Rockwell: TÃœV Rheinland certified, Machine & Process Safety support
06/10/2014 Rockwell Automation
With legislation constantly adapting to technological advances, safety has become a moving target for manufacturers, equipment/machinery suppliers and system integrators. Keeping the latest national and international legislation firmly in your sights can be a real challenge. David Reade, Business Development Consultant, at Rockwell Automation discusses how competent suppliers and integrators can support their customers and add real value."Customers are increasingly looking for suppliers that can help them meet global compliance requirements whilst at the same time increasing productivity levels," Reade explains. "There are many different safety bodies out there, all running competent safety accreditation schemes and it can be a bit of a mystery to know what best fits with an application's requirement. For machinery solutions you can take an exam and become functional safety specialist through a number of different test houses, but in my opinion TÃœV Rheinland has the most exacting requirements; with its 'expert' level demanding at least 10 years' experience in a safety role."
This is a key reason why Rockwell Automation invests in its staff and partners competency when it comes to safety. Worldwide, Rockwell Automation can proudly boast 137 Certified TÃœV Rheinland Functional Safety Engineers, covering machinery, safety instrumented systems (SIS) and hardware/software (HW/SW).
Of this 137, a significant number are Certified Functional Safety Experts covering the various disciplines across the globe. Approximately half of the 137 engineers are qualified in machinery, and 33 of those reside in the EMEA region. These numbers are also growing week by week.
"Competency is the core here," Reade elaborates, "and a good way of demonstrating competency is via TÃœV Rheinland certification; similar to how we prove our products integrity via a TÃœV certificate. Our internal competency model engages with sales engineers, internal and external technical support staff, global technical consultants, field service engineers and safety consultants."
Rockwell Automation also has an external competency model, which addresses its System Integrators (RcSI), so they can demonstrate their ability to engineer a solution correctly. "Customers have an increased desire to check an RcSI's competency," Reade continues, "but don't have the time or capability to audit them. There is an increased awareness for this requirement coming from enforcement bodies such the various national health and safety agencies, trade bodies and professional associations.
"In addition to our products and services capabilities, "Reade continues, "the Safety RcSI program is intended to extend our support to our customers via highly competent partners. There is a growing trend towards Integrated Safety Solutions and the RcSI community is ideally placed to deliver a complete safety solution, which offers not only real value for the end customer, but also differentiates both the RcSI and Rockwell Automation from other suppliers."
With regards to the actual training programme, Reade explains: "Rockwell Automation now offer a TÃœV Rheinland FSTech qualification (Functional Safety Technician qualification) aimed at maintenance/project engineers working with machinery, and TÃœV Rheinland FSEng course for SIS (Functional Safety Engineer course for Safety Instrumented Systems) aimed at process engineers. These courses are utilised internally to certify our staff and partners and externally to train and certify our customer staff. In addition, we also conduct training on hardware and software to ensure our staff is fully up to speed with the latest technologies and solutions. This can only result in a better service for our customers. "
"Our customers are not just interested in solutions and products," Reade concludes, "they want good advice too. However, products, solutions and advice all need to work in harmony to help ensure peace of mind for machinery/equipment suppliers and manufacturers. How do they know our products offer the right performance? They are TÃœV certified. How do they know that our personnel can design and specify the right solution? Once again they are TÃœV certified. Safety maybe a moving target, but the right supplier can bring the target a lot closer giving you a much better chance of hitting it in the centre."
For more information, please contact:
Rockwell Automation Ltd
UK Marketing Communications Specialist
Pitfield,
Kiln Farm
Milton Keynes
K11 3DR
Tel: 0870 242 5004
Fax: 01908 839696
Email: ukmarketing@ra.rockwell.com
Web: www.rockwellautomation.co.uk
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