Improving Operational Performance: Communication
Stephen Maddox
I help engineers improve situation awareness in the control room so operators perform at the highest level when all hell breaks loose.
Operational Performance Improvement, what does that even mean? It means your operation is performing at some level and you want to do better, right? Interesting enough, most operations still rely on paper-based systems for key activities. Many operational team members depend on email, face to face communication, and informal document sharing. This has many issues because it is informal. Some people like to keep things close to their vest, which is not always the safest way of doing things. Our clients have a lot of data stored in different silos. There are benefits to having access to this data in real-time which will improve situational awareness. Most importantly, data that is organized correctly can be accessed by multiple people which will drastically improve communication and help leaders develop a High Performance Operation. With the right tool you can improve situational awareness. It is all about turning data into knowledge and knowledge into action.
In an Automation World article, Andreas Eschbach says; "Digital Transformation Fails Without People. The key to successful digitalization isn’t in the technology—it’s all about the people who use it. A people-centered approach to digitalization can help process manufacturers maximize the benefits.
A viable solution to digitize and improve communication (situational awareness) is a tool called Shiftconnector, a shift handover and data sharing software digitization tool from Eschbach.
Using Shiftconnector, Process Engineer's can monitor plant performance in real-time and issue detailed instructions to production staff. It helps the scheduler to communicate plans and share the latest updates from the night shift without asking for them. It also helps to manage more volatile supply chains by sharing priorities and making adjustments much easier. For maintenance, Shiftconnector integrates seamlessly with Maintenance Management Systems so they can see maintenance requests from production in real-time and can organize all PM tasks, calendars, and improve vendor management. It gives the Shift Supervisor access to the information needed to run each shift efficiently by providing a 360° view of all events that have taken place on every shift. The OpEx (Improvement) Manager can access data and reports to make better strategic decisions and drive continuous improvement. Plant Managers are more aware of new issues that need to be resolved, as well as pertinent information to keep the plant safe, compliant, reliable and efficient. Managers can monitor plant performance and efficiency in real-time and issue detailed instructions to production staff.
Digitization, using data to improve operational performance. Combining technology, people and processes starts with understanding the needs of users and how the system will improve workflows and tasks. We must remember to always involve the people that will be impacted by any change / improvement before it is implemented. Ownership of any solution requires the users to feel as though they have a voice in every discussion. Industry 4.0 is centered on technology. Industry 5.0 is about leveraging technology to enhance human capabilities and productivity, what we often refer to as "user centered design for high performance". A people-centered approach will improve user acceptance and increase the odds that the initiative will deliver the expected performance improvements. The process starts before software selection and continues through and beyond the rollout.
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Download papers on Operational Performance (OP): www.mycontrolroom.com
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Manager, Operational Safety
3 个月Good write up! Integrating new technology can be a major hurdle especially when your base is so accustomed to paper/in person processes. Access to realtime data and system information that is easily accessible and more importantly user friendly is the key to making the change.