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| Asset Management is an integral part of success in today's information driven enterprise. |
In many industries, a key determining factor in maximizing profitability is the management of the health and performance of company assets. Assets age and require maintenance. Normal use will lead to decreases in efficiency and overall performance if certain key indicators are not tracked and properly analyzed. In order to increase operational efficiency and reduce unscheduled downtime, many companies have introduced EAM (Enterprise Asset Management) or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems into their infrastructure. Key data drawn from operator inspections, rounds, general maintenance and service can be used to make important decisions about how assets should be used and how their performance can be maximized. One problem today’s businesses face, however, is that this asset data is managed by a system separate from the operational data, putting key decision makers at a disadvantage when it comes to making the most informed decisions possible.
But what if your HMI/SCADA system could provide some of these asset management capabilities? What if the real time data from a controlled and monitored system included all information available from that system? A modern SCADA system that would allow monitored assets to be associated in real time with maintenance records and service requests would give both operators and key decision-makers access to all of the data needed to perform their jobs at the highest level of efficiency.
A recent article from ARC Advisory Group* examined the advantages of APM (Asset Performance Management) and its relevance to supervisory control and data acquisition. Per the article: “Leading practitioners of APM are moving towards an integrated data model supported by a system where all information is aligned with its corresponding asset.”
In most cases today, there is a distinct separation between process control operators and the management personnel tasked with making the decisions that affect those processes. While a SCADA system cannot completely replace a robust Enterprise Asset Management system, it can certainly enhance and contribute to it. In fact, it is becoming increasingly obvious that finding a solution that allows operators to do their jobs safely and efficiently, while also allowing decision-makers to improve performance and increase asset reliability, will be a key to maintaining a competitive edge in today’s marketplace.
Today, businesses in any industry gather a tremendous amount of data from numerous sources: from instruments and sensors to manual inspections and general maintenance. There is plenty of data to make faster and better decisions than in the past, but is that what is happening? More often than not this data is not being maximized and used to its full potential.
ARC’s research led them to the same conclusion. Their determination was that businesses do not suffer from a lack of data; they suffer from an inability to “analyze and distill all the relevant data down to actionable information for measurable performance improvement”.
We have new tools to help us with our work, but our work proceeds largely unchanged. Without the ability to translate this abundance of data into useful information, it will never help us reach our full potential.
This process begins with finding and using the right tools for the job. For most of today's industries, there is no longer a question about how to get important data to where it is needed. The question has become about what to do with that data to make the most of it. Researchers inevitably arrived at the only sensible recommendation:
“ARC recommends investing in solutions engineered and designed to not only leverage existing data systems, but enhance its business value to the enterprise.”
Experts agree: the time has come to expect more from SCADA.
*Founded in 1986, ARC Advisory Group is the leading technology research and advisory firm for industry and infrastructure (http://www.arcweb.com)
But what if your HMI/SCADA system could provide some of these asset management capabilities? What if the real time data from a controlled and monitored system included all information available from that system? A modern SCADA system that would allow monitored assets to be associated in real time with maintenance records and service requests would give both operators and key decision-makers access to all of the data needed to perform their jobs at the highest level of efficiency.
A recent article from ARC Advisory Group* examined the advantages of APM (Asset Performance Management) and its relevance to supervisory control and data acquisition. Per the article: “Leading practitioners of APM are moving towards an integrated data model supported by a system where all information is aligned with its corresponding asset.”
In most cases today, there is a distinct separation between process control operators and the management personnel tasked with making the decisions that affect those processes. While a SCADA system cannot completely replace a robust Enterprise Asset Management system, it can certainly enhance and contribute to it. In fact, it is becoming increasingly obvious that finding a solution that allows operators to do their jobs safely and efficiently, while also allowing decision-makers to improve performance and increase asset reliability, will be a key to maintaining a competitive edge in today’s marketplace.
Today, businesses in any industry gather a tremendous amount of data from numerous sources: from instruments and sensors to manual inspections and general maintenance. There is plenty of data to make faster and better decisions than in the past, but is that what is happening? More often than not this data is not being maximized and used to its full potential.
ARC’s research led them to the same conclusion. Their determination was that businesses do not suffer from a lack of data; they suffer from an inability to “analyze and distill all the relevant data down to actionable information for measurable performance improvement”.
We have new tools to help us with our work, but our work proceeds largely unchanged. Without the ability to translate this abundance of data into useful information, it will never help us reach our full potential.
This process begins with finding and using the right tools for the job. For most of today's industries, there is no longer a question about how to get important data to where it is needed. The question has become about what to do with that data to make the most of it. Researchers inevitably arrived at the only sensible recommendation:
“ARC recommends investing in solutions engineered and designed to not only leverage existing data systems, but enhance its business value to the enterprise.”
Experts agree: the time has come to expect more from SCADA.
*Founded in 1986, ARC Advisory Group is the leading technology research and advisory firm for industry and infrastructure (http://www.arcweb.com)
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