INDUSTRIAL REVAMPING: how a laser scanner survey can improve the useful life of an obsolete implant

It might seem trivial, but an efficient and modern machine is the necessary condition to increase the performance and flexibility of each production line, regardless of the sector.

Often, however, the lack of knowledge and / or the availability of incorrect information, about the correct management of the life cycle of a machine, leads companies and managers to make wrong investments and business evaluations, not in line with the optimization of costs and available resources.

This is why it is important to know the life cycle of your machinery and automation systems well, in order to have accurate information on how to make obsolete industrial equipment and automation systems efficient and productive again.

Today it is possible to increase production, improve and increase the performance of the production site without necessarily having to change the plants, thanks to a particular and targeted intervention that takes the name of Revamping.

But what Revamping is?

Revamping is an operation to restructure and rebuild industrial plants, both simple and complex, in order to extend their life cycle within the production process.

In detail, a revamping intervention replaces the technological heart of an industrial machinery by updating it with current and cutting-edge solutions, allowing the plant to gain efficiency and quality, while maintaining the starting structure.

Replacements are not always necessary; in fact it is possible that the production site needs to be repositioned inside the structure in which it is located to give the possibility both to intervene on the site itself by inserting additional machinery, and to optimize the management of the plant. This operation would aim to make work experience more efficient, comfortable and safe.

Thanks to the revamping it is therefore possible to restore obsolete technological processes, replacing them with modern technologies that allow the plant to start a new productive “life”, obtaining, consequently, an increase in productivity, energy saving and safety.

Starting from the assumption that the restoration of existing industrial plants is generally less expensive than a totally new project, there is the concrete possibility of giving life to an overall optimal result.

The advantages deriving from a revamping intervention are unquestionably positive:

• Increase in productivity and plant performance

• Increased staff security,

• Improvement of the production quality and flexibility of the line,

• Reduction of production costs.

To be able to perform a revamping intervention as best as possible, which as mentioned above can significantly lead to performance and therefore economic advantages, it is essential to know perfectly, in addition to the structure and composition of the plant, the infrastructure in which the plant is located.

Every revamping intervention must therefore bALWAYS be preceded by an accurate study of the geometric structure of the plant; going by trial is never the ideal solution; planning is the key to a positive outcome. This is why even in this new sector it is essential to have a preliminary knowledge of the structure and of the plant, so as to be able to have what in jargon is defined as a “descriptive geometric representation of the structure”

The survey of the structure, of the plant or of the structure, done through LASER SCANNER 3D and combined with the photogrammetric detection technique is certainly the best choice to outline a precise and accurate survey.

Laser scanning, now one of the main modern detection techniques, allows to give both an extremely detailed descriptive geometric representation but above all to obtain different advantages, such as:

• Significant reduction in data acquisition times,

• Reduction of detection costs (the registration of a 3D model significantly reduces the costs associated with the operation (it avoids continually returning to the site after a survey),

• Surveys of structures in areas that are difficult to access and not accessible with total security,

• Increased accuracy and accuracy of information,

• Perform analysis: 
  
  • structural accurate,
  • thermical,
  • energetical,
  • acoustical,
  • lighting.

Conclusions

Today, technology allows us to overcome the barriers that years ago seemed impassable. The difficulty lies in knowing how to seize the moment and not be left behind.

In the industrial sector in particular, technology has always played a key role, so … why not use it at 360 °?

Being able to rehabilitate a plant, prevent problems, improve performance and safety by reducing costs, today it is possible thanks to technology, and certainly the combination of revamping and laser scanner survey is a winning combination destined to grow more and more.