There are many rea\u00adsons for a retrofit: in addi\u00adtion to the gen\u00aderal desire to mod\u00adernise the machine, there are often external rea\u00adsons that ini\u00adtiate con\u00adver\u00adsion mea\u00adsures. For example, impor\u00adtant com\u00adpo\u00adnents are no longer avail\u00adable, safety devices are manip\u00adu\u00adlated because they are no longer state of the art and thus affect the avail\u00adability of the machine, or the effi\u00adciency of the machine is to be increased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The steps for a suc\u00adcessful retrofit follow a gen\u00aderal process, which can be influ\u00adenced by the extent of the retrofit and the type of plant or machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Click on the steps to find out more:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first step is to analyse the existing plant or machine and eval\u00aduate the pro\u00adposed retrofit mea\u00adsure. This includes deter\u00admining the type of retrofit that should be car\u00adried out: e.g. just replacing a com\u00adpo\u00adnent in the existing automa\u00adtion or safety con\u00adcept or con\u00adverting the existing con\u00adtrol system.
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The fol\u00adlowing ques\u00adtions must be clar\u00adi\u00adfied:
Which safety and con\u00adtrol con\u00adcepts are cur\u00adrently in place and what should they look like in the future? Which frame\u00adwork con\u00addi\u00adtions, legal require\u00adments, tech\u00adnical and logis\u00adtical fac\u00adtors need to be taken into account? How must the process work\u00adflow be organ\u00adised so that mea\u00adsures can be bun\u00addled sen\u00adsibly and, if nec\u00ades\u00adsary, car\u00adried out in par\u00adallel with ongoing oper\u00ada\u00adtions in order to keep plant down\u00adtimes to a min\u00adimum?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Once the objec\u00adtive of the retrofit has been deter\u00admined, the next step should be to review the mea\u00adsure for any sub\u00adstan\u00adtial mod\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion. If the con\u00adver\u00adsion cre\u00adates new haz\u00adards and a sub\u00adstan\u00adtial mod\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion is iden\u00adti\u00adfied, the machine legally becomes a new machine and must be fully adapted to the cur\u00adrent state of the art. The oper\u00adator becomes the man\u00adu\u00adfac\u00adturer and must carry out a (renewed) EC con\u00adfor\u00admity assess\u00adment pro\u00adce\u00addure. The assess\u00adment of whether a pro\u00adposed con\u00adver\u00adsion rep\u00adre\u00adsents a sub\u00adstan\u00adtial mod\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion, or whether the aim of the retrofit can also be achieved through another mea\u00adsure, must be con\u00adsid\u00adered on an indi\u00advidual basis.
The new Machinery Reg\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion syn\u00adchro\u00adnises this sub\u00adject for the entire EU and details what exactly is meant by a sub\u00adstan\u00adtial mod\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n