The quest for leaner asset management via interoperability

Managers of maintenance systems continually strive for leaner, more optimized work flows. This white paper presents the benefits achieved by interoperating with enterprise resource planning (ERP), geographic information system (GIS), and human machine interface (HMI) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. The paper also presents the different approaches that organizations are taking to address the interoperability challenge.

The Quest for Leaner Asset Management:

The Quest for Leaner Asset

Management

Ex E c u t i v E Ov E rv i E w

Managers of maintenance systems continually strive for leaner, more optimized work flows for providing asset repair and maintenance services Gaining access to and harnessing as much information as possible are keys to achieving this endeavor

But in many cases, the maintenance management systems at manufacturing firms,

municipalities and higher education institutions operate in isolation from other systems that contain valuable information Information directly related to an asset or information that directly impacts the management of that asset This includes the ERP system as well as HR, GIS, HMI/SCADA, and an array of vendor and supply-chain systems

Integration with all of these systems and channeling the information they contain helps maintenance managers determine more efficient and effective ways for providing services

on assets The additional information can help maintenance staffs become more proactive and ensure that asset maintenance schedules do not interfere with production or operations schedules to the greatest extent possible

In addition to benefitting the maintenance management system, interoperability also benefits any of the inter-connected systems and their associated work flow By having additional information on the maintenance and condition status of assets, managers of each of these systems can also operate their departments more efficiently since they have the ability to make more informed decisions

This white paper presents the benefits achieved by interoperating with ERP, GIS and HMI/ SCADA systems The paper also presents the different approaches that organizations are taking to address the interoperability challenge

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The Quest for Leaner

Asset Management

th E Pr E s s u r E t O cr E at E LE a n E r Ma i n t E na n c E Ma nag E M E n t

sy s t E M s

Maintenance managers constantly feel pressure to create leaner systems They must keep service costs to a minimum while ensuring assets perform optimally and function for as long

as possible

With an effective maintenance management solution, addressing these challenges is possible Resources can be managed and assets can be tracked so that repairs and preventative

maintenance are completed accurately and on time to keep assets functioning properly

But isolated and disconnected maintenance management solutions prevent firms from

achieving optimal asset performance This isolation makes it difficult to bring

resource-utilization rates close to 100 percent and maximize production

The key to achieving a leaner system with the highest level of efficiency is to create

an environment where maintenance management interoperates with financial or ERP

applications, along with systems such as GIS and HMI/SCADA All of these systems contain valuable information that allow maintenance processes to operate at peak levels In return, the maintenance system can provide valuable information to each of these departments and functions as well

sta k E h O L d E r s dE M a n d hi g h as s E t PE r f O r M a n c E at t h E

LOw E s t PO s s i b L E cO s t

The need to integrate maintenance management with ERP, GIS and HMI/SCADA systems is driven by today’s business and political environment, where enterprises and institutions come under close scrutiny by business partners, customers, constituents, and other stakeholders Those charged with maintaining infrastructure, facilities, and valuable capital equipment must provide effective, timely, and reliable services And this must be done at an efficient level

The Quest for Leaner Asset

Management

4

maintenance operations operate as lean as possible while keeping assets up-and-running for as long as possible To accomplish this, organizations must integrate their maintenance management application or computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) with other systems so that the maintenance staff has access to, and can take advantage of, all available relevant information

Mu Lt i-sy s t E M in t E r O P E r a b i L i t y hE L P s Ma i n t E na n c E ga i n

nE w Ef f i c i E n c i E s

Following are examples of how businesses have benefitted from integrating their

maintenance management systems with their ERP, GIS and HMI/SCADA systems All three of these systems provide valuable information that helps maintenance management personnel function at a higher level of efficiency

ERP In t E g R at I o n

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) integrated with maintenance management addresses the maintenance, operational, and financial challenges of industrial or other physical plant operations With comprehensive and visible asset management, including reporting of usage, maintenance schedules, and costs, lean operations are achieved, organizational resources are better utilized, and cross-departmental functions are more closely aligned

