The value of future-fit asset management

The value of future-fit asset management

December 17, 2024

Maintenance is at the heart of industry and AI-driven technologies can transform asset management - just be sure to bring people into the picture.

In the pursuit of the global energy transition, the mining sector must deliver greater quantities of critical minerals while simultaneously shrinking the emissions from their operations.

It's a wicked problem, but there's already existing technology to help solve it.

"From the way that we mine, to how we maintain our assets to how we deal with our workforces, mining and resources operations must evolve and change is coming fast," William Fry told the audience at the influential International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) in Sydney, Australia.

William Fry, Baker Hughes

As it deploys more of its technologies into the mining sector, Baker Hughes joined IMARC as a sponsor for the first time. Fry is Consulting Services Leader for Baker Hughes in Asia Pacific and Middle East regions and was delivering his presentation 'Leveraging Technology and Innovation to Achieve Productivity and Operational Excellence' at IMARC.

He listed the key challenges for asset management and maintenance: unplanned downtime, high costs, aging infrastructure, lack of real-time visibility into asset health.

"Who here changes their maintenance strategy as their assets age?" he asked the IMARC audience. Fry explained that a lack of attention to updating maintenance strategies, over-maintenance and the failure to land on best-practice maintenance across the asset base are among the weakest links he's seen across two decades as a consultant in the field.

"In many industries, traditional maintenance practices, such as reactive or time-based preventive maintenance, are still the norm," said Fry. "These methods can lead to over-maintenance and unexpected equipment failures, driving high maintenance costs and frequent unplanned downtime because of that lack of real-time visibility into asset health. Technology can address those challenges head-on."

William Fry, second right, during IMARC in Sydney, Australia

There was much discussion around AI at IMARC and Fry confirmed its importance to advancing Baker Hughes technologies, too. Fry said the future of asset management will see AI power fully autonomous maintenance systems.

"It's going to have a significant impact on the way we work, such as defining failure modes or reverse engineering asset defect elimination results," he said. "A human does an RCA [root cause analysis], in the meantime the AI has already been smart enough to work out what we should be doing at an optimized level based on all our strategies, which it has been trained on."

AI and data analytics are also helping operators to tackle their ESG requirements by leveraging data to optimize resource use, reduce emissions and support other sustainability initiatives. "It's vital for organizations to capture more and more information and report on it," said Fry. Digitally connected APM (Asset Performance Management) systems are critical. "AI-driven tools will help us maintain our assets better, measure them effectively and understand the impact of their outputs across the whole value chain."

Turn your data lakes into powerful insights

The first step to using technology to transform asset management and maintenance is to audit the data being collected on the machinery across operations. "We have thousands of connected sensors sending data off to data lakes somewhere," explained Fry. "What's interrogating that data? How is that being used? Is it being fed into an asset strategy system to inform us to make better decisions?"

Properly understood, this data is the baseload power for the Internet of Things (IoT) and AI. Algorithms turn it into real-time virtual assistants working 24/7 to forecast looming failures, swiftly detect irregularities and design more efficient operating and maintenance schedules.

"Predictive maintenance, real-time monitoring, data analytics and AI are disruptive for industry and changing the way we manage our assets and our behaviors around them," said Fry.

"This is a simple yet illustrative view of APM, with asset strategy management (ASM) at the top," said Fry showing a diagram outlining the role of data-driven technology in improving APM outcomes.

The role of technology in asset management

The beauty of this system of data-driven tools is that it connects information and brings order to even the most complex operating landscape. For example, in mining where assets range from heavy machinery to blast, dig and haul the resource to crushing and processing all the way to the locomotives transporting it. Once the data is connected and "talking" to each other, AI algorithms can analyze it at unprecedented speed and scale and assist human operators.

"Consolidating and structuring the data to build an ASM platform enables an operator to make really strong and smart decisions, from optimizing efficiency and costs to reducing risk or managing emissions - or any other metric they wish to improve," said Fry. "Baker Hughes has a range of technologies to support these."

Baker Hughes has more than a century of experience developing and deploying advanced technologies for the oil and gas sector where the ability to operate in demanding and often remote environments is critical. Deep understanding of the technical and commercial realities of the resource extraction industries allows the company to tailor solutions to customer needs.

As digitally enabled technologies grow in importance for industry, Baker Hughes has grouped its integrated suite of APM and process optimization solutions under the umbrella of Cordant™. As Fry explained in his presentation, many operators must navigate a tangle of disparate data, and the Cordant™ suite works to unify and integrate this valuable resource into actionable information.

The results of adding a well-designed, data-driven APM solution include improved performance from machinery, risk reduction, reduced maintenance costs, quicker strategy development and less reactive maintenance.

William Fry, presenting on the Baker Hughes booth, during IMARC, Sydney, Australia

Leaping the barriers to data-driven APM systems

As idyllic as unlocking the benefits of an AI-assisted, data-rich APM program sounds, in the real world there are of course predictable barriers to making it happen. They range from legacy systems that are in place doing an OK job, the costs of initial investment in hardware, software and training, and a workforce who may resist new technologies.

"Workforce resistance is definitely a big barrier," said Fry. "Even though IMARC is a conference all about the change coming to the mining industry, the fact is that people don't like change."

As a consultant, Fry is on hand to help customers over these hurdles to reap the rewards of digital innovation for APM. "First up, definitely start small," he said. "We can run a pilot program, prove its value, and then scale from there."

Even then, he doesn't advocate a blanket approach. "It's important to consider what assets to pilot these activities on - there is little to no point piloting an ASM on an asset that has a 100-year life. It's a static bit of gear - it's like maintaining the curbside of a road, you don't really need to do that much very often. When we're piloting an ASM we need to identify the assets where we can collect data that can be packaged up. It can then be analyzed and strategy changes implemented so that we can measure the impact over time."

Fry also counsels more carrot and less stick when bringing in these technologies and says involving the workforce is critical. "You have to invest in training and change management," he said. "If you don't train people to use these tools, processes and systems, they won't work. If you don't have a strong change management process in place and genuine consultation along the way with teams involved, it will fail every single time."

Communicating around the changes effectively needs to be across the internal team and the market, he said, so that the expectations and benefits are clear. That means information needs to continue to flow steadily rather than peter out when the ASM is up and running.

Even technology and software solutions must be brought on the APM journey. "We use hybrid systems to integrate and help manage the pace of change, rather than going all in," he explained. "We go step by step at a pace the business can tolerate. There are systems active and live within our businesses and we don't need to throw everything out straight away to make an impact."

William Fry, Baker Hughes, presenting during IMARC in Sydney, Australia

Fry closed his presentation by suggesting that the roadmap to asset maintenance excellence starts with understanding the operational context. "Know what you want or need to get out of your assets - if you don't need 100% availability, stop chasing it. Maintain it to the level you need or the business demands because absolute availability doesn't come cheap!"

In the end, he returned to people. "If you do nothing else: engage and communicate effectively with your teams around what it is that you want to achieve out of your new way of working."

Because even the greatest and latest technology is only ever as strong as the people driving it forward.

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