Suite solutions

Production plant operators are aware that more downtime equals less product and less profit — a simple equation that can have enormous consequences in large-scale processes such as the chemicals or oil and gas industries.

Once maintenance engineers and technicians manually checked a plant's critical instruments and components — such as pumps, filters and heat exchangers — to see if they were in a condition that meant they were likely to fail. In common with many other tasks, computers and smart instruments connected by intelligent field networks have replaced much of this manual effort.

Manufacturers are bringing smarter devices to market with associated software packages.

, for example, has recently launched a suite of field validation and in-situ verification tools for the company's electromagnetic flowmeters. In-built software assesses whether MagMaster or AquaMaster flowmeters have been installed and are working properly.

The Windows-based package that comes with it can download data for more rigorous analysis and report if required, in addition to analysing faults.