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Instrument Asset Management Drives Profit

Nov. 10, 2011
How an Enterprise Control System Can Simplify Creating Value from Maintenance
About the Author
Walt has more than 30 years of experience in sales, sales management, marketing, and product development in the automation industry both for sensors, devices and control systems for industrial and environmental controls, including Executive Committee and Board experience in several companies. Walt currently is serving as Editor-in-Chief of CONTROL and www.controlglobal.com. Because of his broad subject matter expertise and business experience, he is uniquely qualified as a global automation industry analyst. Learn more.
By Walt Boyes, Editor-in-Chief

"I have a passion for instrument asset management," began Charles Piper, an Invensys Fellow and development program manager for Invensys Operations Management.  "Asset management, and particularly instrument asset management, touches everyone in the plant and also touches all the systems in the plant," Piper said in a presentation to attendees of the company's OpsManage'11 conference this week in Nashville, Tenn.

ArchestrA System Platform 2012 and the Foxboro Control Software, Piper said, make it straightforward to maximize profit from maintenance. He noted that asset management has many drivers, including the economic and social costs incurred if an accident occurs due to lack of maintenance.

Piper noted that predictive asset management can maximize and extend asset useful life, maximize production rates and product quality, while improving asset efficiency, uptime and reliability. It can extend and improve the effectiveness of maintenance and operations staff and the efficiency of activity and work scheduling.

"You can minimize downtime, reduce accidents and the resultant employee injuries," Piper said. "Environmental damage can be reduced, which minimizes carbon footprint and emissions. Equipment damage can be avoided, while energy, water, fuel and even inventory costs can be minimized."

"You can minimize downtime, reduce accidents and the resultant employee injuries." Invensys' Charles Piper discussed the benefits of applying asset management strategies to a plant's instrumentation and control infrastructure.
Five or ten years ago, Piper noted, the maintenance emphasis was on mechanical assets—pumps and rotating machinery. Instrument asset management and the concept that the control system is itself an asset, is recent, coincident with the development and proliferation of smart transmitters.

Piper described the suite of Invensys Operations Management lifecycle management tools for instrument asset management and the predictive strategies that can extend instrument life. "Using asset predictive management tools," he said, "you can operate your plant better and more efficiently."

The key component to the Invensys suite of predictive asset management tools is the ArchestrA System Platform, the glue that integrates all of the Invensys visualization and management components, such as ArchestrA Workflow and Wonderware InTouch. In addition, there are the key benefits of Invensys mobility tools (IntelaTrac) and ERP integration tools from Avantis. There also are API (application process interfaces) and EAM (enterprise asset management) connectors.

"It is all about managing profitability," Piper said. "Using the components of the InFusion Enterprise Control System, Avantis, Wonderware InTouch, ArchestrA System Platform and ArchestrA Workflow, the time necessary to do instrument asset management is significantly reduced. From diagnostic information from the smart instrument itself to the scheduling of work orders, the process can be made seamless and automatic."