(This is the text version of the DSOM video.)
In today's operating and production environments, systems and equipment must perform at levels not thought possible a decade ago. Demands for increased product quality, throughput, agility and operating effectiveness are growing. The tempo and intensity of operations and maintenance is on the upswing. At the same time, the need to reduce capital investment diminishes operational flexibility because inventories of spare parts and backup equipment are becoming smaller.
The opportunities for improved asset management are substantial. Reports indicate that North American industry could recover $200 billion to $500 billion annually through improved physical asset management. From power plants to pulp and paper processing-heating and cooling plants to pharmaceutical production-operating and production enterprises face the same challenges when it comes to asset management. They must maintain-and often increase-operational effectiveness, revenue, and customer satisfaction, while reducing capital, operating, and support costs.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has developed an information management system and a strategy for assessing and improving facilities that can reduce life-cycle operations and maintenance costs by 25 to 50 percent. DSOM, which stands for Decision Support for Operations and Maintenance, can:
DSOM is an intelligent diagnostic operations and maintenance software program. For each installation, the system is customized for the specific plant design to provide staff with guidance on life cycle performance and safety decisions. Here's a rough idea of how it works. A network of sensors, probably an extension of the ones you already have, constantly monitors the performance of the facility's components. The data from these monitors feeds directly into a computer. The DSOM software integrates and diagnoses the data, and lets you and the operators know in real-time if a system is malfunctioning or running below your expectations. But it doesn't stop there. DSOM identifies conditions that could lead to a problem, and determines the root cause and what should be done to fix it. This same information is displayed in different ways according to the needs of people throughout the organization. In short, DSOM links the plant operations and maintenance staff, engineers, and administrators in one easy-to-use, enterprise-wide, web-based system.
The DSOM software was originally developed for the U.S. Marine Corps. In 1994, it was installed at the central heating plant of the Marine Corps' Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California. Since then, the facility has reduced its operations and maintenance expenses by 33 percent, saving about $500,000 a year in life cycle O&M costs.
DSOM achieves these savings because it moves facilities into condition-based management. Beyond routine maintenance and looking for early warning signs of problems, condition-based management focuses on finding the balance between high production rates, machine stress, and failure. By recognizing the stresses on equipment, you can change your operations to avoid failure. DSOM's diagnostic and prognostic capabilities empower the operations staff to become the first line of maintenance.
While the DSOM information system plays a key role in the transition to condition-based management, often its benefits would be greatly limited if other infrastructure issues were not addressed first. When we begin working with a client, our first step is to build an overall understanding of the site and how its support infrastructure works. We look at process performance criteria and baseline efficiency. We learn about the organizational climate and structure. We then determine the information needs of each worker and the way information is shared in each segment of the organization.
Through this unique holistic approach, we identify and prioritize improvement opportunities throughout the enterprise. Some will easily be addressed with the DSOM computer information program. On the other hand, some will be related to improving the site organization and infrastructure. We chart the list of possible improvements to show which actions are necessary to improve information access and understanding. Based on what it would take to make the facility processes effective and lead to the greatest economic impacts, we recommend improvements to our client.
With the information we gathered during the assessment, we build a customized facility database. As an enterprise-wide information system, this database drives DSOM for the entire organization. Different views of the same information are created on point-and-click screens for operations, maintenance, engineering and administration staff. This helps people work with the information in a way that is comfortable, convenient and relates specifically to their job.
DSOM is easy to use and makes it easier for operations and maintenance staff to do their jobs. By presenting a simplified understanding of plant operations and maintenance, it can reduce training time. After installing DSOM, Twentynine Palms reduced its training time from two years to just six months.
More recently, a DSOM application at the Marine Corps' Parris Island Co-generating facility in South Carolina is coordinating the central plant with a Laboratory upgraded energy management control system saving over $1M since installation. Under a contract with the New York Housing Authority, we completed a DSOM installation at a central boiler plant serving over 4,500 residents in a housing complex in Manhattan achieving an annual savings of over 26 percent.
Beyond these applications, DSOM can help reduce energy consumption, lower maintenance costs and extend equipment life in other process industries such as central district heating and cooling, steel and aluminum production and pulp and paper plants.
A team of laboratory experts in engineering, instrumentation, sensors and controls, and information technology created it. Now, this easy-to-use software system is ready to go to work for you. To learn more about how DSOM could help increase productivity and save money at your site, continue exploring the information on this cd, or contact us here at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.