Frédéric Tardieu, IBITEK Group, details the company s business intelligence tool and how it can be used to help decision-making from the plant up. Introduction Information technologies have become an important part of the informational capital of companies. New technologies enable the expansion of the storage capacities and, even more so, the powers of calculation. However, the difficulty of accessing information that is often too large and non-uniform is not conducive to rapid decision-making. With often nearly a dozen different sources of information, the cement industry is no exception to the rule. Among these is the database of real-time production, which is able to store up to 4000 signals per production line. In a difficult economic climate where competition is ever higher and the market volatile, policy makers must not only have all information in hand, as soon as possible, in order to make the right decisions
Figure 1. Where BI is situated within the CIM pyramid. For the most part, these systems come as software packages that enable staff to perform a task or meet a very specific need. They use an adapted-to-the-service technical language and store information in a remote SQL database, flat files, or a proprietary format specific to the application. Take, for example, the system of archiving production data: connected to the PLCs via an OPC server, such a tool can collect between 20 and 30 million points per day. This information is stored on a data server for several years and allows users (mainly process engineers) to follow the evolution of sensors and actuators in near real-time. This tool answers to a need for trend analysis over an hour, a day, a week or even more. However, these are raw data and they require a very high understanding of the process of manufacturing. These data represent the biggest pool of information for IBIPROD. Why use such information? Figure 2. IBIPROD mobile. at the right moment, but also, more globally, to support the strategy of the company. Business Intelligence refers to the means, tools and methods that enable companies to collect, consolidate, model and restore key performance indicators (KPI), so as to provide help in decision-making and to enable those responsible for the business strategy to have an overall view of the activity. This is why IBITEK, an electricity and automation specialist for the cement industry (Figure 1), has developed IBIPROD, a solution to provide help at decision-making, a part of IBIQUITY, the company s range of innovative products. The industrial tool, a pool of information often underexploited The basis of a decision-making help tool in a company is its informational capital. In the case of a cement plant, such a tool is very important and very heterogeneous. Indeed, operational systems, also referred to as business applications, support many key functions in the plant, such as production, laboratory, human resources, business management and maintenance management. These can be completely isolated and independent but also integrated into systems of type MES (Manufacturing Execution System) or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). Animation of the operational field At the operational level, it is necessary to react quickly to external factors that affect production tools: equipment failure, decrease in stock level, poor performance of a workshop, etc. To meet this daily target, IBIPROD enables the report of information in order to animate meetings using key figures from the previous day or organise field teams for preventive maintenance actions. Site management As seen above, a decision-making help tool forms part of a company s strategic approach. Take the example of a plant processing a TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) method aimed at improving machinery performance using a proactive process. This process, proven successful many times over, still encounters problems during its implementation, related to the volume of data recording or the time required. IBIPROD automates data recording and the display of key indicators, enabling operators to focus on actions rather than on the information reported. Thus, the effects of the TPM process are measured much faster. The managing team of a site is often faced with strategic decision-making related to market demand. IBIPROD helps to provide for the decision-making on the site s action plans in the medium and long-term: the choice of raw materials, optimisation of equipment, a change of the type of product manufactured, the reduction of time for designing and marketing a new product, etc. All of this is based on precise, consistent, easily understandable information, delivered on time. Business unit or group management The business unit (BU) is the entity farthest from the manufacturing process and hence is the last entity on the chain of reported information. Furthermore, the BU manages several sites and takes globalising decisions that must take into account the particularity of each plant. The IBIPROD Benchmark module follows this direction. The information is available as fast as in the plant and in a standardised way. IBIPROD thus enables people in the BU to be informed the following day, with dashboards enabling \ Reprinted from June 2014
