line tuning and remote performance optimisation of the calibration model used.