(https://adclick.g.doubleclick.

net/pcs/click%253Fxai%253DAKAOjsvdrA-hRd-
MLzjezJaReosM1j_Nq0zi0kv6r44tGiz8EL4nE2GKyz_pxcpn8VPJI8Bypr9uUftzjG0PRV8nxtfafNLRF7yEB2f54iZc3rSb3pJL-
epTtKXGiI7AS5Rb9WODodpTvlInk2y4l5nbJ3dMG81M5MdOE1fg8-OmFyF8rIGoTB_Gh7_rayK99nk9c7gjvG4HqWaykhqHQa_lcHw-
JUHqxJIqx1DZQdMxcTL2CMdcER-Ky-jMyBxX4g%2526sai%253DAMfl-YSIk7FHBL33tcjxgd9BQGM65nGCcu8O8BfCl-
3LloaqF_gFZo8B5guPpoMJowmpePIQ3pUjBnnSuI_bM_3_Ea-x3Pxff7_MF31-IO_gi-tfvQS49G9hrrqvgzI%2526sig%253DCg0ArKJSzF3qX0Sm-
ucNEAE%2526urlfix%253D1%2526adurl%253Dhttps://www.leamericas.com/en/linde-plantserv/index.html)

COPYING AND DISTRIBUTING ARE PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER

Open +

May 2018 (/magazine/2018/may-2018)

COLUMNS (/MAGAZINE/2018/MAY-2018#COLUMNS)

Digital: Maximize return on

capital investment with predictive
maintenance
Oil and gas professionals are well aware of the pressures companies face in the market.

Newton, M. (/authors/a/aveva/newton-m), Aveva

Oil and gas professionals are well aware of the pressures companies face in the market. Erratic
commodity prices make it extremely difficult to maintain profitability. Environmental regulations have
increased the cost and difficulty of regulatory compliance. An aging workforce makes it more difficult for
companies to maintain a high level of operational efficiency as aging workers retire and are replaced by
their inexperienced counterparts.

In this environment, maximizing asset reliability and performance is a competitive necessity. Powered by
the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), companies can digitally transform how they manage their assets.
Predictive maintenance solutions take advantage of machine learning and advanced pattern recognition
to detect anomalies days, weeks or even months before a traditional alarm might provide notification,
ensuring that appropriate corrective action can be taken before an incident occurs.

A leading producer of industrial gases saved more than $500,000 from a single predictive maintenance
catch. By implementing this technology, oil and gas companies can improve asset reliability, increase
operations productivity, reduce maintenance costs and generate a maximum return on capital investment.

The maintenance maturity pyramid. It is important to

understand where predictive maintenance fits within a best-
in-class maintenance strategy. The maintenance maturity
pyramid (FIG. 1) is a useful visual indicator of the different
types of maintenance. All strategies across the maintenance
maturity pyramid play a part in improving asset
performance and reliability.

(/media/6840/hp_052018_digital_01.gif) The base of the pyramid is reactive maintenance, which is

simply a run-to-failure model: an asset is run until it
FIG. 1. The maintenance maturity pyramid.
malfunctions, at which point it must be repaired or replaced. While reactive maintenance might appear to
be the easiest and cheapest maintenance strategy, it is suitable only for non-critical assets.
The next level is preventive maintenance, which is scheduled maintenance conducted at regular intervals.
While preventive maintenance stops more failures than reactive maintenance, it too has a downside.
Unless preventive maintenance is properly optimized, an asset can easily be over-maintained (leading to
overruns on maintenance and excessive downtime) or under-maintained (leading to costly firefights when
an asset fails).

Condition-based maintenance is ideal when the conditions leading to asset failure are easily understood
and measured. These solutions use rule-based logic to trigger alerts whenever an asset operates outside
of defined parameters.

For those assets where failure conditions are harder to correlate and where asset downtime is costly and
best avoided, predictive maintenance is ideal. This maintenance strategy uses advanced pattern
recognition and machine learning to capture abnormal behavior that is often hidden from a cursory review
of operations data. These revelations typically occur long before a normal alarm would provide
notification, so predictive maintenance is best for high-priority, mission-critical assets where failure and
downtime are costly.

How predictive maintenance works. Reactive and preventive maintenance alone are not enough to
ensure optimal asset performance and reliability. Refineries are extremely complex, and equipment
malfunctions can cause devastating failures. The downstream effects of refinery failure could have a
negative impact on a company’s bottom line and reputation, as well as on the environment. With such high
stakes, especially for mission-critical assets, oil and gas companies are increasingly taking a more
proactive approach.

Predictive maintenance solutions leverage big data already being collected by oil and gas companies from
historians, sensors and smart/IIoT devices. These solutions monitor the asset in real time to determine an
asset’s base operational state. Advanced pattern recognition and machine learning are used to analyze
each asset’s data to detect any abnormality or anomaly that might be a precurser to future asset failure.

