GreenFuture

5/2017

REFRESHING SODA BARS

THERE WILL BE SODA BARS IN PRODUCTION HALLS TO HELP WITH DRINKING REGIME ALL YEAR LONG

9

PROTECTED

ALL YEAR LONG

INTERNATIONAL DAYS FOR

ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION

24 May

EUROPEAN DAY OF PARKS

The European Day of National Parks emphasises the importance of a well-conceived

and maintained network of protected areas

on the European continent. It also promotes

the importance of establishing protected areas and caring for their natural, cultural and

historical heritage.

5 June

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

In 1972, the General Assembly of the United Nations established World Environment

Day. From the standpoint of nature conservation and restoration, celebrating this day

is considered one of the most important

events of the year.

8 June

WORLD OCEANS DAY

Canada suggested this day the United Nations Conference on Environment and

Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 to remind people of the importance of and vital

role played by oceans. However, it was not

celebrated until 2009, following the passage of provisions of UN resolutions on the

oceans and the law of the sea in 2008.

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S

ummer is approaching along with rising

temperatures, and we need to take care

of our health more than during other seasons. If you are not careful, thirst can easily

turn into dehydration, which the Czech carmaker is trying to prevent.

WITH OR WITHOUT BUBBLES

A new measure on providing drinking water will enter into force on 1 June. Until now,

ŠKODA has been dispensing springy, mineralised water in 1.5-litre PET bottles to employees. New vending machines, so-called soda

bars, will be installed in individual production

halls. This solution came not only from surveys among employees but also from successful implementation at the Volkswagen

plant in Bratislava. Soda bars will be available

all year round to staff who have a workplace

in the production hall. They will be able to refresh themselves with not only still but also

sparkling and gently sparkling water. Each

soda bar has a service telephone line to report any defects.

BOTTLES FOR EVERYONE

The staff will no longer need their own mugs

or a glass. Each will get a long-life plastic bottle. Distributing will be one-off at the beginning of June, and then once every year. New

employees will get it when they start their

job, so they will not have to wait. The distribution frequency will be routinely evaluated

and adjusted if necessary. In the future, additional bottles will be available.

Physicians recommend consuming two to

three litres of fluid a day, four on hot summer days. A morning coffee cannot be count-

ed into this amount. The same as black tea,

it contains caffeine (thein), which can lead to

fluid loss and excretion of minerals that the

body needs. It is therefore good to drink the

same amount of water for each cup of coffee

or tea. Pay attention to the feeling of thirst

and drink before you have it. Thirst is nothing more than a sign of dehydration already in

progress, so it is necessary to take more fluid immediately. Women feel thirsty less often, and the need decreases further with age.

It is better to drink throughout the day – do

not try to “catch up” in the evening what you

have neglected. If a person suddenly drinks a

lot at once, it overloads the kidneys and the

heart. The “everything in moderation” rule

also applies to drinking: Two or three litres

per day is more than enough for a healthy

person.  RED

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20 October

ARBOUR DAY

The idea for Arbour Day originated in the

mid-19th century in the United States. It was

brought to Bohemia by the Confederation of

Associations and was first celebrated here

on a large scale early in April 1906. The tradition, interrupted by the war and the communist regime, was restored in 2000.

11 December

International Mountain Day

A relatively new holiday was declared a significant day by the United Nations only in

2003. The purpose of this day is to promote the sustainable development of mountains and mountain areas, even at the cost

of tourism.

http://worldenvironmentday.global

TESTS PROLONG LIFESPAN

PROCESS LIQUID CHECKS WITH SPECTROMETERS IS BENEFICIAL FOR MACHINERY AS WELL

U

nscheduled repairs and downtimes of

production machinery, as well as large

stockpiles of spare parts, cause lower production and increased costs. This can be

prevented through proactive and timely maintenance or responsive maintenance,

which significantly influences the reliability of operation. Monitoring of the oil level during the entire operation, observation

of its course of changes (tribodiagnostics)

and its proper treatment – all this is handled

by the proactive maintenance of lubricating

oils. Its analysis is used today as a diagnostic

tool to monitor various machine types with

a closed-circulation lubrication mechanism.

When optimal sampling intervals are met, all

deviations and changes from the usual con-

dition (normal values of individual parameters monitored) can be intercepted and thus

alert a machine user to an unusual condition

well in advance.

VARIOUS ELEMENTS AND PROBLEMS

The process liquid checks are carried out in

the PSZ/12 department on several measuring devices. Two spectrometers are among

the most modern equipment that prolong

the lifespan not only of process liquids but

also of the very machinery. The first is the

iS10 infra-red spectrometer manufactured

by Nicolet. Based on a measured sample, the

device can use this range to determine the

chemical composition, approximate structure

and number of organic compounds found

in a sample. The results can reveal the degree of oil degradation, amount of soot, antioxidants, water, presence of glycol etc. This

makes it possible, for example, to filter out

hydraulic oil with a conventional particle filtering or water removal method.

The X-Supreme 8000 X-ray spectrometer

performs an elemental analysis of lubricating

oils and is used for checking hydraulic and

cutting oils. It can be also used as a tool to

localise any malfunction in a machine. There

is a problem if the amount of a certain element increases after two consecutive measurements. For example, an increased amount

of iron usually signifies a damaged pump;

silicon is a sign of a malfunctioning air filter; sodium points to a cooling fluid leak-

age etc. The PSZ/12 department passes the

measured results on to the respective maintenance units in the company. All the tribotechnical tests carried out by the department

primarily lead to a prolonged lifespan of process fluids; as a secondary effect, however,

they also prolong the lifespan of machinery.   RED

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