In part one of his two-part blog, Steve Hillock busts some commonly-believed myths about APM, AI and other topics. We hope you enjoy part two, as Steve delves into the successful partnership between the two companies.
In this blog, the first in a two-part series, Steve discusses the important role of APM technologies and debunks three myths about digital transformation and AI. In part two, to be published in the next few weeks, Steve will discuss how the Stork AspenTech partnership benefits customers. Thanks to Steve for participating in the AspenTech partner guest blog series.
Managing physical assets is about dealing with risks over the lifecycle of assets. However Asset Management is often misunderstood: not realizing that it is also a way of thinking that involves the organization and business as a whole.
"I really regret that I could not work in such a workshop much earlier." One of the E&I technicians at the Vynova location in Beek (NL) is speaking. He recently reorganized the workshop according to the 5S method, together with the colleagues in his team. He is proud that this is the reference now for other colleagues, who each approach their workplace in the same way. This is just one of the many changes that have been made by employees in the past 12 months, to their own great satisfaction.
What skills are required for technicians when using Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR&VR) applications in maintenance activities in the industry? This is the core question that we try to answer from the WCM Smart Maintenance Skills lab. Based on several pilots at Stork and Kuehne & Nagel, we have evaluated how technicians deal with the interpretation and analysis of information provided for guidance and implementation of maintenance activities when applying VR & AR applications. The research shows that age, experience and education level are of great importance for mechanics in VR & AR applications in daily practice.
For the successful realization of an international project it is of utmost importance to have a High-Performance Team (HPT). However, building and maintaining such a team is always a challenge. In this case study, I will guide you through the what-and-how of HPTs based on experience gained from an international project where I am in the team leader’s role. It will give insight in how to build an HPT. And how to ensure that it functions optimally.
Selecting the right asset reliability strategy is a question that keeps many of our customers awake at night. Currently, on social media, at conferences, in email marketing, a lot of attention is on the newest technologies like machine learning, predictive analytics and anomaly detection. It seems like APM4.0 or Predictive maintenance is the only valid strategy. But is that true? Is there a one-size-fits-all approach to asset reliability strategy? Although this might be the best approach in some cases, in many cases, this strategy's business case isn't proven and achievable.
Decision makers are passing an unusual period, when techniques that used to help them in making decisions are not fully adequate anymore. Uncertainty (due to COVID-19) has changed the stage and requires different techniques. This relatively high uncertainty comes on top of already existing cognitive biases which were (unconsciously) effecting individual or group decisions.
These are strange times. The corona crisis shows a number of effects that we can all clearly observe. Companies are completely or partially closed and have reduced their activities. It is unclear how long this will take, but the lockdown will for sure lead to a serious economic downturn. On the upside, restricted travel, working from home and much less commuting results in cleaner air and as people are looking for ways to help each other, social cohesion is getting stronger. It is interesting to see that government decisions are clearly based on the appreciated insights of scientists such as biomedics and virologists.
There is a lot of buzz around the possibilities of hydrogen as fuel and new energy carrier in our energy system. Hydrogen can be a key ingredient to reach carbon-neutrality in Europe and an important solution to move away from fossil fuels. To explore the opportunities and risks of introducing large scale green hydrogen production in the Netherlands, Stork started a research named “Green Electrons to Green Hydrogen” (GE2GH2). The goal is to find a way to leverage the partnerships and connections in the value chain to drive awareness and action and to ensure that the Netherlands can become an internationally leading hydrogen country.
Scaffolding has been around forever, right? Well, yes and no. Yes, because people in prehistoric times were already using a scaffold made of bamboo or wood to work at heights. It was only in 1913 that “Scaffixer” was patented; a coupling device that was far more robust than rope.
It’s not a question of whether robotics will change the face of inspection and maintenance. It’s a question of when. And, according to Stefano Stramigioli, professor of Advanced Robotics and Chair of the Robotics and Mechatronics Group at the University of Twente, the companies that pioneer research into industrial robots today, will be the market leaders of tomorrow.
A radical transformation is needed in the way energy is produced and used to fulfil societal needs. Clean renewables will gradually replace fossil fuels. Continuing to work on gradual, incremental changes will not be enough to tackle climate change.
