How technology and transformation can reshape operator round management and efficacy

 

Operator rounds ensure that assets and equipment are accurately monitored and inspected to ensure longevity, performance, and productivity. These rounds are as much an essential part of the daily functioning of the heavy industry organization as the workers and the equipment themselves. They also leverage digital transformation capabilities and connected worker technology to provide invaluable tools to industry and facilities.

 

Operator Rounds are essentially an integrated platform that guides workers in the careful inspection of assets and equipment. Using a toolset, they observe machine performance, detect technical issues and provide the organization with essential visibility into asset monitoring in real-time. It’s a clear, bird’s-eye view of the operation and its risk profile.

 

Manual operator rounds have traditionally been time-consuming, complex, and admin intensive. They demand a lot of every worker and introduce unnecessary errors. Yet, they are critical to the management of any facility. If they are not undertaken efficiently, or there are gaps in the data and the information, they can result in unplanned downtime and reduced operational efficiency.

 

Most companies (80%) don’t realize the actual cost of downtime and underestimate its impact on the business. Whether this is unexpected or the result of a failure or lack of resources, this downtime can cost the company as much as $260,000 an hour, according to Aberdeen Research.  A survey undertaken by Vanson Bourne found that downtime cost 82% of companies an average of $2 million per one downtime outage and that 37% lost production time on critical assets. Only 12% of companies felt they were in the right place to manage their assets and digital journey efficiently. It’s clear that digital transformation has become critical for the industry, facility, and operational functionality.

 

 

The reality is that managing operational efficiencies and ensuring the seamless flow of information is critical for effective operator rounds. McKinsey found that employees can lose up to 9.3 hours a week searching for relevant and essential information. That’s the equivalent of losing a whole employee once a week as they hunt for data that has a measurable impact on livable operational reality. While this is an invisible metric, it can be refined through innovative technologies, connected worker solutions, and intelligent, adaptable operator round processes to ensure efficient performance of inspection activities.

 

The benefits of digital

 

Digitally optimized Operator Rounds software provide real-time asset visibility and a direct line of sight into critical information in a centralized command center. The Operator Rounds platform pulls together both current and historical data with artificial intelligence (AI) analytics to allow for improved and informed decision-making in real-time. It’s smart and fast, providing dynamic forms and workflow management tools that introduce comprehensive flexibility in creating round sequences that are adaptable to changing working conditions.

 

The asset management functionality within a digital operator rounds solution allows for the agile management of a physical asset’s entire lifecycle so that companies can maximize value and reduce risk. The asset’s operational status and details are displayed in real-time and are easily accessible by operators so they can schedule rounds and inspections with ease. With this level of insight and granular control, operator rounds are transformed from complex and time-consuming to efficient, dynamic, and flexible.

 

GOARC’s Operator Rounds solution is designed to deliver insights at speed and according to the organization’s standards so that the information is relevant and customized to suit particular requirements. It offers a clear view of any operation and provides accurate risk assessments with both long- and short-term value.

 

This impressive level of digital control helps the organization overcome some particular pain points:

• Detecting faulty equipment or issues in certain areas of a facility in advance of them causing a failure is of immeasurable value. If you can see it, you can fix it.
• Eliminating slow and error-prone processes as most operator rounds are undertaken using paper limiting efficacy and resulting in unplanned downtime due to unforeseen delays. It also determines how well data is gathered and the organization’s ability to collate it and analyze it effectively.
• Without rich data, it’s not an easy process to assess systems proactively and benefit from predictive maintenance approaches. As information can get lost or submitted late, the data can never keep up with the system or the need to retain real-time visibility into performance and functionality.

 

These issues create an obvious time sink and efficiency gap and, combined with the errors they introduce, impact worker safety and the organization’s overall regulatory compliance mandates.

 

 How digital translates into efficiency

 

Implementing digital transformation throughout the heavy industry organization means that you can reduce unplanned downtime, increase operator efficiency and productivity, improve worker safety, address problems before they become issues, improve compliance, and eliminate paperwork. The right digital solution will reshape how operator rounds function and the benefits they deliver, and it will do so over both the long and the short term.

 

GOARC’s Safety 4.0 platform leverages best-in-class software as a service, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and real-time data gathering technologies to provide the business with rich operator round capabilities. The platform uses cutting-edge technology alongside data integration solutions that transform operator rounds completely. It replaces the error-prone complexity of paper-based systems with digital toolkits that scan, input, and analyze the data in real-time. This system allows users and decision-makers to assess and address any issues across any facility immediately and to use the data to create historical analyses that can be used to manage systems proactively in the future.

 

 

In addition, the GOARC platform provides a dedicated command center with a view of all operator rounds in real-time. This level of asset visibility and data control allows for the effective use of business intelligence (BI) and analytics tools to measurably improve the facility’s health and its machinery while also allowing for predictive and proactive maintenance. Every step ticks the boxes of enhanced performance and safety.

 

Organizations can fundamentally redefine how they approach operator rounds with the GOARC platform as it is easy to use – data can be captured on the move using mobile and wearable devices connected throughout the facility to a central dashboard. This allows for reporting to be done at speed and for team leaders to send push notifications to relevant personnel in the event of an emergency or imminent failure. It also provides operation managers and teams with insights that can refine key performance indicators, improve the quality of inspection activities and use BI metrics to refine overall operator round processes. This level of digital control means that downtime can be meticulously planned, as can the availability of resources to manage equipment repairs or system slowdowns.

 

GOARC Safety 4.0 is a proven solution for organizations wanting to streamline operator rounds for improved safety, efficiency, and productivity.