Operating a next generation utility driving performance through enterprise asset management

Operating a Next-Generation Utility:
Driving Performance through
Enterprise Asset Management

Mounting pressures impede performance
If you’re finding it difficult to manage your utility operations
effectively, you’re not alone. As a whole, the industry is facing
a slew of challenges that strain the ability to meet strategic
organizational goals.
• An ageing infrastructure: From sewer lines to water mains
to electrical substations, utility components put in place decades
or even a century ago are increasingly in need of repair and
replacement.
• A workforce in transition: A significant portion of your workforce
is nearing retirement—presenting a potential loss of know-how
and a need for focused new employee development.
• Compliance concerns: As regulations for tighter discharge limits
and air emissions evolve, you need to be prepared to address
them while meeting related reporting obligations.
• Reliability standards: Your customers are relying on your
organization for high-performance utility operations. This need
for consistent, reliable service levels puts greater urgency behind
the adoption of standards such as PAS-55, ISO 55000 and ISO
50001, which provide guidelines for establishing energy and asset
management programs that are accurate, repeatable, timely, and
cost-effective.
• Outdated business systems and models: Existing processes and
systems prevent you from clearly identifying what needs to be done
when, where, and with what priority. You could bolster decision-
making through analytics; but to benefit fully, you also need to enable
easier interaction between asset management and GIS systems.
Plus, you need to improve support for mobile workers.
You need a way to systematically and efficiently turn these challenges
around before they further impede organizational performance.
2
Driving Performance through Enterprise Asset Management

Improve your approach to
enterprise asset management
Your core capabilities around enterprise asset management (EAM) have
a direct impact on how well you can overcome these multiple challenges.
So it makes sense to carefully assess—and then enhance—your EAM system.
When you do, you’ll transform a daunting situation into one that helps
you derive and demonstrate operational, economic, environmental and
technological benefits.
Targeted improvements: EU 20/20/20
Many European utilities face added pressure to get
EAM right for energy demand management and
alternative energy objectives, such as the European
Commission’s 2020 goals. These goals call for
achieving a:
Economic
Environmental
Social
Sustainable
Asset
Management
20%
increase in energy efficiency
20%energy share from renewable sources
20%cut in greenhouse gas (GHGs)
emissions (or 30% as part of an
international agreement)
Alignment with the triple bottom line
When deployed effectively, EAM plays a central role in helping public and
private utilities achieve sustainable asset management in a way that balances
economic, social, and environmental concerns. To achieve these results, you
need to simultaneously contain asset management costs, improve service
and reliability, and realize environmental benefits and regulatory compliance.
3

Greater insight and efficiency through smart EAM
From inefficient maintenance practices to
overspending on certain asset and equipment
repairs, an insufficient EAM approach can
undercut your organization’s performance and
jeopardize your ability to meet social, economic,
and environmental goals.
Here are some telltale signs of subpar (or underperforming)
EAM capabilities:
• Productivity lags from inefficient processes that require physical monitoring
or excessive human intervention to perform inventory management,
maintenance, or other activities.
• Decision making and reporting suffer due to siloed systems and
non-standardized operations that prevent full visibility into performance,
costs, and environmental impacts, including waste levels.
• Insufficient preparation for storm events or asset wear and tear increases
the risk of insurance claims or equipment breakdowns.
• Customer satisfaction issues increase as a traditional, reactive approach
to maintenance and repairs results in asset downtime, less responsive
service, and higher costs.
Successful EAM leverages improved processes and technology to enhance
visibility into your operations for smarter asset management, optimal utility
performance, and greater productivity and collaboration. At the same time,
it allows you to more easily connect asset performance with associated costs,
so you can make better decisions related to resource allocation.
20%reduction in facility and
equipment downtime
19.4%decrease in MRO material costs
25%increase in labor productivity
The rewards of smart EAM
When you have the ability to more precisely measure
and monitor individual asset performance, efficiency
can achieve a noticeable improvement. Consider the
typical results an organization can experience with
robust EAM capabilities:
Data based on Infor EAM customer results.
4

