How EOM can improve plant processes

Patrick Gex, Vice President, Global Power Generation at Ventyx, examines the benefits and the challenges of EOM systems.

Over the past several years, asset-intensive industries, such as utilities, chemical, and oil and gas have tried to remain competitive in order to survive and deliver their products at the best possible price. In order to achieve a high level of competitiveness, facilities have looked at decreasing cost and improving productivity in areas such as maintenance, equipment reliability, workforce efficiency and process improvement. With an ever increasing advancement and sophistication in information technology, many companies have turned to automation as a way to achieve those goals.

ERP (enterprise resource planning), EAM (enterprise asset management) and CMMS (computerised maintenance management system) are generally well established within asset-intensive industries and tend to focus essentially on the maintenance, supply chain, financial and engineering aspects of the plant rather than on the operation side of plant management. A new type of system called EOM (enterprise operation management) has emerged, focusing essentially on the management of plant operations, which in my opinion is vital for improving safety, workforce efficiency and compliancy within a facility.

Drawing on its experience in the operation management automation area, Ventyx, an ABB company, developed the Shift Operation Management System (eSOMS).

A mission-critical application, eSOMS users rely on the software to ensure the safe, efficient and compliant operation and maintenance of their facilities. eSOMS is a modular software application suite that is designed to automate and integrate the major processes involved in plant operations management.

No matter what the industry, plant managers always look at three major areas for improvement: safety, workforce efficiency/productivity and compliancy. Operation personnel play a very important role in those three areas. With the help of an EOM like eSOMS, safety will be enhanced, operators will be more efficient and, therefore, more productive, and compliancy with regulation will be better documented.

Plant Operation personnel are responsible for monitoring, maintaining and operating equipment for maximum efficiency and output while maintaining a high level of safety and compliancy. Very often, plant operation personnel are faced with a major dilemma: what systems should be used to prepare, execute and document work; and what system should be used to record equipment and plant status? Too often, unnecessary duplication, redundancy and paperwork become part of the daily routine.

Processes to be modelled by an EOM, like eSOMS, range from simple tasks such as log entries in an electronic log book to more complex ones like managing the entire isolation procedure. Therefore, robust EOMs deliver a diverse set of capabilities. The main components of eSOMS, for instance, are: Equipment Database, Operator Rounds, Electronic Log Book, Configuration Control, Personnel Qualification and Scheduling, Notification of Change and also Mobility (See Figure 1). The key to a well designed and efficient EOM solution is not only the capability for its modules to interact but also the capability to integrate with other software solutions like EAM, PDHs (plant data historians), HR (human resources), project scheduling systems and DCSs (document control systems).

Users of EOM systems like eSOMS, have reported significant benefits related to safety, efficiency and compliancy in power plants (nuclear, thermal and hydraulic), as well as in COG (chemical, oil and gas) plants and refineries.

One advantage of an EOM system that provides these benefits is the tag/lock-sharing capability of an electronic tagging system, such as the Clearance module of eSOMS. Taking advantage of this capability, users in nuclear power plants have reported at least a 37% decrease in the total number of tags/locks required to be processed during major plant outages, therefore decreasing the required in-plant equipment manipulation. As a consequence, the human error rate for such activities has dropped significantly. The day where equipment is locked/tagged by a multitude of locks/tags is in the past. With an electronic tagging system, only one lock/tag is required on an equipment for safe isolation and can be shared efficiently by multiple workers.

Thermal and hydraulic plant personnel have been able to manage and show compliancy with the regulator reporting requirements (such as NERC (North America Electric Reliability Corporation) in the US) by using an EOM electronic logbook like the eSOMS Narrative Logs. The electronic log book provides plant operators and managers a means for recording, capturing and qualifying events which occur during an individual’s shift duty. During their shifts, plant personnel log activities occurring at the site. Critical or NERC-related activities can be flagged or sent to a special log. When required, reports can then be generated thanks to the use of keywords and filters to comply with the regulator requirements.

