When the bumps in the road ahead are visible, it’s much easier to minimise negative outcomes or even avoid disruption entirely. While such foresight may be impossible in many cases, predicting maintenance requirements for your cable network is now a real and viable option.
In industrial environments, even the highest quality cables will eventually require upgrading due to the wear and tear of millions of high-pressure bending cycles. This is particularly true in systems that require high speed or acceleration, changing motion sequences, tight rotations, or short cycle times. If even a single component within this kind of system becomes compromised, identifying the problem and location after the fact can waste valuable time, resources and output, or even cause unsafe situations.
Using reliable predictive maintenance technology can give you the gift of foresight, highlighting the areas of your system that may be vulnerable to impending performance issues. Being able to anticipate and rectify potential issues before they cause real problems can yield many benefits, all of which contribute to a more efficient programme of activity.
For example, our Etherline Guard product for data cables allows for continuous monitoring of Ethernet cables, detecting any decline in performance and displaying the operation status via a diagnostic, coloured LED system. Built and developed in close collaboration with our customers and experts who use such systems daily, Etherline Guard is what we use in our own logistics centres to ensure top performance and continued product improvement.
Early issue identification allows maintenance to be planned in advance, over non-critical periods, or to align with other scheduled works to minimise downtime. In systems that control critical processes, where downtime may result in high costs or even personal injury, the benefits of this can be seen easily.
Without predictive monitoring, many plants rely on a preventative approach to avoid unscheduled downtime. While allowing for a more predictable maintenance schedule, this approach is not without risk: unexpected system failures can still result in more downtime than required and increase uncertainty.
Predictive tools point out the need for upgrades or maintenance only where that need actually arises, and with that delivers the most efficient approach both in terms of timing and expenditure. Systems such as Etherline Guard offer the additional benefit of being able to monitor existing cables that are already installed, not only those that are brand new. Its automated, self-learning technology means it is set up quickly and easily and can start reporting on performance within minutes.
Get in touch with JJ-LAPP today to ensure your cable systems are future-proof.