More than 80% of power and utilities CEOs
say technological advances will transform
their business over the next five years.
And only the minority believes that RD,
HR, and IT departments [their operations]
are well-prepared to execute needed shifts.1
This preparation includes incorporating
new EAM technologies that enhance
maintenance operations to achieve gains in
efficiency and support business continuity.
But benefiting from these advances calls for
assessing where your organization stands
today in terms of maintenance maturity.
With this understanding, you can pinpoint
the capabilities you need to move more
rapidly along the continuum—such as
increased automation, real-time monitoring,
and data analytics.
Toward a more mature maintenance model
1
17th Annual Global CEO Survey: Industry Perspectives, PwC, 2014.
No comprehension
of maintenance
prevention: ﬁx it
when it’s broken
Operate
Recognizes that
maintenance could
be improved, but is
unwilling to fund
Consolidate
Participative attitude;
recognizes
management
support is mandatory
Optimize
Includes
maintenance as
a part of the total
company system
Innovate
Learns more about
ROI: becomes more
interested and
supportive
Integrate
30%+
Resources Wasted
20-30%
Resources Wasted
10-20%
Resources Wasted
5-10%
Resources Wasted
5%
Resources Wasted
Reactive:
Works on
equipment when it
falls: otherwise very
little productivity
Conscious:
Still reactive but
rebuilds major
components and
has spares
available when
failures occur
Preventive:
Uses routine
inspections,
lubrications,
adjustments, and
minor service to
improve equipment
M.T.B.F.
Predictive:
Utilizes techniques
such as battery
monitoring, vibration
analysis,
thermography,
sonics, etc. to
monitor equipment
condition, allowing
for proactive
replacement and
problem solving
instead of failures
Productive:
Combines prior
techniques with
operator involvement
to free maintenance
technicians to
concentrate on repair
data analysis and major
maintenance activities
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5
5

Does the following scenario sound like your organization? Your older asset management system presents all plant employees with the same
screen—requiring them to dig through multiple tables until they locate the information they need. Meanwhile, plant operators or mechanics waste
time making daily rounds to physically read instrumentation panels, while remote workers manually document services performed in the field,
and then enter it into the system once on site.
Seasoned knowledge workers know how to navigate your unwieldy systems. But as the shift to a less-experienced workforce continues,
you need a simpler, more intuitive approach that builds intelligence into business functions and brings workers quickly up to speed.
Structuring your work environment for productivity
You can boost productivity when you employ an asset management system that enables:
Configuration capabilities that extend to your
organizational structure:
You can allow multiple treatment plants to each own
or manage their data independently and still have access
to a centralized asset management system. By having this
flexibility, you can establish desired data management
protocols while retaining the ability to roll up all data to
run productivity, safety, and other reports via your
management dashboard.
A modern, configurable user experience:
Employees like operators, mechanics, and electricians
can access role-based screens to find information relevant
to their jobs and have data delivered to them automatically
at the frequency they desire. For example, operators can
configure the system so that it collects and transmits key
data every hour from all the instrumentation currently
in place. This could include meters and sensors, as well
as temperature, vibration, or other KPIs for a particular
subcomponent. In addition, the technicians are alerted
automatically to issues such as a phase imbalance or
other abnormality.
6

Structuring your work environment
for productivity (continued)
Mobile access from any laptop, smartphone,
or tablet: You can manage assets more efficiently by
permitting field service workers to directly access your
asset management system. This includes allowing
them to submit work requests or work orders through
their mobile devices, along with critical information
captured during offsite inspections.
You can improve the accuracy and performance of all your remote
workers when you provide mobile access to your EAM system.
7

A systematic approach to improved
asset performance and management
The following capabilities offer a systematic way to accomplish this:
It’s impossible to achieve the greatest efficiency and value from your assets if you’re capturing limited data on select processes
or systems. Instead, you need to include all the processes, systems, buildings, and assets—down to the subcomponents involved—
as you monitor equipment health and consumption at your facilities.
Likewise, you need the ability to automatically access and capture all required levels of detail for each asset type so you can evaluate asset
performance, prolong asset life, and simplify asset management.
Supporting condition-based monitoring:
From the time you start up a piece of equipment, you can
literally run it to critical failure without sufficient insight
into equipment performance. Through condition-based
monitoring, you can receive automatic alerts at the
earliest possible moment to inform you when equipment
is degrading or exceeding set benchmarks. Then you can
take immediate corrective action.
Enabling metered usage measurement and usage value
transmission to subcomponents:
You can assess performance at a granular level to gauge
reliability and determine if you can extend the lifecycle
of an asset or achieve savings by shifting some of the
load to another piece of equipment. You’ll help reduce
unnecessary wear and tear, lower electrical consumption,
and prevent other waste and inefficiencies in the process.
8

