(39a) Using Digital Technologies to Optimize Plant Uptime

This presentation discusses how recent advances in digital technologies can be leveraged to optimize maintenance activities to optimize plant uptime. This will be illustrated through several specific use cases that focus on how mobile devices such as tablets can be linked remotely to monitoring and control facilities from multiple locations. Maintenance crews can also collaborate in real time with remote experts—through audio, video, or chat—to improve asset management and maintenance planning. Augmented Reality advances enhance the experience, allowing the remote expert, for instance, to overlay repair instructions onto the shared image. Smart apps help integrate tablets into the plant environment, enabling access to asset-specific information, including past maintenance and recent operations data.

Digitization solutions such as these also draw on advances of the digital twin concept. Because a wealth of equipment and operations data is available digitally today, it can be downloaded to the maintenance person’s tablet for immediate use. This gives maintenance workers everything they need where and when they need it to resolve equipment problems.

During this presentation you will gain the following insights:

• A general understanding of key digitalization topics such as the digital twin, 3D, simulation as well as innovative ways of collecting data
• Learn how information and data can be used to operate and maintain a plant more efficiently
• Understand how maintenance can move from being reactive to predictive