Maintenance management software integrated with ERP facilitates data exchange between critical functions such as work requests, purchasing, inventory and preventive-maintenance scheduling Maintenance and repair supplies can be managed by maintenance personnel while giving visibility into re-order demands, costs, and vendors to the ERP system

Inventories can be shared and made visible for all locations to minimize redundancies and lead times Equipment and machine-utilization efficiencies rise by making preventative-maintenance schedules visible to MES and production scheduling applications as well as production-driven downtime and off-line periods for assets being relayed to maintenance

By incorporating and allocating maintenance costs into the factory operating model, more accurate costs-of-goods-sold values are achieved In addition, visibility and reporting of costs and incident details related to asset-downtime events and history allow improved communication and information sharing between maintenance personnel and operations

The Quest for Leaner Asset

Management

gIS In t E g R at I o n

A Geographic Information System (GIS) manages, displays, and reports on physical

entities based on their geographic and spatial attributes When the GIS is integrated with maintenance management, more effective management of assets and physical

infrastructure is achieved As a potent tracking and utility planning tool, GIS improves the functions of asset management and increases the capabilities and accuracy of data analysis—especially in environments where equipment, facilities, and overall infrastructure are widely dispersed

GIS effectiveness is increased with the ability to access and utilize data from sources within the CMMS system The integration improves planning and decision-making about asset conditions, repairs, and replacements The integration also helps many maintenance processes function more effectively This includes work-order management, asset

management, parts and supplies purchasing, reporting, and inventory management

As an example, responding to work orders becomes easier when routes, locations, and proximities are accurately identified This also drastically reduces backlogs of overdue infrastructure service or maintenance requests

Key components of GIS integration with maintenance management include developing and synchronizing data and shared symbologies as well as deciding upon the structure of the GIS and maintenance-management databases Such integration requires enterprises

to fully comprehend their business processes and operational requirements Only then will the integration logically and effectively migrate from a technical endeavor to a powerful operations tool

The GIS/maintenance management integration should follow a business-driven approach

to ensure that the implementation supports the business requirements of the enterprise Enterprises that make use of the integration of these two data-intensive programs will then achieve higher productivity and optimized workflow

The Quest for Leaner Asset

Management

Once assets are identified and visible, step two involves the utilization optimization of these assets Maintenance management software that seamlessly integrates with HMI/ SCADA systems enables usage-based preventive maintenance processes Therefore preventive maintenance schedules are triggered based on flexible calendars and dates as well as based on actual machine utilization

In addition, interfacing with the SCADA/Control system allows the “tags” that monitor the assets in real-time during production to be used to trigger condition or predictive maintenance work orders anytime a value, or multiple values, fall out of operating

specification These rules can be setup to capture critical conditions before major faults occur The work order triggered can be pre-configured to align with the conditions that occur and knowledge of the asset being monitored And so very specific instructions and notifications can be sent to maintenance personnel or supply chain partners, as part of that work order creation event

Mu Lt i-sy s t E M in t E r O P E r a b i L i t y aP P r Oac h E s

Large manufacturing firms, municipalities and education institutions that have millions

of dollars to invest in enterprise ERP solutions such as those offered by SAP and Oracle most likely have a high degree of integration between asset management and array of other applications and functionality throughout the enterprise Interoperability is achieved and the real effort involves ensuring that each department is automated effectively and optimally, based on their individual requirements, perspectives, and workflow

Firms and organizations with smaller budgets most often implement point solutions,

ie, software that addresses each area or department individually Due to the lack of integration among all the systems, personnel have been forced to take a spreadsheet and paper approach in an attempt to fill in the information gaps caused by disconnected applications

In the case of Asset Management, this typically involves manually patching together e-mails and phone calls that indicate how information in the ERP, GIS and HMI/SCADA system might impact the management of maintenance Because this involves significant extra work with information that’s difficult to parse manually, many maintenance managers simply forego the effort and choose to operate as efficiently as they can with just the information their maintenance management solution contains This prevents them from achieving a higher rate of efficiency in maintaining the assets