Compiling comprehensive asset data: Organizations
often use siloed departmental systems to manage data
for activities ranging from capital planning to procurement
to maintenance tasks. But this lack of information sharing
can result in delayed equipment purchases, poorly
scheduled maintenance, or other consequences that
increase inefficiencies and costs. A single, integrated
system that provides a complete record of asset data helps
eliminate these issues while improving team productivity.
For example, your engineers can view cost history and
equipment performance and maintenance records to more
easily calculate lifetime ROI and improve future budget
planning. And with real-time access to information on
feed or flow rates, plant operators can determine when
adjustments need to be made—avoiding potential overflows
or other undesirable situations.
A systematic approach to improved asset
performance and management (continued)
Savings opportunities through condition-based monitoring
When you employ an EAM solution that enables enterprise-
wide condition-based monitoring and alerting, you increase your
potential to recoup savings from greater operational efficiency. This
capability helps you offset potential equipment failures—and achieve
subsequent savings—through OEM preventive and predictive
maintenance services.
Meanwhile, additional savings are possible from “consumptive
maintenance” related to the use of energy or fuel, for example.
This stems from your ability to respond to immediate alerts when
equipment is degrading based on a standard deviation set-point off
of normal utility consumption trends.
You can employ a combination of condition-based monitoring
and consumptive maintenance to achieve the optimal balance
of maintenance cost and asset performance.
Asset
Management
Equipment
PM/PdM
EAM
Run to Fail
Degrades
Consumptive Maintenance
9

Years back, your maintenance management system had a relatively
simple function. It tracked how a piece of equipment was operating,
and when it broke, you fixed it. As your maintenance operations
became more preventive, the focus shifted to scheduling and
performing maintenance when equipment reached a certain stage
of its lifecycle—even if it wasn’t actually required. While this kept
operations running 24/7, it did so at both higher labor and
equipment costs.
Today, the focus is on a predictive approach as a way to gain
better control over maintenance costs and extend the life of assets.
The best way to accomplish this is through the use of analytics
software that allows you to analyze performance down to the
subcomponent level.
Leveraging analytical software to this degree can help you operate
more efficiently. But it can also help you achieve energy savings.
In some instances, you may find that you need to replace a certain
piece of equipment not just because of its poor condition, but also
because it’s consuming too much electricity and generating excess
operating costs.
Using analytics for enhanced equipment monitoring
Employing analytics to improve your utility operations allows you
to derive real value from data. For example, a water treatment plant
can utilize data from meters and sensors distributed throughout the
plant to monitor equipment conditions, such as vibration analyses
and energy consumption. Then—by applying comprehensive asset
management solutions to adjust equipment run times, maintenance
levels, and balancing loads among plant equipment—plant managers
can optimize the mix of energy and maintenance costs based on both
equipment lifecycle costs and performance.
Analytics as the key to predictive maintenance
and energy savings
10

The advantage of holistic EAM operations
By embracing a robust, systematic EAM solution that incorporates
mobility and analytics, you can leave behind the higher costs, risks,
and resource requirements associated with an ageing infrastructure.
More specifically, you can establish a modern technology
framework that:
• Enables easy access to all the data you need to accurately assess
and report on both historical and current performance, costs, and
environmental impacts. So there’s no need for the error-prone
manual collection of data from multiple spreadsheets and systems.
• Allows your EAM systems to easily communicate with your
distributed controls, energy tracking, and business intelligence
systems. This eliminates the need for workarounds to integrate data.
• Provides full visibility into what’s happening in your facility by
also enabling seamless access to all related (OM) data.
• Drives optimized equipment and facility performance through
proactive, condition-based monitoring.
Through this holistic approach, you’ll make it possible for every
employee to work more productively and compliantly, while providing
higher levels of service responsiveness in pursuit of your triple
bottom-line goals.
EAM
Database
Site-Level Data
or Central Legacy
System Data
i.LON, PI System
or other
Distributed
Controls System
BMS, Utility Bill Agg
or other
Energy Tracking
System
Analytics System
Utility Company
Utility bill data, EDI 810
Spreadsheet
upload utility
Hand-key data
to EPM screens
Email Alters
Anomalies
Web Service Alerts
In a holistic EAM environment, you can capture metered data, distributed data, and billing data related to individual assets
within a single system—and then analyze it against set KPIs. The system automatically alerts operators if maintenance
is required or performance falls outside of acceptable parameters.
11