Predictive maintenance and digital transformation. Predictive maintenance achieves impressive

benefits, even when deployed in isolation. However, even greater value can be extracted by taking a more
holistic perspective across the enterprise. In the best-case scenario, companies can install an industrial
software platform, applying components of that platform as a systematic approach, where and when they
add new value.

For example, once a predictive maintenance solution has flagged an issue, it is then critical that the issue
is resolved quickly and efficiently. Integration with an advanced enterprise asset management (EAM)
solution ensures that problems are actually resolved in an effective manner and are catalogued
appropriately.

The produced insights and actions can be communicated to workers through mobile operator rounds and
enforced as best practices in the field. Integration with augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality
technology empowers workers with in-depth knowledge of the asset directly at their fingertips, facilitating
operations and maintenance.

The benefits of digital transformation extend beyond asset management. By integrating asset
management systems with advanced engineering and simulation capabilities, operators can create and
maintain a complete asset history, from design through construction, operations and maintenance, adding
another layer of information to users during asset operations and maintenance.

Improving asset reliability has valuable implications on the operations side, as well. By improving asset
reliability, companies can improve the reliability of every connected process. Besides the financial benefits
of preventing asset failure, improving asset reliability can also provide a boost to the environmental,
regulatory and sustainability processes that come into contact with the asset, helping boost profitability
and safety.

The industrial software platform in action. With the industrial software platform, companies can take a
longer-term approach to the optimization of asset performance and operations. Asset lifecycles can be
extended, helping drive the most from these investments to maximize return on capital.

For example, Hydrocarbon Processing covered BASF’s digital transformation.1 The company installed
predictive maintenance and implemented AR technology to transform its work process. The new mobile
solution is replacing paper checklists that operators formally used to conduct rounds, capturing data
directly from inspection for real-time visibility.
Overall adoption rates of predictive maintenance and APM technologies in the oil and gas industry are
starting to increase. Early adopters are experiencing success, and with an ROI measured in months, not
years, the only question is: When will you begin your digital transformation? HP

LITERATURE CITED

1. Hydrocarbon Processing, “Schneider Electric Innovation Summit 2017: The transformative power
of digitalization, http://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/conference-news/2017/10/schneider-
electric-innovation-summit-17-the-transformative-power-of-digitalization

The Author
Newton, M. (/authors/a/aveva/newton-m) - Aveva, Los Angeles, California
Matt Newton is the Senior Portfolio Marketing Manager for AVEVA. With more than 15
yr of experience in the technology sector as an applications and systems engineer, Mr.
Newton has extensive experience in supporting embedded platforms, automation
systems, wired and wireless networking, network security technologies and the IIoT.

(/authors/a/aveva/newton-m)

Related Articles
• People (/magazine/2018/august- • Industry Metrics (/magazine/2018/august-
2018/trends-resources/people) 2018/trends-resources/industry-metrics)
• Innovations (/magazine/2018/august- • Business Trends: A strategic energy solution
2018/trends-resources/innovations) (/magazine/2018/august-2018/trends-
• Global Project Data (/magazine/2018/august- resources/business-trends-a-strategic-energy-
2018/trends-resources/global-project-data) solution)
• Industry Perspectives: The latest advancements
in refining/petrochemical technologies on
display (/magazine/2018/august-
2018/trends-resources/industry-perspectives-
the-latest-advancements-in-
refiningpetrochemical-technologies-on-display)

From the Archive

• Six considerations for turbomachinery control • Maximize petrochemicals in the FCCU to boost
upgrades (/magazine/2018/august- refinery margins, improve gasoline pool quality
2018/special-focus-fluid-flow-and-rotating- (/magazine/2016/february-2016/special-
equipment/six-considerations-for- report-clean-fuels-and-the-
turbomachinery-control-upgrades) environment/maximize-petrochemicals-in-the-
• Viewpoint: “Intelligizing” the refinery for fccu-to-boost-refinery-margins-improve-
business sustainability (/magazine/2016/june- gasoline-pool-quality)
2016/columns/viewpoint-intelligizing-the- • Business Trends: Clean fuels—a global shift to a
refinery-for-business-sustainability) low-sulfur world (/magazine/2016/february-
• Business Trends: Global petrochemical 2016/trends-and-resources/business-trends-
overview—Part 1 (/magazine/2016/april- clean-fuels-a-global-shift-to-a-low-sulfur-world)
2016/trends-and-resources/business-trends- • Top seven causes for lost olefin production
global-petrochemical-overview-part-1) (/magazine/2015/april-2015/special-report-
petrochemical-developments/top-seven-
causes-for-lost-olefin-production)