Making Digital Transformation Easier to Implement

Digitizing plant asset performance management (APM) does not have to be tackled as one big singular project. There are many ways to make digitizing APM practical by taking it one step at a time.

Modular APM solutions allow end users to start small and then scale up, implementing parts of asset management a little bit at a time. The Honeywell team’s commonly used ‘crawl, walk, run’ approach allows customers to take enterprise transformation in stages with the direction of the journey depending heavily on the current state of digitization efforts going on in the organization.

The ultimate goal for implementing digital transformation is to collect and view all of the data received so that stakeholders can have a complete understanding of operations and be able to then use those analytical insights to improve efficiency.

Through advanced analytics, organizations will have a holistic view into operations so that they are able to:

• Measure asset and process performance in near real-time
• Determine strengths related to specific KPIs or overall equipment effectiveness (OEE)
• Receive notifications when assets or processes start deviating from normal behavior or present an anomaly
• Obtain sufficient information to identify the source of asset or process deviations and be able to implement a clear path of action to bring them back to optimal performance

Digitization – Step by Step

So, where can an organization start? Businesses can start the ‘crawl, walk, run’ approach using building blocks. By taking digitization one step at a time, engineers and managers will be able to quickly show the progress being made, helping to justify the next step. Modular solutions allow for incremental scaling where plants can implement capabilities as needed to customize their solution based on their most immediate needs.

The first module to be implemented should be one that monitors asset health and performance by aggregating data from assets and processes across the plant. This module should use rule-based diagnostics to provide near real-time information.

The next module would then be to predict asset performance degradation in advance using machine learning and layered one modeling to increase maintenance lead-time.

The third step would be to identify causes of performance losses and inefficiencies. This module would employ performance and energy calculations and increase OEE and operating margins.

Finally, the last step is to employ outcome-based optimization through analysis of failure modes and effects, identifying criticality, risks and costs, and maintenance actions. This will enable reduced O&M costs.

The solution should ensure each capability can integrate with each successive piece to properly implement digital transformation. As digitizing APM is tackled, companies can implement building blocks as more knowledge is gained, and as asset-process links and considerations are understood.

Get more information on our step-by-step approach to Honeywell Forge Performance Plus for Industrials Asset Performance Management.