a comparison of different production sites with the same performance indicators, the primary and overarching interest for a business unit being immediate visibility of the performance of its plant(s). A solution for the future IBIPROD was developed to meet the needs of any information system of production. Capable of interfacing to 99% of tools on the market, it is a successful tool adapted to the needs of cement plants. Always going further in the restoration of data, the dashboards are also available on mobile phones (Android, Apple or BlackBerry) and digital tablets. Thus, the data is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week (Figure 2). Problems to be solved in order to exploit the information Problems from the data sources The data sources meet a specific technical need and are therefore not well adapted to a decision-based information system that is designed to centralise and homogenise them. The first sticking point is the volatility of the data. Indeed, the real-time management and automation systems of the Figure 3. IBIPROD, an application adapted to the needs of cement plants. Figure 4. Technical architecture. production tool do not store information at all or not for long enough. The IBIPROD database is a data warehouse. The data found in this warehouse is stored so as to be exploited for several years. The second point is the physical distribution. The information is located on heterogeneous systems, often geographically dispersed, not necessarily communicating among themselves. IBIPROD is supplied by an ETL (Extract Transformation Load), which is a tool allowing all information from operational applications to be centralised into a common, homogenous base. Finally, intrinsically, an operational application uses an adapted-to-the-service technical language. The meaning that one gives to the information is not always the same, depending on the job or service. For example, those concerned with shipping talk about products/packaging while those concerned with production talk about products/ equipment or indicators. Alternatively, those concerned with quality employ the terms products/samples or indicators. To respond to this need for understanding across all users, IBIPROD uses a job repository based on Products, Workshops and Indicators. Thus, all information that was hitherto highly technical is understood by all personnel involved in decision-making. Problems related to the method of collecting information Often in a plant the whole team collects the information manually. This work can contain errors and requires several individuals. IBIPROD enables operators to automate the process of data collection. Once installed, the data are reported automatically every day, without human intervention. This avoids errors and accelerates the process significantly. The data are thus available to users every day at 7.00 am. Problems related to restoring data The sources being independent and scattered, the modes of restoring data are often redundant and inconsistent with each other on dispersed media and inadequate for collaborative work. IBIPROD proposes a storage solution as well as unique management and calculation rules on a collaborative medium (web or mobile), accessible from anywhere. Reporting is often already present in certain services, but the latter is poorly distributed. To overcome this problem, IBIPROD enables the information to be distributed effectively to a greater number of people via the web or by email. Indeed, each plant, and/or each business unit can therefore draw its reports, using a standardised format created and adapted for this purpose. There exists a set of 20 easily usable reports. However, it is also expected, after training, to create one s own reports, according to the needs of each plant and each business unit via a pre-existing catalogue. Reprinted from June 2014 /
Description of the technical solution The goal is to have a system of industrial information assisting in the analysis and optimisation of the performance of the production tool. The objective is therefore to centralise the production information, to ensure the reliability of the restoration and distribution of this information. To achieve this objective, IBIPROD proposes, in a first phase, to acquire, centralise, aggregate, homogenise and archive data, which mostly comes from heterogeneous sources. The second phase is to automate the process of restoring these data, then to deliver the information to the right person, and thus facilitate access to the information. For example, the aim for the BU is to collect all relevant data of its plants in an automatic way, quickly and reliably. This is a high-level language, not only a technical language. IBIPROD is a tool and modules are based on the following software solutions: l SQL Server Express 2008/Microstrategy reporting sequence /Talend open studio/server web IIS. There are therefore many advantages to this data centralisation: l The same indicator calculations can be used on all sites of one business unit; the same methods of indicator performance can also be used, which allow, for example, easy comparison of the same values from one site to another, from one workshop to another, etc. l A global view is possible: to follow, for example, the global stocks of different plants belonging to the same group, and at the same time, to know the stocks of sales, etc. Functionalities One of the major advantages of this solution is its easy configuration for clients. Besides a reporting tool, it contains a repository configuration module. The latter will allow the operator to add, modify or easily delete a