Sustaining energy excellence: A case in point
The City of Des Moines and Des Moines Water Works are actively pursuing
U.S. Department of Energy Superior Energy Performance (SEP) certification
to gain recognition for their energy management excellence and sustained
energy savings. Being able to drill down into the use and costs of individual
assets has played an important role in achieving these results.
“Our Infor Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)
Energy Performance Management application has
an asset-specific structure. It not only manages
each asset as either an individual item (like a
motor), or as a group (like a pumping system) but
incorporates the ability to capture the energy
consumption and cost within the asset structure.
An energy efficiency program needs this asset-
specific approach to capture the energy design
basis to identifying those assets and system non-
conformity [issues] that need to be addressed.
Clearly, the energy convergence with Infor EAM
is the best application space for systematically
managing this process. It is no longer a viable
asset management strategy to simply manage
one’s assets for optimal performance. Today, the
moral mandate is to manage one’s assets for
optimal performance at the least energy cost.”
Bill Miller
Risk and Reliability Manager
City of Des Moines Wastewater Reclamation
12

Benefiting from integrated EAM and mobility
Waterschap Brabantse Delta takes care of water management in West
Brabant and is one of the 24 water boards in the Netherlands. It is responsible
for ensuring the level and quality of surface water, purifying sewerage water,
overseeing swimming water quality and groundwater management.
The organization employs Infor EAM, which is integrated seamlessly with other
systems, including a standard dual link with the Geographic Information System
(GIS) from ESRI for water authorities, whereby work orders can be generated
directly from the GIS display, improving workforce efficiency and lowering costs
by pinpointing assets.
Waterschap Brabantse Delta has also benefited by implementing Infor EAM
mobile solutions–giving mobile workers the ability to ask a colleague for
assistance via Facetime and Skype–saving 1.5 hours per person per day
in the process.
“Our employees in the field can save substantial
time by being able to download assignments
from the Infor EAM Enterprise database by
accessing and updating data from their mobile
device regardless of wherever they are. As well
as identifying assets for maintenance, they can
identify the location of work orders. As a result,
employees will be able to make better and
quicker decisions in the field, resulting in improved
efficiency and performance of their field tasks.”
Cor Bon
Application Manager
Waterschap Branbantse Delta
13

Succeed with Infor
We understand your utility’s commitment to excellent performance.
Through our comprehensive asset management solutions, you’ll be able
to realize the multiple benefits of EAM by optimizing and improving:
Infrastructure and equipment asset investment
decisions for repairs and replacements
Environmental results, regulatory compliance,
and energy demand management
Operations for asset utilization, labor productivity,
and materials inventory management
Service quality, customer service, and the balance
of reactive and planned maintenance efforts
Productivity by applying the latest technology for
workplace collaboration, mobility, and data analytics
Asset reliability, resiliency, and sustainability
Risk management
Why Infor?
• Helping customers understand the connection between
asset performance and top-line growth for 20+ years
• More than 10,000 private and public sector organizations
worldwide using Infor EAM
• Typical customer benefits of 20% or more in energy
reductions, 20% increase in labor productivity, and 30%
reduction in inventory carrying levels, among other
improvements
Contact us today at 800-260-2640
Or email us at eam@infor.com
14

About Infor
Infor is fundamentally changing the way information is published and consumed in the enterprise,helping
73,000 customers in more than 200 countries and territories improve operations, drive growth, and
quickly adapt to changes in business demands. To learn more about Infor, please visit www.infor.com.
Disclaimer
This document reflects the direction Infor may take with regard to the specific product(s) described in this document, all of which is subject
to change by Infor in its sole discretion, with or without notice to you. This document in not a commitment to you in any way and you
should not rely on this document or any of its content in making any decision. Infor is not committing to develop or deliver any specified
enhancement, upgrade, product, or functionality, even if such is described in this document.
Copyright © 2014 Infor. All rights reserved. The work and design marks set forth herein are trademarks and/or registered trademarks
of Infor and/or related affiliates and subsidiaries. All other trademarks listed herein are the property of their respective owners.
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