In a process industry, shutdowns are essential to keep production going. One of our consultants, who specializes in service providing within Stork Asset Management Technology, explains.
In practice, it appears that many organizations have difficulty getting the right support from their Enterprise Asset Management system. In this blog we describe why expectations are possibly not met and what can be done about it.
In their ambition to create value from their assets Asset Owners often struggle with managing their critical knowledge. In times of an ageing workforce and (technical) personnel shortage this issue is moving more and more towards the strategic Asset Management agenda.
Regardless of our role in a maintenance organization, we all know that feeling of 'Am I here for SAP or is SAP here for me?'; indeed, the question is: what's in it for me?
Predictive maintenance: everyone talks about it and seems to know how to do it. But what is it really? Enos Postma takes us into the world of assets, predictive maintenance, statistics and algorithms and explains how to implement predictive maintenance in six clear steps.
Insufficient control over capex? Unexpected major expenses? The sentence: “that will definitely last another 10 years?” These are all good reasons to consider preparing a Long-Term Asset Replacement Plan (LTARP).
Where maintenance is concerned, the urge to achieve Continuous Improvement and learn from mistakes is vital: economically, technically and from the point of view of competition.
Maintenance is one of the pillars of Asset Management and plays an important role in the achievement of a successful value in use. Over the years, many programs have been developed with the improvement of maintenance in mind. However, they tend to forget the most important factor: the policy and strategy of the organization.
In a landscape where only a handful of companies in oil, gas and petrochemical are embracing the opportunities of digitalization to gain better levels of productivity, this blog provides a comprehensive digest on how analytics can be used to redefine current maintenance strategies.
RAMS stands for Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety and defines the functional requirements that a project must meet. RAMS is now a household name in the world of large, complex infrastructure projects and is closely linked to Systems Engineering.
From an asset management perspective, we can argue that the earth is our most important asset and should therefore be carefully managed. Good stewardship is expected of asset managers, and the task at hand is taking good care of the earth.
In 2016, Istimewa called on the consultants from Stork Asset Management Technology to help them further professionalize their own asset management. The Stork consultants help to develop another way of thinking and working.
Is the scrum method only suitable for IT projects? Our experience is that industries can achieve better results through this form of collaboration.
Which would you prefer: Prevention or Cure? Preventing equipment from failing is obviously a good thing. But we cannot predict everything. The best preventative efforts still fail sometimes. Wouldn't that suggest that the better answer would be “Cure!"?
Congratulations to Stork’s HVACR Team (James Duffy, Farhad Efendiye and Davie McLean), based in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. They have each been awarded an Operational Excellence Award for their outstanding work and commitment during their offshore rotations in the region.
Last week, Wednesday 27th September, the UK & Africa region held their annual REACH Beyond Zero Awards at Trinity Hall in Aberdeen. Over 90 Stork employees, clients and industry peers gathered to recognise the exceptional commitment to HSEQ made by the UK & Africa region’s finalists over the past 12 months.
At Stork Asset Management Solutions we aim to make knowledge, which is critical to the services that we provide, accessible. This includes both explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. In practice, we are talking about knowledge bases and knowledge owners.
The majority of the facilities in the (petro)chemical industry in the Netherlands have been operating for many years. Many of them could be categorized as relatively old - “aging” - facilities, which could give an increased risk to the occurrence of accidents.
Selecting a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) or an Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)-supporting system is one of the most challenging projects for a maintenance or operational organization.
In my work, I often come into contact with customers who feel that maintenance can be better and, above all, cheaper. Then there are those customers who are fine with everything and see maintenance more as a necessary evil. In this blog I will explain the usefulness and necessity of having a substantiated maintenance concept and how it can be managed.
Over the past years, I have worked for various companies that, after years of carrying out reactive maintenance, wanted to take the step forward to performing maintenance at a planned level.
For a long time Fabric Maintenance was as much about aesthetics and making the asset look good, as it was the operation of the plant. But the times have changed.
The quality of data is a difficult concept; you can approach it intuitively: for example data that is ‘good'. But it quickly becomes trickier when there are several users of the same data, and trickier still if each one of these users wants to achieve different goals with that data.
Asset-intensive companies face tighter maintenance budgets, stricter regulations and increased pressure to improve asset performance, whilst confronted with aging assets and workforce.