Related to this, is a simple lack of communication between departments A wealth of information exists within other departmental applications that can contribute greatly

to a lean process transformation Organizations are missing an opportunity to improve efficiencies and collect valuable information that can have a major impact on the bottom line—not just in their operational areas but for the entire organization

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Ke y Ma i n t e na n c e Ma nag e M e n t

So f t wa r e at t r i b u t e S f o r in t e g r at i n g

w i t h ot h e r en t e r p r i S e Sy S t e M S:

• XML-Core Architecture

• Utilizes Web Services

• Microsoft SQL Database Support

• Browser-Based Front End

• Mobile-Device Support

With attributes such as these, such a solution will

integrate easily with ERP, HR, GIS, HMI/SCADA, and

an array of other on-premise or off-premise systems

and processes

id E n t i f y i n g Ma i n t E na n c E Ma nag E M E n t sO L u t i O n s th at

in t E g r at E w i t h Ot h E r En t E r P r i s E sy s t E M s

The reality remains, however, that for organizations with limited deployment, consulting, and process re-engineering resources, each department will define and implement a best of breed solution for their business This way, they can choose the software with the necessary features and benefits to meet the unique needs of their staffs This also tends to reduce costs significantly compared to the enterprise ERP approach since organizations can purchase specific applications as opposed to an entire suite

But just as crucial is the ability for each solution to integrate with other systems This is easier said then done, but with the proper research and discovery, software applications that fit within your IT policies and platforms, and that are built upon an architecture of interoperability, can be deployed A key attribute of the underlying software platform is the

inclusion of protocols such as Web Services and XML, which facilitate integration with other systems It’s also helpful to deploy solutions that use a well-supported back-end database, such as Microsoft SQL Server In addition to facilitating integration with other systems, mainstream back-end databases enable support for additional third-party applications that each department might need

to implement

Another key attribute to seek is

a browser-based front-end This allows users to access the solution

The Quest for Leaner Asset

Management

The Quest for Leaner Asset

Management

8

Ma i n t E na n c E Ma nag E M E n t sO L u t i O n ca Pa b i L i t y

ch E c k L i s t

y Complete work order management and labor scheduling

y Capacity planning for maintenance operations

y Advanced bar code and serialization technology

y Powerful cost-allocation functionality

y 24/7 information access via Web and mobile applications

y Seasonal and time based preventive-maintenance routines

y condition and predictive maintenance functionality

y Hierarchical asset management

y Asset-amortization capabilities

A solution with these capabilities provides many business benefits:

y Improved responsiveness to maintenance issues

y Increased workforce productivity

y Minimized maintenance-related production delays

y Optimized corporate assets values

y Critical asset tracking and reporting

y Increased visibility into maintenance operations and costs

y Higher level of maintenance efficiency by integrating with information from ERP, GIS, HMI/SCADA, and other systems

y Improved performance of ERP and other systems by providing valuable asset information previously not available to each system

And:

The Quest for Leaner Asset

Management

it’s aL L ab O u t in c r E a s i n g as s E t uP-ti M E

The main driver to integrate maintenance management with existing systems is to increase asset and operation up-time Connecting to all of these systems allows the asset-maintenance staff to gain access to valuable information when planning maintenance activities By having this information, maintenance can then be managed more pro-actively so that assets perform

to optimal levels for as long as possible

The integration also allows senior management to have a more accurate picture of how much

of an impact the conditions and the status of assets will have on production This leads to improved forecasts that allow the company to act ahead of time to possible threats that might cause production to diminish and to capitalize on opportunities when production is expected

to increase

About the Author Edward Garibian is founder and president of eRPortal Software Group, a leading asset management solution provider He founded Applied Software Technologies, eRPortal’s corporate parent, in 1989 and serves as its president and chief executive officer Garibian also has held product-marketing positions at Analog Devices and engineering positions at Texas Instruments and EMC (formerly Data General)

For more information, contact:

egaribian@erportalsoftware.com