Could New Digital Positioners Help Manufacturers Bridge the Skills Gap?

Manufacturers are struggling with the increasing loss of in-house valve expertise, forcing them to reduce their dependency on individual operator and maintenance skill level. Investing in new digital positioner technologies and diagnostic solutions, however, can help manufacturers bridge the skills gap by providing their maintenance staff a window into what is going on within control valves and identify corrective measures to avoid costly impending valve failures. In the past, it could take decades of on-the-job training for a technician to accumulate this level of expertise.

Recent advances in data science, artificial intelligence, and computing power have converged in a “perfect storm” to enable commercialization of algorithms that provide human-like analysis of large data sets at machine speeds. These advances are allowing control valve suppliers to apply advanced machine learning capabilities to valve health monitoring solutions to provide more advanced warning of impending valve failure. The proliferation of IIoT solutions in manufacturing plants today is redefining the roles of operators and maintenance personnel. This means operators are no longer “flying blind” in regards to the health of the valves in their plants. Applying digital positioners could not only help manufacturers deal with the ongoing loss of in-house valve expertise, they also help them maximize operating profits through increased safety and reliability.

With the increasing scrutiny on capital expenditures, plant maintenance staff are finding it difficult to justify CapEx investments requiring long installation and commissioning times. CEOs are looking for solutions that provide quick and easy installation and commissioning times, minimizing the up-front investment necessary. By basing new valve positioner technologies on open standards, many valve suppliers have minimized the up-front customization investment on the part of users; thereby allowing manufacturers to begin realizing the benefits of a proactive maintenance strategies quickly and efficiently. Many new valve positioner technologies also support the ability to “cut and paste” configurations between control valves, which reduces the effort required to get each valve on-line. By making it easy for technicians to get valves up and running quickly and efficiently, digital positioners reduce the cost and risk associated with valve startups.

Many new digital valve positioner diagnostic solutions have been designed as intuitive online solution that can be used by operators, plant engineers, maintenance, and production management alike without requiring any detailed knowledge of control valves or the ability to interpret complicated diagnostics data. This allows end users to begin using the solutions with minimal training or instruction and benefit from advice in the form of easy-to-understand corrective actions manufacturers can take to prevent impending valve failures.

So, are new digital valve positioner solutions helping manufacturers bridge the skills gap? What do you think? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

ARC’s latest and greatest control valve market research discusses these and related trends in far more detail.