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:
Capital Assets : “The aligning of a value Chain.”
This is the area of asset utilization and performance companies have focused on for years, but now the holistic view across multiple assets, changes the paradigm in these asset performance initiatives.
The four key elements are:
1. Unified Network of Assets; taking a holistic view across multiple assets of similar type, that were installed and running independently for years. Key is the ability to be able to do like comparisons between equipment/ asset capacity and performance. Requiring consistent measures, units and validation, so data’s available in "apples to apples” form.
2. “Loosely Coupled but Aligned” : This is linking these sites / assets together, but, not in a way that restricts the flexibility in the organization or operations. Messages and communication must be realtime, but with defined contracts, so that within the plants they can execute uniquely to deliver, also the architecture and systems can be at different versions between sites, yet the integration still works. The concept of “plug and playing” an asset into the system is crucial in this age of globalization and new plants, assets acquired all the time.
3. Operational value Chain: Linking together multiple assets into one value chain for a production run, instead of them running is Islands. This requires the integration, awareness of plant capacity but increases efficiency and agility.
4. Business Strategy and Operational Execution Alignment: This is the area that has been aligned for years through the different EAI (Enterprise Application Integration) but today it is about realtime alignment up and down, changes in a strategy propagate to the operational plant execution plans naturally.
Human Assets : “Flexible Operational Team.”
Many companies are currently creating performance teams looking at their operational teams, or human assets, recognising the increased efficiencies, and agility available with a coordinated and aligned operational team.
The four key elements are:
1. Agility through Empowerment: People have talked about empowering “joe the operator”, but empowerment is not just information, it is knowledge, experience, information and ability to act in a consistent and successful way. It is also not just about the operator it is about the team, from utility plays in the plant, and virtual expert players aligned in realtime.
2. Ability absorb Workforce Transition/ Rotation: As mentioned many times the industry is going through a massive transition of human assets, either with retiring age transitioning to a generation in their 20s, or the fact that people are staying significantly less time in their role either by responsibility or location. We are living in a much more dynamic culture that requires systems to naturally absorb this transition, by being intuitive, shorter time to experience
3. Operational Consistency: The rotating workforce combined with the holistic view across the assets, the ability to improve across sites is by having an operational control across the assets, so improvements can be made to an operational practise and it can be rolled out across sites. This is at the center of “operational Innovation”, the allowing operational practices to continuously improved.
4. Flexible Operational Teams: This has been covered at length, the changing landscape of what makes up an industrial operational team, their roles, and environments they work. But the members work in realtime, aware of the same situation, contributing their expertise through knowledge or location. Collaboration, situational awareness is necessary into todays operational experiences.
The future of automation and operational systems, will be based around being able to satisfy these concepts, not one at a time but as whole.
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