Industrial facilities require proper asset health management for safe and efficient operation. Failing equipment can lead to costly downtime, environmental damage, and even serious injuries or loss of life. Organizations need to prioritize asset health management to safeguard both their equipment and the well-being of people and the planet.

Let’s explore the importance of asset health relative to employee safety and environmental sustainability, and how technology, such as data collection tools and predictive maintenance practices, can mitigate risks and promote sustainable operations.

Why Asset Health Matters

Avoiding Critical Failures for Continuous Production

Assets, such as pipelines, storage tanks, and industrial machinery, are essential components of many industrial processes. However, assets degrade over time and can fail unexpectedly, leading to unplanned downtime and costly repairs. These failures can also pose significant risks to human life and the environment.

For example, a failing pipeline can leak hazardous materials, polluting the air and water and endangering nearby communities. Similarly, an overheated machine can cause a fire, leading to property damage and potential injury to workers. Failing assets can also lead to lost productivity, lost revenue, and increased costs.

Managing Asset Health for Safety

Develop Proactive Maintenance Strategies for Environmental Sustainability and Employee Protection

To maintain asset health and prevent failures, organizations need to develop proactive maintenance strategies that identify and address potential issues before they become critical. This approach, known as predictive maintenance, involves using data analysis and machine learning algorithms to monitor equipment performance and predict potential failures.

By collecting data through visual inspection of equipment and monitoring devices, organizations can gain insights into the health of their assets, identifying trends and patterns that indicate potential issues. This data can then be analyzed using business intelligence systems to predict when maintenance will be required, allowing organizations to plan and execute maintenance tasks before failures occur.

Benefits of Predictive Maintenance

Proactive Sustainability through Asset Health Management

Predictive maintenance offers several benefits over traditional reactive maintenance approaches. By identifying potential issues before they become critical, organizations can avoid costly downtime, reduce repair costs, and extend asset lifetimes. Additionally, reducing the risk of equipment failure minimizes the risk of environmental damage and harm to human life.

Predictive maintenance can also help organizations optimize their maintenance schedules, ensuring that resources are allocated where they are needed most. By identifying the assets that require the most attention, organizations can prioritize maintenance tasks and allocate resources more efficiently, reducing costs and improving overall operational efficiency.

The Role of Technology

Digitally Aggregate Data to Optimize Maintenance Schedules

To implement a successful predictive maintenance program, organizations need clean, standardized data that can be easily analyzed and used to generate insights. Utilizing data collection software is critical to this process, not only to provide the raw data for analysis but also to improve accuracy lacked from traditional methods such as paper forms and reports.

However, collecting data is only the first step. To optimize maintenance schedules, organizations must disseminate this information quickly and seamlessly. Analog methods such as paper charts, mailing reports and bulky binders won’t cut it. A cloud-based data collection and management software provides numerous benefits, as data is updated immediately, ensuring that critical specs are up-to-date and available across all departments—including third-party inspectors. This technology can automate maintenance alerts, track progress, and update schedules in real-time.

Investing in Technology to Protect People and the Planet

Prioritize Safety Budget to Invest in Efficient Software

Organizations should prioritize asset health management to combat lost productivity, lost revenue, and increased costs, and ensure the protection of people and the planet. Predictive maintenance, supported by data collection tools and advanced analytics, can help organizations identify potential issues before they become critical, reducing the risk of downtime, environmental damage, and harm to human life.

Investing in technology and data management tools optimizes maintenance schedules, allocates resources more efficiently, and improves overall asset health and safety. Advances in technology have enabled more effective asset health management practices, with real-time data collection tools and predictive maintenance practices providing significant benefits. By prioritizing asset health, organizations can ensure that their operations are sustainable, safe, and efficient.

(SPOT Tracker and TruQC have joined forces to become TRU, a Jones Company)

SPOT worked with Summit Midstream on the 135-mile Double E project in West Texas. The SPOT team was tasked with tracking pipe, fittings, and all materials on above-ground structures from the mill to the ROW, including interconnect meter locations. The SPOT platform was used to implement custom workflows, capture operational progress, & forecast completion date(s) through dashboard reporting.

The SPOT and Summit Midstream teams spent many hours customizing a system that would meet Summit’s goals. SPOT techs were onsite for the duration of the project to support inspection staff and material management staff, ensuring all data was captured correctly. The result was a complete deliverable using 3-D modeling with overlaid materials information referencing back to the SPOT database.

(SPOT Tracker and TruQC have joined forces to become TRU, a Jones Company)

SPOT is proud to announce one of 2022’s early awards with Enterprise Products. This new pipeline will take place in Texas, with the use of our very own patent-pending jeepable barcodes. These barcodes are both rain and rustproof and have a durability of at least seven years when exposed to direct sunlight and jeep as low as 100 volts per mil. SPOT will be training the on-site inspection and survey groups to use the iOS app for data entry while building a piece of the digital project book for project hand-off.

We’re grateful to have earned the partnership of another client and look forward to exceeding their exceptions.

(SPOT Tracker and TruQC have joined forces to become TRU, a Jones Company)

All we do is win, win, win no matter what! Got data on our mind we can never get enough!

And now Atwell Group will have all the data they could want and more thanks to their partnership with SPOT. Beginning this fall, Atwell will be equipped to capture, organize, and trace the data they collect in a totally customized format for each stage of their ongoing project through La Grange, Texas.

In addition to capturing invaluable data, Atwell will also be capitalizing on the versatility of SPOT’s offerings to track and manage every asset involved in the project, no matter its type. Integral to SPOT’s data capture technology, is the ability to input a limitless number of asset types that you can manage and track all while continuing to capture data on the progress of your project. That’s a little something we like to call a “two-for.” SPOT’s complete customization goes even further, allowing its users to create dashboards and forms that send notifications and alerts to decisions makers in real time.

Perhaps most important is the autonomy that SPOT’s tool will grant to Atwell. Instead of hiring SPOT specific personnel to be on the ground for the duration of their project, Atwell’s own people will be thoroughly trained in how to use SPOT’s technology, learning how to customize the forms for their specific needs. Because SPOT is both simple and intuitive, training is quick yet effective, enabling personnel to feel confident and have total ownership of their projects from the ground up.

We’re proud that Atwell Group chose SPOT. Better data starts here.