The green transition challenges the status quo in many societal and industrial activities. Materials are a key enabler of new carbon-neutral technologies. The results of the MASCOT project will provide a basis for materials selection and maintenance activities for the emerging industrial processes.

Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) promises improved reliability, but is it always worth it? Full-scale implementation is often overly complex, costly, and unnecessary—like using a cannon to shoot a mosquito. Without readiness and a strong foundation in basic maintenance practices, RCM can distract from more practical, cost-effective solutions. Simpler, experience-driven approaches may often yield better results.

I visited the Ecomondo fair in Italy at the beginning of November. A huge event with some 100 000 visitors and 30 halls full of stuff from composters to one-family house-sized process lines.

In March 2023, the German legislator published TRBS 1115 part 1 (Technical Regulations for Operational Safety). The technical regulation deals with Cybersecurity for the first time and requires German lift operators to ensure that protection from cyber-attacks is in place, at minimum for safety-related measurement and control devices. To avoid injuries and damage to property, lift operators need to take suitable means and document them in their hazard assessment.

In recent years, advances in connectivity, big data and digitalization have often promised to bring significant benefits to industry. Now, with the Valmet Industrial Internet, data is being used to deliver a better kind of maintenance service, as well as performance optimization services.

To be able to respond to current developments and trends in society, it is of vital importance for organizations to focus on the sustainable employability of assets.

The carbon footprint of SPINNOVA textile fibre is already 72 percent lower than that of conventionally produced cotton. With the AmbiHeat heat pump plant and an energy ecosystem, each produced kilogram of textile fibre reduces overall CO2 emissions.