A major chemical plant company in the US has been able to use eSOMS to enhance plant personnel communication, reduce lack of consistency between plants, improve knowledge transfer and better document compliancy with the regulations. Using the eSOMS Operator Rounds module integrated with their plant data historian, they have shown immediate benefits by extending the lifecycle of some critical equipment. By gathering and analysing more than 128 items related to furnace tubes, such as temperature and pressure, and being able to look at the data all at once, they were able to extend the lifecycle of the furnace tubes by about six months, resulting in a saving of approximately $2 million (US). Process change management was also an area that they were interested in improving. The Notice of Change module of eSOMS provided them with the capability to quickly and effectively notify operation personnel of any operational process changes. The eSOMS Narrative Logs module integrated with the eSOMS Operator Rounds module has enabled them not only to gather abnormal readings during routine duties, but also to track and manage those abnormalities for a more efficient and faster resolution. As a result, documentation for compliancy to environmental regulation and government safety has becomes easier to demonstrate.

Several power plants, as well as COG plants, have reported significant improvement in communications between plant personnel resulting in enhanced safety and productivity. As tasks are performed and documented in the EOM, they can be automatically sent to other modules of the EOM such as specific logs (See Figure 2). This capability not only eliminated duplication but also sped up communication that too often is lacking during periods of intensive work such as an outage. As an illustration, let’s take the example of the isolation process. Maintenance personnel are normally responsible for repairing, replacing and fixing equipment. However the work cannot start until a safe work boundary has been identified and put in place (deactivation of all appropriate energy sources, such as electricity, gas, steam, compressed air, etc.). In most plants, operation personnel are responsible for the equipment isolation. Once isolations have been placed by operation personnel, maintenance personnel will need to be notified quickly so that work can begin. Similarly, once work is finished by maintenance personnel, operation personnel will need to be notified quickly so that equipment and systems can be returned to service and production can resume. Good communication between groups is a key part of that process to maximise productivity and efficiency as well as safety. The integration between modules of eSOMS like Tagout and Narrative Logs provides that effective real-time communication channel needed to maximise work efficiency and safety.

One of the most critical processes in a power plant or even in a COG plant, is the shift handover. As a team finishes its shift and is replaced by a new one, critical information needs to be passed on efficiently from the current team to the on-coming team. With a manual process, too often critical information has not been recorded consistently or is buried in a sea of data. It has been shown that face-to-face handovers are significantly improved if they are supported by a well structured process. The eSOMS Narrative Logs module provides such a well-structured process. Entries have not only been manually recorded by plant personnel but also automatically made from other modules of eSOMS (isolation placed, abnormal readings, etc.), therefore greatly decreasing omission and errors. Too often with a manual paper solution or a non-integrated solution, information is lost, incomplete or difficult to analyse. Well integrated electronic solutions like the eSOMS Narrative Logs allows for better filtering and transferring of critical information between the two teams, enhancing efficiency and safety. A new team taking the shift will be better prepared and informed on the plant’s overall condition.

Power plants, but also COG plants, have all been looking at enhancing knowledge transfer. Knowledge transfer is the process of capturing knowledge from experienced plant personnel, organising and documenting that knowledge, ensuring that it is available for future use and finally distributing that knowledge to less experienced personnel. EOM systems like eSOMS enable plant personnel to create, track, manage, document and retrieve information related to operational processes, thereby contributing to knowledge transfer. Knowledge transfer is definitively a major contributor to safety as well as worker efficiency/productivity.

Major companies have also looked at another fast growing technology: workforce mobility. Customers using our eSOMS mobility solution have shown to bring an all new level of information and capabilities to plant personnel. Data is now captured at the point-of-performance, using such technology as Bluetooth and barcode, thus eliminating errors. The capability to take pictures and record sounds has greatly enhanced the range of information being collected and distributed. Taking advantage of wireless network capabilities, customers have been able to allow field activities to be tracked more closely and this has allowed for better-informed decisions to be made.

Summary. An EOM solution like eSOMS can bring a wealth of benefits to plant personnel not only in power plants and COG plants but also in any type of asset-intensive industries where safety, efficiency and regulation plays an important role. However, an EOM like eSOMS needs to be not only well integrated within itself (all modules interacting with each other) but also needs to be integrated with external software (EAM, PDH, HR, etc.). In this way, an EOM can play a significant role in achieving the three major areas important to all plant managers: safety, efficiency/productivity and compliancy.