OMCS International launches its Plant Performance Data Management System
Most capital intensive industries collect plant performance data, investigate reliability incidents and eliminate sources of loss. Observations across many industries and companies across the globe lead us to the conclusion that these processes, while very important, are amongst the most fragmented and poorly executed of all.
- Have you ever had a “no brainer” project knocked back because of poor data?
- Are you too afraid to propose the big improvement project because you can’t prove your case?
- Have you ever thought of creating your own data collection system because the production data is not accurate and does not provide the information you need?
- Have you ever heard your accountant say – "in God we trust – but everyone else needs data"?
The good news is that setting up a first class plant performance data collection system is not a big investment and is not difficult to achieve – in fact your production people probably already have a data collection system! That is good news.
The other good news is that in most of the companies we have assessed, the collection systems collect too much data, are cumbersome to use and interrogate and the data is inaccurate. To compound this, the data is structured in such a way that information gathering and hypothesis testing is practically impossible.
The trick is to make data collection simpler, less onerous yet significantly more effective.
Our approach minimises the data collected and maximises the value.
In addition to the theory behind setting up a system, we have now developed efficient scaleable software systems generic enough to suit most industries, but tight enough to provide the information needed. These software systems are capable of scaling up from one single machine to hundreds of assets spread throughout a corporation.
We know that there are many systems available that interrogate data. However, we also know that few really focus on what data to collect and why. Our research shows that most data is collected using a "shotgun" approach in reverse. In reality, data collection should be strategic, based on specific needs and highly focussed.
If you are still not sure whether to proceed, ask yourself this question – When was the last time you changed your data collection codes?
It is our belief that if you have not changed your data codes recently, you are either not having any significant losses, or you are not collecting data properly, and almost certainly not using it to its potential.
