Stuart Lake is based on the waterfront at Her Majesty’s Naval Base Portsmouth and Peter Bellamy is resident at HM Naval Base Devonport, Plymouth. Both Technical Service Engineers were marine engineering artificers and possess in-depth knowledge and experience of Royal Navy equipment, operations and support organisations.

Their daily activities are far from routine and are largely dictated by recommendations from the marine early failure detection centre in North Wales, the ships visiting the Naval Base and ships programmed maintenance periods.

They offer day to day support to ship’s staff and shore-based personnel, particularly those responsible for marine diesel engines, and advise upon all aspects of the Machine Care Plus® service. In particular they are able to resolve discrepancies in data recording, advise upon sampling procedures and documentation, obtain accurate feedback with respect to maintenance actions taken and secure background information and photographic images when appropriate. Regular visits to ships, office based enquiries and briefings, formal presentations, continuation training and local troubleshooting all help to ensure the smooth running of the Machine Care Plus® service.

This hands-on approach helps to win the “hearts and minds” of users which in turn raises the quality of data and information generated, the bedrock of the Machine Care Plus® service.

Between March and August 2001, AES Technical Service Engineers Stuart Lake and Peter Bellamy based at Her Majesty’s Naval Bases Portsmouth and Devonport carried out more than 60 briefings on board Royal Navy vessels and at a number of shore-based establishments.

The briefings covered all aspects of the Machine Care Plus® service, demonstrated that support and advice was readily available and helped to promote open dialogue with ship’s staff and shore-based personnel.

During the 10th Multiple Launch Rocket System Maintenance Officers Meeting (MLRS MOM) held in Tromsø, Norway in May of this year Steve Docker and Russ Kirkham of AES made a “Learning Through Experience” presentation on the subject of condition based asset management.

The three-day meeting, which is held annually, is a forum for discussing technical and logistical issues in relation to the MLRS, which is currently operated by ten countries.

At the invitation of the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency and the UK Ministry of Defence the AES team presented their work on British Army Challenger 2 transmission units, outlining the benefits achieved and discussed with delegates how a similar approach may be of benefit to the MLRS.

The Engineer Tank System due to enter service with the British Army is based upon Challenger 2 and in order to verify design modifications a trial was held during June 2001 where a number of ploughing and earth moving tasks were conducted.

During the trial, major assemblies fitted to a Challenger 2 main battle tank were monitored by Hamish Sharp of AES to establish if any additional wear was caused throughout a number of functional tests. The trial provided valuable baseline information and clearly demonstrated that data could be obtained from major assemblies in a clean and safe manner.

During 2000 AES staff were invited to deliver a number of “Learning Through Experience” presentations. Recipients included the UK Ministry of Defence Multi Role Armoured Vehicle (MRAV), Engineer Systems Support (ESS) and Tactical Reconnaissance Armoured Combat Equipment Requirement (TRACER) Integrated Project Teams. In addition, presentations were made at the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham and AES also hosted a number of fact finding visits to their Early Failure Detection Centres.

AES Medical is pleased to announce that it has entered into a project with Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust to develop a pathology IT system to assist in the diagnosis of Suspected Chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease (CIIBD).

It is hoped that the proposed system developed with the pathology department at the Queens Medical Centre will enhance the guidelines published by the British Society of Gastroenterology for the initial diagnosis of suspected chronic idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease.

The aim of the system is to provide a vehicle for audit and to assist pathologists to obtain a greater consistency/reproducibility and accuracy of diagnosis.