Asset management is a critical aspect of the utility industry, as it involves managing the technicians and equipment necessary to maintain and repair the infrastructure that provides essential services to customers. The industry has seen a significant evolution in recent years, with the rise of new technologies and the increasing demand for efficient and cost-effective operations. In this blog, we will discuss the impacts, challenges, methods, and benefits of asset management in the utility industry and how Mobolutions fulfils the need and overcomes the challenges faced by the Utility Industry.
Challenges Faced by the Utility Industry in Asset Management:
Most organizations follow the paperwork method for asset management to capture asset malfunction and technician activities. Technicians use Paper Forms for reporting their maintenance check-up data and Malfunction reports of the asset. It is a time-consuming process and data will be miscommunicated which leads to delay in work.
The Following Challenges are Faced Due to Miscommunication:
- Priority tasks are not completed.
- Missing the deadline
- Repeating the Maintenance tasks
- Asset Breakdown time getting extended.
- Malfunction Details not reported correctly.
- Production line stoppage
- Non-Availability of spares and resources
It makes it tough for maintenance technicians to choose which maintenance repair to be performed as a priority and there are possibilities of missing their time entries and data input for their performing job which leads to problems in breakdown analysis and labor working hours calculation.
Methods of Asset Management in the Utility Industry:
Mobile Technology: Mobile technology has revolutionized the utility industry, allowing technicians to access job information, customer data, and real-time updates on their mobile devices. This technology enhances productivity, improves communication, and reduces downtime, as technicians can access information while in the field.
Predictive Maintenance: Predictive maintenance involves using data and analytics to predict when equipment is likely to fail. This information is used to schedule maintenance before the equipment fails, reducing the cost of repairs and avoiding service disruptions.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS): GIS technology provides a visual representation of the network, making it easier to manage and plan maintenance activities. This technology helps maintenance managers to identify potential issues, and allocate resources, accordingly, improving the efficiency of operations.
Remote Monitoring: Remote monitoring technology allows utilities to monitor their infrastructure in real time, reducing the need for manual inspections. This technology provides early warning of potential problems and enables maintenance managers to respond quickly to issues, reducing downtime and increasing customer satisfaction.
Benefits of Asset Management in the Utilities Industry
Increased Efficiency: Effective asset management results in more efficient operations, as technicians can complete tasks faster, reducing downtime and improving customer satisfaction.
Cost Savings: Predictive maintenance and remote monitoring can help utilities reduce costs by avoiding unplanned repairs and reducing manual inspections.
Improved Customer Satisfaction: Asset management can help utilities to respond to customer needs quickly and effectively, reducing downtime and improving customer satisfaction.
Better Resource Allocation: By using GIS technology, utilities can better allocate resources, improving the efficiency of operations and reducing costs.
Asset Maintenance Services:
Asset maintenance service consists of managing maintenance, repair, overhauling, erection, and dismantling. Persons belonging to the maintenance department used paper works and telephone calls initially, now they are using Asset Management Software to do the maintenance process with ease.
Asset maintenance services are the Services performed for the maintenance objects which are installed inside and outside the organization’s site, which can be an enterprise, Telecom, or Utilities Industries like water supply, electric power supply, steam supply, sewage removal, natural gas supply, etc.
Asset Management application shows the following details to the Maintenance employees to perform their work efficiently:
- Maintenance Objects – Equipment & its Functional Location
- Geo Location of the Maintenance Objects
- Notification request
- Work Orders
- Maintenance Object Field Service History
- Maintenance technicians responsible
- Time Entries
- Breakdown Analysis
How Mobolutions fulfils the need and overcomes the challenges faced by the Utilities Industry?
The maintenance technician found a major issue – a valve broken in the water supply pipeline while performing the routine maintenance check. The maintenance technician can create a malfunction request by taking a snap of the Valve broken area with a description of the problem, to get instant feedback to perform the work without leaving the job site. Proper Information is passed to higher-level maintenance employees without any delay.
Advantages of using the Asset Management App:
- Asset downtime reduced.
- There is no data miscommunication.
- Work is performed in priority.
Mobolutions Asset Management System Software made this major issue resolve in an easier way and let the maintenance technicians be informed by mobile devices. Asset Management Software app is compatible with all mobile devices.
A Glimpse of Mobolutions Custom Fiori Applications
Tracking: Dashboard – Employees can track the status of Notifications & Work orders based on the completion status, priority, types, Breakdown & Persons to manage their maintenance operations.
Job Scheduling:
Asset Management software allows Multiple Maintenance employees to record their exact time in and out for the respective operations and work orders they are working on. It also allows the employees to pause and resume their work to record their actual work hours and can delete their time entries. Missed time entries can also be recorded.
Malfunction & Maintenance Data:
Inventory Management: In Asset Management software, Employees can overview the different kinds of stocks of material across all organization levels for the business processes to know what to order, when to order, and how much to order.
Breakdown Analysis:
Machine Breakdown Analysis takes the maintenance department toward the Zero Breakdown Approach. It is the problem-solving technique to eliminate machine failure.
Key Performance Indicators (KPI) – MTTR (Mean Time to Repair), MTBR (Mean Time Between Repair), Downtime, Uptime & No. of Actual Breakdowns are evaluated for Breakdown Analysis.
Mobolutions is one of the leading SAP BTP application developers. Custom Fiori applications are developed as per the need and standards of the utility industries, to overcome the challenges faced by them in asset management and increase their efficiency. The geo-location of the asset using GIS Functionality is implemented in our Fiori application for the ease of maintenance technicians to perform their maintenance work according to priority.
In conclusion:
Asset management is a critical aspect of the utility industry, as it involves managing the technicians and equipment necessary to maintain and repair the infrastructure that provides essential services to customers. The adoption of new technologies, such as mobile technology, predictive maintenance, GIS, and remote monitoring, has greatly improved the efficiency of maintenance operations, reduced costs, and improved customer satisfaction.