"We invested five man-work-years in the R&D project, but annual production losses were cut by EUR 250,000," says Rautaruukki Oy's Development Engineer Risto Korhonen, describing the benefits of the project for his own company.

Korhonen says that knowledge acquisition is essential in order to improve condition monitoring. The developers must be able integrate the information provided by existing measurement and control sensors into expert systems. These yield mathematical ratios that are translated processed into an understandable form and then used to support the decision-making of production personnel. Rautaruukki Oy is currently testing the demo version of a upgraded condition monitoring system on its plate production line.

"I am cautious when it comes to state-of-the-art technology. On the other hand, when a condition monitoring system is changed, it's worth doing a comprehensive job. At least the new self-diagnosing sensor that analyses its measured data and passes on its conclusion is interesting," says Korhonen.

The possibilities of using telecommunications to support the monitoring of remote plant maintenance was also studied in the VTT-coordinated research project. The method supports the regular servicing of plants delivered to remote customers as well as repair work planned by local maintenance personnel. New technical methods supporting condition monitoring were also studied. These included vibration and oil analysis sensors, rule-based decision-making, reliable methods of transmitting measurement data, the use of simulation in diagnostics, and the combination of condition monitoring and control system data to enable comprehensive condition analyses and even fault forecasts. The need to make further improvements in the reliability of plant and equipment has already spawned a number of continuation projects led by companies and VTT.