product, workshop or just an indicator. For efficient reporting, one must rely on decisive information. This means that the data can reliably support the decision-making to influence action levers. Consider the example of a workshop shutdown. If the control command system provides the exact shutdown time, it may be necessary for other users to identify whether the shutdown is due to a mechanical or electrical incident, or for another reason. Often, this action is performed by operators on a dedicated application from GMAO. If this is not the case, IBIPROD embeds this functionality. This module integrates like the others on the web portal of the application and therefore enables it to identify a shutdown recorded by the control command system. Finally, as with any reporting tool, the displayed data sometimes needs to be adjusted according to external parameters that are not taken into account by the raw data. A data correcting module is provided for this purpose. The person responsible for reporting can therefore adjust the data calculated by IBIPROD if it does not fully reflect reality. Figure 5. An example of daily dashboard used by one or both plants. For example, if a level sensor is defective: once it has been changed, the old values can be corrected, and hence the coefficients of performance are recalculated. The reporting solution The Microstrategy solution was chosen as the basis for reporting because it is a leader on the international market of BI and it provides sophisticated analysis tools. IBITEK has therefore created a catalogue of objects based on its knowledge of the cement manufacturing process. The following dimensions can be found in this catalogue: Workshop, Product and Indicator. The user will therefore be able to analyse the data according to these three dimensions (Figure 5). Take, for example, the cement mill workshop. The user will be able to obtain the quantity of CEM I 32.5 produced by all the mills at once, or be informed of the quantities produced by cement mill no. 1, detailing the amount of each cement produced. Above, the indicator Quantity produced on the cement mill workshop has been analysed. One can also perform analysis on indicators of: working hours; flow rate tph; kwh/t; utilisation factor; reliability factor and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). The virtualisation of systems of level 3 Technically, IBIPROD works on two physical or virtualised servers. One server is dedicated to data storage and the retrieval mechanism of different sources. The second server, known as applicative, is dedicated to website hosting and to the Microstrategy server. On certain sites, these two servers have been integrated into the architecture of the information system (IS) of the plant and more precisely shared with other applications on virtualisation servers of type ESXi (VmWare). This enables reduced operational costs and standardised SI architecture. \ Reprinted from June 2014
Case study Earlier, the example was given of the problem caused by a badly controlled reporting system. In 2013, a business unit had the opportunity to implement the IBIPROD solution on two of its cement plants. Before The reporting was present at the plant but not at the BU level. A team carried this out daily on each site. The information was collected via different channels (phone, email, audibly, supervision). The data sources were as follows (four datamarts): l A production database, containing production data in realtime: database in a proprietary format. l Incidents management application allowing the identification of all incidents (mechanical, electrical or production): Oracle Database. l Laboratory application, containing data from the quality analysis laboratory: SQL Database. l Operational application for monitoring sales: SQL Database. After The project has enabled these different data sources to be connected to IBIPROD. A server has been implemented on each site, as well as one at the BU. After an adjustment phase, the project was concluded with a period of training and skills transfer. One person is in charge of developing and maintaining the reports. Conclusion For quite a long time, business intelligence has been an expertise reserved for the financial field. Today, economic and performance requirements are gradually leading the cement companies to integrate BI solutions. IBIPROD was developed based on 20 years of experience and knowledge in the cement industry. This solution helps plants and business units to improve the value of existing data by building a bridge between industrial data and other data sources in order to deliver the most relevant information from the operator to the highest executive level. References l 2013: Kercim (France) grinding station, Release 1.0: set of standard reports with personalised dashboard. Interfaced with following systems: AspenTech IP21 for the production database; interface with bagging machine database (HAVER); online analyser via IP21; weighing system via SQL database (PRECIA-MOLENS); ERP (Microsoft Dynamics AX). l 2014: Lafarge (Algeria) two cement plants (Oggaz and M Sila), Release 1.0: set of standard reports with personalised dashboard and for each plant, daily synthesis and detailed daily reports by workshop. Interfaced with following systems: AspenTech IP21 for the production database; SQL database for sales and laboratory data; Oracle database for the incident management system. Reprinted from June 2014 /