“What gets measured, gets improved” goes the saying imprecisely attributed to legendary management consultant Peter Drucker. Increasingly, though, good calibration requires more than whipping out the scales or a tape measure.
In a more and more exacting scientific world, extreme precision is required to deliver the best results to customers at a practical, industrial level.
Modern society is driven by data, which is created every time someone interacts with a connected device or software. When used wisely and properly, this data is enormously powerful but to be able to measure assets and functions with a high degree of reliability is key.
Over the last two and a half years, the COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the power and importance of accurate measurement.
The well-documented logistics and supply chain problems mean that manufacturers need an advanced understanding of their inventory levels and – crucially – the availability of raw materials to keep the wheels of industry turning.
John Leadbetter, Managing Director of level and pressure-measuring equipment supplier, VEGA Australia, said customers are always looking at ways to improve, not only their own processes, but also to minimise downtime and delays.
“Remote access to information is becoming a very important issue with industry, and VEGA is at the forefront of this development,” Mr Leadbetter said.
An arm of the German-based giant VEGA Grieshaber AG, VEGA Australia has serviced the local market for almost four decades. Its customers include some of the biggest blue chip companies and span twelve key sectors including mining, oil and gas, food manufacturing and water management.
“It may be about measuring the pressure of slurry, air or water in a pipe, or the amount of material held within or above a mine or pipe or dam,” Mr Leadbetter said. “The methods can be contact or non-contact, such as a radar transmitter, or a probe in a tank that picks up changes in conductivity or density.”
Translating data into measurement
The underlying science aside, VEGA’s mission is to tackle customers’ practical day-to-day measurement challenges. Mr Leadbetter said consumers tend to take information for granted, without any due thought to how this data translates to measurement.
“For example, 99.9 per cent of people turn their tap on in the morning and expect water to come out,” Mr Leadbetter said. “But this happens because of accurate measurement, whether it’s the level of a dam, sewage flow rates or the reliability of tides and shipping.”
He said the internet-of-things revolution – the adoption of remote sensors – further highlights the imperatives of reliability and accuracy.
“Before they invest in logistics and resources, they need to know the information is going to be exactly what they are after,” Mr Leadbetter said.
Mr Leadbetter noted that the pace of technology advancements quickens each year – especially so in the case of process instrumentation. So with production processes becoming ever more complex, it’s crucial that the measurement technology used to control and monitor the processes is understandable and intuitive.
“VEGA has set itself the goal of developing innovative measurement technology that is easy to install and operate and offers maximum safety and reliability.”
This sponsored editorial is brought to you by VEGA. For more information, please visit www.vega.com.
