Mobile GIS Services (MGISS) has released a new toolkit specifically designed to help highways contractors adopt new Highways England standards.

As part of the new Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) – the ‘highways bible’ – the requirement to manage drainage asset data and conduct specialist drainage surveys has changed. Designed to improve asset management, highways maintenance and reduce the risk of flooding and pollution, the new MGISS toolkit uses mobile devices running advanced mapping software to improve the planning of inspections, automate the collection of site data and facilitate the organisation wide use of drainage asset data.

SMGlobal has released FastMaint CMMS software v.11. It is a computerized maintenance management software program for equipment and facilities maintenance.

Maintenance managers can use FastMaint to schedule and manage preventive maintenance as well as corrective maintenance work. They can send work orders to the maintenance staff and receive their feedback. Managers can track the progress of all outstanding and completed jobs. They can use FastMaint for on-site maintenance programs or field service management.

Arnlea Systems Ltd, global leader in industrial mobile software for tracking, inspection and maintenance for the oil & gas industry, has successfully renewed its ISO 9001:2015 certification, the international standard for Quality Management Systems, for an additional three years, further underpinning its commitment to continuous improvement and innovation.

The ISO certification audit was performed by global standards organisation LRQA. They say that the ISO 9001 certification has been achieved by more than 1 million organisations worldwide, making the standard arguably the most important piece of business literature ever written.

Food and beverage manufacturers of all sizes are facing huge operational challenges right now. 

Sudden increases in consumer demand, shifting expectations, changes in food safety legislation, and emerging technologies, all require companies to be responsive, agile and flexible.  There is also the matter of ensuring seamless production continuity, to ensure consumer confidence around maintaining food and beverage supplies.

As digital technologies continue to transform global markets, no industry remains untouched, and food and beverage manufacturing is certainly no exception. 

Let’s consider how each of these three factors can impact day-to-day operations on the production floor, and how leading manufacturers are adapting to win. 

Spidex Software is delighted to announce that leading speciality bakery Finsbury Food Group has selected Mainsaver CMMS for its seven manufacturing sites across the UK.

Finsbury produces a wide range of cakes, bread and bakery snack products for major retailers and foodservice providers.

The selection of Mainsaver CMMS is just one part of a company-wide efficiency improvement drive at Finsbury called the “Operating Brilliance” programme. In terms of the engineering maintenance element, the programme seeks to uniformly improve asset management across all its sites with standardised KPIs and reporting systems.

Hart Door Systems has completed the installation of a major contract comprising Speedor Cleanrooms, Speedor Storms and a Firebrand fire shutter for a leading UK manufacturer and supplier of flavourings, extracts and essences.

Gordon Kipling, Hart’s senior sales executive, says the contract was driven by Odour Abatement as a result of a number of complaints from local residents about odours emanating from the plant.

Rail safety specialist, Sheffield’s Zonegreen, is using its latest technology to protect depot staff on the Isle of Wight from the risks associated with manual hand points. 

The firm has installed three Points Converters at Ryde St. John’s Road depot, which serves the Island Line, an eight and a half mile stretch of rail running from Pier Head to Shanklin on the east coast. 

Site managers up and down the country share many of the same concerns, and safety is one of the main ones. Unfortunately, and despite everyone’s best intentions, accidents can happen. A leak can inform you there was damaged equipment, and a spill can often be attributed to human error. Both leaks and spills can spread quickly and present immediate hazards for slips and falls. 

Measures to combat this can be put into two broad categories: prevention and remedy. Prevention is always the preferred option as it ensures safety, simultaneously saving you considerable time and expense. But even the best made plans can go awry and whether through accident, mistake or bad luck, you could have a liquid on your site presenting a risk. The most appropriate response is therefore to include both prevention and remedy in your plan, and there are three areas that warrant the most attention to keep your site safe.

A new mobile tool - SKF Bearing Assist app, simplifies the process of mounting and installing bearings and can be used by everyone in a maintenance organisation.

SKF has developed a new mobile app that simplifies the task of mounting and replacing bearings. SKF Bearing Assist app, developed together with customers, provides detailed mounting instructions for a comprehensive range of SKF bearings. It is suitable for use by all engineering and maintenance teams and will minimise the problems of incorrect mounting, reducing installation time and cost, and helping to extend the operating life of bearings.

But without appropriate maintenance bearings can also be one of the main causes of pump malfunction and unscheduled downtime. Joshua Banks, of AESSEAL, explains the importance of taking a proactive approach to bearing care to improve reliability and avoid unnecessary costs.

Bearings have a vital function in the efficient functioning of pumps but they are also one of the key causes of pump breakdown, leading to costly downtime for repairs and replacement.