Improve productivity and reduce costs with industry leading Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solutions.

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1 Improve productivity and reduce costs with industry leading Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solutions. In asset intensive industries, any downtime can have a significant impact on an organisation s bottom line. The maintenance of these assets is not only important from a productivity point of view but because of the significant health and safety implications of any failure. A well defined process and fully integrated asset management solution will manage the risk and complexity associated with assets, enabling a detailed view of asset costs and where this cost can be reduced. It will also ensure the right people are in the right places with the right tools, thereby enhancing safety precautions. This progress is possible with the correct solution and the right software partner to support your organisation as it s transformed into an asset focused, proactive enterprise. Seamless integration with existing or new systems Asset management systems do not stand alone; they necessitate close integration with existing financial, procurement, human resources and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. Global organisations will benefit from extending this to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and mobile solutions, which will enhance their asset management capabilities further. The financial benefits from reducing administration expenditure and increasing data quality can be considerable. Integrating a dedicated asset management solution with your existing business systems means you ll have one source of truth and increased confidence in your data, giving employees the time to proactively add value to your organisation and not get tied down with complex systems. Authorisation for Expenditure (AFE) control So you ve got a budget, but do you enforce it? Do you control spend against an AFE? Do you have workflow around that AFE, meaning no spend can be allocated against it until it s approved? Are you able to swiftly bypass a budget when an urgent issue arises, so downtime is not increased due to long periods awaiting a budget holder s approval? An asset management solution should allow your planned AFE s and budgets to be readily available and reworked, meaning you can set approval limits against them and automate workflow when overspend is required. It s important to avoid overspend, but it s equally important to implement quick solutions when urgent excess budget items arise! Keep assets running for longer

2 The ability to keep aging assets running is key to the performance of many organisations. The environments in which many assets reside are also important as they influence how often assets are maintained and/or replaced i.e. offshore assets will get constant abuse from salt water and wind, whereas onshore assets may suffer extreme heat. As a result they perhaps don t perform as well as expected and the advised planned maintenance schedules may need to be increased to keep an asset online for longer. Imagine if your organisation had this information readily at hand and could easily identify that current maintenance efforts weren t sufficient, or you had the ability to undertake a quick cost benefit analysis to measure the cost of increasing maintenance effort versus replacing an asset. Then imagine all this functionality available from anywhere in the world, on any device, and you ll begin to realise the power of a true asset management solution. Business Intelligence Why does Generator A require significantly more effort than Generator B? They were installed at the same time, they re from the same manufacturer, so do you have the data to understand why they perform differently? Do you even have the ability to see such a difference in the first place? When you ve been collecting data on assets for such a long period, why not start making it work for you.

3 With useful information you can extract the knowledge as to why some assets are performing better than others. By drilling down you could find that Generator B is performing better because of the superior skill set of the engineer that fixes it, so the engineer working on Generator A could benefit from training, which would improve that asset s performance. You may even realise that a related asset is causing higher breakdowns, so replacing this asset could make the whole process run more smoothly and consistently. With an asset management tool, such analysis could change the way you manage maintenance. Optimise your stock levels Imagine an organisation with multiple storerooms. How often are these storerooms acting in isolation, ordering materials when perhaps a nearby storeroom already has a surplus? The cost of an internal transfer would be lower and faster than procuring from a supplier, when you re reducing your economies of scale by buying small quantities and more than likely paying an increased freight cost for a quick delivery. Optimising your warehousing can be as simple as offering employees a solution to see real-time stock levels of neighbouring storerooms. How about stocking the right amount of materials? Not so few that you can t repair critical assets, but not so many that they potentially expire or you spend money storing items you don t need. A tailored solution can automatically set economic order quantities. It can even reduce your administration costs by releasing purchase requests automatically, and thus allowing your organisation to keep optimum levels of stock on the shelves whist reducing the costs to procure them. Keep employees safe Whilst speed of response and cost saving is important in the management of assets, corners can never be cut on safety! A useful solution should inform workers when certain hazards exist, or what precautions to take when working in particular environments or with particular assets. What if a well site has hazardous hydrogen sulphide isn t it best practice to ensure areas are checked and cleared before employees are sent to undertake work? Shouldn t the correct tools be selected for such dangerous sites, therefore increasing the safety of all involved? These types of considerations are essential, and the correct asset management solution will associate safety information with particular locations and assets. This means every time work is raised in those areas workers are informed of the precautions to take and the tools to utilise. Health and safety hazards and dangerous working environments can result in injuries and fatalities from any number of things including vehicle accidents, explosions, fires, chemical exposure,

4 confinement and accidents with machinery. Therefore it s more important than ever to reduce the risk and ensure workers receive precautions, relevant permits are applied to dangerous locations, and tasks are not assigned to anyone who is not fully qualified. Ultimately there s more at stake than the downtime of your assets. Reduce payment time Your workers are just as important in the management of assets as the assets themselves. Without human interaction, experience and knowledge you can t possibly begin to reap the advantages of continuous improvement. Put yourself in the place of one of your contract staff, an individual with specialist knowledge of how to keep a critical asset in operation. If that individual faces lengthy processes that delay their payments or doesn t have the tools required to undertake their job, they are likely to leave, which could prove a massive loss to your organisation. Solutions are more than software tools, they provide the ability to improve processes and reduce transaction times. Combine this with experienced consultant knowledge and it s the perfect opportunity to take a fresh look at your usual business tasks and question whether you re implementing best practice. It s better to be proactive than to change only when disaster strikes. Escalate issues Alerts How often do critical items slip through the net because someone is on holiday, or priority items are left in limbo because instructions aren t clear or someone doesn t have the correct authorisation to proceed? What if you were able to alert someone automatically when a critical asset is in danger, or when a high priority job has not yet been addressed? Such escalation and alerting procedures could prevent a complete system outage, or ensure an important invoice is paid to keep a pivotal project moving. Speed of response enables swift action and you can t afford to react slowly to productivity related issues. Warranty claims Do you currently track all jobs you undertake to see whether you have a cash claim? Do you know when warranties are going to expire? What if you could be informed and extend warranties before expensive breakdowns cost you money once warranties have lapsed. You could increase warranty cost recovery by 50%, maybe even more, if you manage this process electronically with a dedicated asset management solution. The return on invest associated with this one benefit alone can sometimes justify the initial cost of a solution. Scalability and ease of use Whatever your situation, you need a solution that is easy to use and scalable as you develop and shift into new revenue streams. What you want is a solution that once implemented gives you the

5 ability to take control in the future, i.e. you don t need to rely upon a partner s services to change processes, but a dedicated support network is available to help your company grow. The right partner It s not only important to choose the rights tools, but the right partner. By working with a partner capable of providing business solutions within the global energy sector you ll be able to improve financial and operational efficiency. Ensure you select someone who can offer innovative and sector focused solutions that will assist you both now and in the face of future growth. With the pressing need to maximise asset uptime, it s extremely important that partner s provide 24 hour support and understand best practice as a result of prior collaborations and implementations with similar clients. Ultimately, having the right software tools is only part of the solution; an established partner with the experience and knowledge to maximise the solution s value also counts. Written by Lee Sands, EAM Applications Consultant for Sapphire Systems