SIMPLICITY the path to adoption, and alignment!

Last week I talked about the two big concepts companies are going to have to grapple with in order to increase competitive efficiency (operational efficiency).

Last week I was dealing with some projects and again the example of technology solution/ change is simple compared to associated “cultural change” that has to be invoked inorder to achieve the objective and return. Key is adoption of the new approach, why not merge technology/ and human nature, to enable a key ingredients of change adoption by changing the situational experience. Human nature is one to to take the path of least resistance, so “simple”, “logical” and “intuitive” experiences can only promote adoption.

The Changing Approach to Enabling the Two Key Assets (Captial/ Human) in Plants

For the last 5 months, you have read about different aspects of what is happening in the market in order to achieve OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE. Realistically it comes down to two key operational concepts:

·          The aligning of the HUMAN ASSETS into an Operational Team operating in the NOW.

·          The aligning of CAPITAL ASSETS into a co-ordinated Supply chain, and not islands of automation.

Talking to people they are all different levels on these two areas, but most focus on Captial Asset performance, yes plant/ equipment utilization. People talk about providing information to “Joe” the operator, but miss the point that information is only part of the journey, decisions and actions need also to happen in a timely manner.

The diagram below illustrates the main elements of these two alignment strategies which leading companies are applying to a different level:

The Industrial Calculation Landscape, the challenge!!!!

Too often over the last 6 months the desire for managed calculations has come up when reviewing a project or site. Drilling in on the requirements it becomes clear, that the enterprise’s/sites are having trouble aligning, managing calculations/ measures and KPIs. Microsoft Excel has become the source of many of the calculations, providing the freedom for engineers to create Adhoc calculations. The Excel paradigm is an isolated one, ending up with 100s / 1000s of calculations. Many of the companies I talk to across different industries have initiatives underway to eliminate Excel as data source, they do not mind it as an analysis tool. The major chunk of work is to understand the current Excel sheets determine the measures and calculation within these, determine the common calculations and data sources, and then determine a way to create and manage calculations/ measures and KPIs with clear governance. Not and Easy Task!!!

Getting out from behind the desk/ control terminal!

 

The above comment was made to me by an oil and gas company, and when I enquired to their expectation, it was clear that they wanted to empower "controllers" (operators) to be responsible for more. Enable decisions to be made faster while also gaining consistency across teams and shifts.

Transforming the traditional role of sitting in a control room behind a terminal, to a dynamic role, where the operator can get up and roam to investigate, make decisions and take actions in a timelier manner. This concept embraces all of the concepts this blog has raised over the last couple of months and shows the transition in the industrial sector to focusing operational empowerment.   

Why our User Interfaces must be come Model Driven?

I referred to “Model Driven “ navigation last week, and got some reaction that we are already there with ArchestrA Graphics. This made me step and re read what I in the last blog, and realise that I had assumed some understanding.

Yes today ArchestrA Graphics are built into the model in the objects etc, this is a significant step from the classic InTouch like window which the graphics are independent of the model, just linked, but many applications do not build in navigation to the model. My actually intention was not just these graphics in the model but take the whole operational experience to  level, that the model and views into this model for operational control etc, can be independent of the device and layout. Also, the model must be able to change freely and not a characteristic of what device or who will engage with it.