Downtime is a 'necessary evil' in all manufacturing and production facilities. Minimizing that downtime through planned maintenance, equipment, and environmental monitoring are critical steps in effective operations management. Equally important whether an entire industrial plant is taken offline or a single piece of broken equipment, there are two main categories of downtime:
Planned downtime represents regularly scheduled routine maintenance performed as required to ensure peak facility operations. On the other hand, unplanned downtime means an unexpected and often highly costly disruption in operations due to system or equipment failure. Either way, downtime matters because it often represents millions of dollars in lost revenue. This article addresses how digitizing your operations and harnessing real-time data via monitor sensors, and digital applications will quickly alert personnel, thereby drastically reducing both planned and unplanned downtime.
Recognizing an irregularity before it becomes an unplanned disruption is only one of the many advantages of remote monitoring and using real-time data to reduce facility operations' downtime. An inspector using real-time data to track environmental conditions could, for example, compare operating standards and, with a real-time cloud-based IT system, immediately document and report a potential problem.
Regular mobile devices with an internet connection cannot be utilized in many hazardous or potentially explosive operations because they could likely cause an explosion. So, in some of today's most elaborate production facilities, pencils and carbon paper are still used to collect data, and later entered into IT systems.
Evolving to solve hazardous locations' technological needs, specifically-certified, "intrinsically safe" tablets and monitor sensors now enable real-time connection to the Internet of Things (IoT). These sensors monitor and report real-time conditions, such as pressure, vibration, corrosion, gases, humidity, temperature, and many others, to the Cloud.
Providing the "next view" into operations via monitor sensors reporting real-time data, the Aegex NexVu IoT Solution for Hazardous Locations harnesses the power of real-time data in potentially explosive environments. Configurable in thousands of combinations, Aegex NexVu monitor sensors collect precise, real-time data to optimize safety, efficiency, and productivity.
Retiring pencil and carbon paper for an Aegex10 Intrinsically Safe Tablet connected to the organization's cloud-based IT system, an inspector can now submit reports instantly. Relevant teams can instantly access this data, analyze asset integrity trends, potentially identify anomalies in performance, and schedule preventative maintenance or even asset replacement before a costly disruption in operations occurs.
Personnel tracking applications also provide cloud-based technology solutions that help reduce potential risks and downtime. For example, personnel can track each other's work, facilitating jobs that continue across shifts and teams; wearable IoT devices can monitor and share urgent information about worker injuries or accidents. Operational and downtime assets can be tracked to optimize the supply chain, with data collected about each asset and its location. 3D visualization applications offer a complete range of real-time views, from an entire plant to a single component of an asset, facilitating real-time collaboration among on-site and off-site teams.
Partnering with some of the world's top providers, Aegex Technologies offers the latest IoT, operations management, workflow management, predictive maintenance, 3D visualization, and other exciting applications for optimizing plant operations, significantly improving reliability, availability, and recovery.
Learn more about how you can harness real-time data to drastically reduce downtime with productivity, efficiency, and safety solutions for hazardous environments from Aegex Technologies.
