Klaus Allion
Many companies have invested in highly qualified staff and training to increase employee skill sets, but all too often they continue to use this resource for tasks they’re overqualified for. Instead, these experts should be able to concentrate on putting the processes and documentation in place, instead of constantly fighting the same fires.
By automating processes and even decision-making, valuable time can be gained, enabling employees to concentrate on the issues where human engagement is required to find a solution.
Any monitoring technology should be smarter than just reporting on a binary level (i.e. working or not working). Continuous monitoring can show change and variation in patterns; for example, increased vibration that if undetected or ignored could lead to an unexpected and sudden breakdown. This continued monitoring can ensure that preventative action can be taken ahead of escalation, at a time when it is least disruptive to the business.
What many managers may not realise is that if a machine or process issue can use automation to communicate an error to a central platform, automation can also be used to communicate the issue to relevant parties that can resolve or assist in its overall management.
The key is having the flexibility in place to report the issue to the right person or group with the right skill sets to fix the issue efficiently and to a high standard. In some cases the right person might be an engineer or first aider who happens to be close to the incident at the time.
Automation platforms can help to not only distribute alerts to the appropriately skilled person, but also to the person(s) in the right area geographically. With the right workflows in place based on the event or incident detected, the most appropriate staff can be alerted, depending on the issue at hand, rather than the same team having to deal with every issue and delegate accordingly.
Additionally, with a 360 degree process, an alarm management platform can record the entire alarm chain as part of an audit trail, as staff interactions and actions are logged. Reoccurring issues can be documented and fault analysis checklist and troubleshooting guides can be distributed together with the alert. This ensures the fault analyses and resolution process is consistent across the organisation and issues are resolved as efficiently as possible.