Swire Coca-Cola Hong Kong Ltd recently made a HK$100,000 donation to CityU’s Smart Asset Management (SAM) Laboratory, in support of its unique equipment fault diagnosis and prognosis system—Smart Asset Maintenance System (SAMS@). 

 Through web-based monitoring software, SAMS@ performs “health checks” on the conditions of equipment in a wide range of industries: motors for trains, air conditioning for buildings, pumps for water supply, stacker cranes for logistics, printing machinery, beverage production systems, and so on.  It helps users achieve near zero-breakdown in equipment maintenance and service provision, through timely fault analysis and failure prevention. “Web-based monitoring is a cost-effective means of equipment maintenance, compared to the conventional approach of manual checking, using expensive sensor and failure analysis machinery,” said SAM Laboratory Director Dr Peter Tse, Associate Professor of the Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management. The Laboratory has franchised the use of SAMS@ at HK$10,000 a year to its business partners.

 SAM was established in 2001 to provide smart asset maintenance to public utilities and industry. It promotes industry collaboration through a membership system. To date, some 20 members have joined SAM. They include Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Corporation, Swire Properties, Swire Coca-Cola Hong Kong Ltd, Airport Authority Hong Kong, Water Supplies Department, Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd, SKF China Ltd, Bruel & Kjaer (Hong Kong), Fixturlaser China Ltd,

C & C Offset Printing Co Ltd, among others. Together they have chipped in about HK$1.2 million in support of SAM. The Laboratory received an award of HK$4.6 million from the Innovation and Technology Fund in support of an application project with the printing industry in 2002.

Members have access to the Laboratory’s tools and instruments to help their maintenance works. They are also encouraged to explore application projects with SAM to suit their specific requirement. From time to time, the Laboratory engages CityU students in projects, thus helping to enrich their learning experience. “It is a win-win situation,” Dr Tse remarked.