Optimising the workings of a process plant is no mean feat. We need to consider cost pressures, demands for increased production capacity and costly downtime due to unplanned break downs. Additional regulatory requirements and the need for continuous instrument upgrades, ensuring maximum productivity also need to be considered. All told these demands require the services of a miracle worker, or the Asset Life Cycle Management expertise of Endress+Hauser.

A balancing act
How do you find the balance? Call on Endress+Hauser. With our unique offering of an Installed Base Analysis (IBA) combined with our Web-enabled Asset Management (W@M) Platform we take the five phases of life cycle management into consideration, to produce a tailored, optimised solution for your Installed Base.

We start with an Installed Base Analysis to determine where your existing Maintenance Strategy is located on the Costs versus Maintenance Effort curve. Development of a Preventative Maintenance Strategy, Reactive Maintenance Strategy as well as Standardisation and Migration Strategies are a consequence of the Installed Base Analysis. These Strategy implementations, along with an Asset Life Cycle Management portfolio will ensure that your Maintenance Effort remains in the optimal position on the Costs versus Maintenance Effort curve.

Asset Life Cycle Management typically includes the following Life Cycle Phases:

Phase 1: Engineering:
The first step in Asset Life Cycle Management is to conduct Basic and Detailed Engineering of respective assets (Process Control Instrumentation). Simply use the locally installed Applicator tool or access it in the Cloud via the W@M Portal, to guide you through this process.
You can then forward your list of requirements to Endress+Hauser for a quotation or, if you have an account with us, obtain the prices from our Online Shop.

Phase 2: Procurement
Purchasing new instruments can become a challenge when you have to deal with many different suppliers simultaneously. Therefore, the single source supplier approach to outsourcing often proves to be an exceptionally economical solution for the following reasons:

• Placing a single order with Endress+Hauser saves you a considerable amount of time, administration and human resource effort when compared to the process involved in placing multiple orders with different vendors.
• We guarantee that all the instruments we supply, including those we have sourced from third parties, will function at the highest level, hence taking over this potentially costly risk from the client.
• We commit ourselves to the prompt delivery of products and spare parts, ensuring minimum downtime.

Phase 3: Installation
We have a number of approved service providers whose standards of service delivery match our own. Technical information and installation-related documentation are readily available from the ‘download’ area within the W@M platform. This makes efficient, ‘first-time’ installation possible. 

“An important value proposition that W@M offers is effective and concise documentation management. The solution is hosted in the Cloud (on Endress+Hauser servers) or installed locally at the Customer as an Enterprise version (on the customer’s server), depending on user requirements. All documentation relating to each asset in the plant is available within the W@M environment. This information can also be downloaded and distributed, saved and printed. The information can be updated or changed depending on user-access,” explains Glenn Smith, Added Value Services Development Manager, Endress+Hauser.

Phase 4: Commissioning
At Endress+Hauser, commissioning comprises the setup of an instrument according to our library of predefined Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). This service activity is crucial to ensure the desired functionality and optimum performance of an asset, according to the application conditions and the customer’s setup specifications. Commissioning segmentation is available based upon Customer requirement: Basic, Extended and Advanced Commissioning is available.

Correct commissioning will prevent adverse effects on the instrument’s performance by ensuring

• Validated installation;
• Suitability of the instrument for the process application (i.e. fit-for-purpose);
• Detailed confirmation of cabling and connections;
• Avoiding poor results created by incorrect initial set-up; and
• Optimal parameterisation of the device according to application requirements
• Complete and secure document management including Commissioning Certificate & Parameterisation Reports generation.

• Optional – Network communication and Loop checks can from part of the Commissioning activity

Phase 5: Operations
From a long-term Maintenance and production perspective, the Operations Phase is  the most important of the Life Cycle Management process. This is in the context of cost reduction, quality and safety and production outputs. Endress+Hauser can guide the Process Owner through the development of the above mentioned Maintenance Strategies. The result will be an optimised cost-to-maintenance effort ratio.

Such a maintenance philosophy includes: Optimised scheduling and execution of Inspections, Verifications (Maintenance activities). Optimised scheduling and execution of Calibrations (Calibration activities), considering Process Criticality and Application demands. Migration strategy planning to manage the cost-effective replacement of obsolete instruments, but in alignment with a defined Standardisation Strategy, is also possible.

With process control instrumentation knowledge being a scarce commodity in Southern Africa, we also offer our customers ‘best-in-class’ Standardised and Customised Technical Training. This combines practical know-how and theoretical competence, for an effective and measurable knowledge transfer to a Maintenance Team. This on-site competence forms the basis for developing a Reactive Maintenance Strategy to prepare for any possible Breakdown situation.

How can we help you find your balance?
Irrespective of the size or composition of your Installed Base, Endress+Hauser’s Asset Life Cycle Management portfolio of services combined with the Web Enabled Asset Management (W@M) information platform, can help you manage your Maintenance effort more effectively, efficiently and more economically. It’s a balancing act well worth perfecting.

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