Managing Industrial Automation Software
Since the year 2000 we have been implementing Enterprise Data Historian to Australian Industry (primarily Infrastructure/Utilities) for the past 16 years and we noticed a few things about most organisations;
- They do not trust their data or use it effectively
- Managing data accurately and the impact of data on the organisation is not part of or understood by their operations
Real Process Data Historians can help to develop insights within an organisation that create momentum to continuously improve the role of data, its quality and how it can transform operations.
The problem is, Historians are simply data infrastructure and not the solution. For decades, on premise, high cost, high performing Historians have been deployed to start the data journey for many organisations. However, technology has advanced significantly and this includes acquisition methods, storage, processing speeds and real-time analytics. As an example, Microsoft’s SQL can outperform (storage and access of time series data) specialist process historians implemented just 5 years ago. Of course all of this is available as a service which removes the infrastructure decision allowing organisations to focus solely on operationalising the insights. That is, using the results of the data to improve operational performance such as reducing safety issues, increasing up-time and lowering operational costs.
What don’t organisations need? They don’t need data scientists to discover improvement opportunities. They don’t need to invest in old technologies or systems that simply aren’t delivering continuous improvements or are simply consuming funds for little return.
Organisations need to focus on generating and acquiring quality data. They need to re-consider their investment in non-core aspects of their business such as IT/OT infrastructure. They need to invest in better systems of operations and maintenance. They need to focus on core asset management and associated service delivery performance.
Where do organisation leaders start? Firstly, they need to subscribe to/invest in the data journey and not focus on the technology. They then need to embed intelligence into their operations and continuously drive & measure performance. They need to try new technologies that support the operational vision. They need to bring the whole organisation with them – the use of data within operations and the continual measurement of operations needs to be part of the culture.
As an example, moving from tactical to strategic maintenance will transform an organisation. Responding to breakdowns is tactical. Improving the asset health which lowers operating and capital costs through prescribed maintenance will provide affordable service delivery to an ever increasing population is strategic.
For further information and discussion take a look at “Process Historians – Do they have a limited shelf life”.
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