(118d) Digitalization Is a Hot Topic Nowadays, but Which Data Is Really Key for Process Safety and Efficiency Improvement

In the Energy industry all the measurements are based on equipment in the field. The amount of equipment has grown so large over the last decades that handling these numbers manually and, on the fly, simply does not create the desired results. With digitalization, operators have their control system, management has their ERP. The group that is lacking an intuitive system that provides them their daily needs of information is the maintenance group. They often must rely on operators to provide them with issues, or physically go into the plant to find out if there are problems, schedule routine checks from experience or use system which are poorly connected or configured.

In order to improve the quality, quantity, process safety, emissions and efficiency of the whole process, the maintenance team needs a system that provides them all the information they need from the plant with the same ease and accessibility as going through their email. The time waste of finding a problem should be tackled and where possible be exterminated. Instead of manually gathering information needed to schedule their day, the information should be presented. While working and learning from the process, they are treating, they should be able to edit the data stream which presents them the information. Core topics for the system are:

- Accessibility

- Data quality

- Data scope

- Modifiability

- Simplicity

Accessibility
In order for this program to provide the information to the analytical team, the program needs to be as accessible as the team’s email. The team needs to be able to access status information from a wide range of location and not just from the control room.

Data quality
To provide confidence in and proof of data quality it is important, that the data is continuously analyzed for its quality. There should therefore be several conditions set which will mark the quality of the equipment’s data.

Data scope
Just process data is not comprehensive enough for troubleshooting. All data will be too much to effectively derive sensible data from. The right balance is something which is not accurately definable. It is therefore important that the amount of data can be edited to the users needs. Configuring an extra diagnostic data point should be a normal action. Not something you need to pay for while also needing an expert to get the job done.

Modifiability
In the engineering phase its hard to define which exact information is needed to effectively maintain a plant. Yet with todays system its often complex to change the configuration for the end users to adapt to the changes in the plant. As also mentioned in data scope it is important for maintenance personnel to make sure they are receiving the information they deem needed for their job.

Simplicity
To make sure the system is used and valued it needs to be simple. This point can not be overstated. The systems sole purpose is to increase efficiency and quality and that will not happen through a complex and tough to use application.