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A sustainable asset lifecycle management approach

The workforce in the capital-intensive industry is getting older and new employees resist extended learning apprenticeships for lengthy careers in one position. 

Mike Brooks
Bedford, Massachusetts,
Thu, October 7, 2021

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A sustainable asset lifecycle management approach Faced with competition, companies double down on corporate social responsibility (CSR). (Courtesy of/newswise.com)

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management book, titled Flight of the Buffalo (1994) by James Belasco and Ralph Stayer, extorted, “Change is hard, because people overestimate the value of what they have – and underestimate the value of what may gain, by giving that up. In illustrating the bigger vision, this book also juxtaposed the V-shaped flight of a gaggle of geese versus the stampede of a herd of buffaloes.

Humans fear the unknown. So much so, that they may choose to stick to less successful approaches of the past. Technology driven industries are adopting initiatives – as such, sustainability; corporate social responsibility; accelerated digital transformation; asset performance management (APM) in manufacturing; as well as overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). Such initiatives, drive toward maximizing return on assets (RoA) to achieve net/total revenue. The expression, “to address lifecycle issues” means that equipment, both mechanical and process, must work better to promote all equipment, running safer, greener, faster, and longer.

The world witnessed the impact of the pandemic accelerating inevitable changes to counter fragility in the assets’ performance. The workforce in the capital-intensive industry is getting older and new employees resist extended learning apprenticeships for lengthy careers in one position. They do not have time to fully experience the nuances in asset behavior and how to best take care of them. So, we improve the situation with self-learning and knowledge retaining applications. This ensures that key experience does not get lost and the younger workforce entrants have the ability to ramp up faster.

Leading-edge software within the APM technology group can enable companies to rapidly master the role of learning and retaining knowledge. This, in turns, helps process driven companies improve product quality; equipment uptime and total product produced in many industries, including recent mining and chemical processing successes.

The current pandemic has exposed the hidden insecurities of supply chains, as they were uncovered, stretched, and broken. For manufacturers this caused intense issues around feedstock availability, changing sources, and greater variability in feedstock quality. Those supply chain problems then further compounded operations planning, scheduling, and complications in changing operational campaigns, stability of process operations, and stressed process and mechanical asset health that leads to off-spec product and potential asset degradation and failure. Much better agility in response and remediation is needed in the face of uncertainty, as the world prepares for the new industry normal.

Reiterating, the highest reason for APM is to support RoA, the fundamental business objective of maximizing revenue for the lifecycle while respecting safety and the environment. To do so, we reach for the three main principles of APM and the four criteria for achieving them – the key to superior total asset performance.

By adopting the principles of APM to drive future improvements, capital-intensive companies should be mindful of three key tenets. First, maintainability – which basically alludes to the ease of maintaining equipment, diagnosing problems, and restoring them to full operation. Second, work management – that of ensuring work productivity, job safety, and environmental protection. Third, reliability – trouble-free equipment performing its full intended duty, determined by free flow of good data. The APM success criteria’ literally drives towards execution with excellence with availability; performance; cost, risk and rewards; as well as quality and yield.

The importance of following the APM principles and success criteria cannot be understated.

The whole imperative implies executing the full scope of APM 4.0, which is much more than mechanical availability. The effort must include managing the full production capability and the costs and risks involved in different asset strategies. APM Portfolio applications need to be able to influence how well the assets perform over the whole lifecycle while respecting safety and the environment. Consequently, it is an important accelerator of digitalization for any manufacturer, but it brings alive the changing rational for APM. It centers APM on the core motives for asset performance.

Reliability and equipment availability-to-plan remain top priorities. APM 4.0 assures the most efficient equipment, optimal operating costs, the right product yield/quality, and allocates the right risks and costs for all asset decisions. For increased response and decision agility the applications also provide remote access enabling work from anywhere.

The APM portfolio is a collection of fine-tuned applications laced with embedded Industrial AI for specific purposes for specific users that comprehensively address how APM must support OEE for the intended assets’ lifecycle. Additionally, the portfolio applications stand up to address the issues of ease-of-use, simplicity through low-touch learning and knowledge retention, and agility to assure fast and efficient changes on variations in logistics in the supply chain, and any compounding conditions affecting the operational environment.

Indeed, the applications install effective software autonomous agents that embed artificial intelligence and first principles knowledge, lifting the competence and capability to build solutions. Agents do the hard work so you do not have to. Consequently, agents are simple and easy to install and scale rapidly to blanket a whole plant with coverage, for all types of assets, rotating, fixed and mobile mechanical assets plus process equipment.

Lastly, the portfolio performs complex lifecycle examination all decisions to be made on servicing, renewing, or replacing an asset or service. All this is over-and-above simple protection of only large rotating equipment.

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The writer is global director, APM solutions, Aspen Technology Inc.

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