Eskom Distribution has again confirmed its confidence in the Maximo work and asset maintenance management system, supplied by the Pretoria based business solutions provider MST, by investing R8 million in a follow-up consulting contract with a MST led joint venture group.
Partnering MST in the joint venture group, are Khulisa Management Engineering, a black empowerment company, and Megkon Consulting Services. Project management and consulting staff has also been provided by the engineering company Marstec.
The latest contract is for the enhancement and further development of the Maximo solution that is focused on field work management and maintenance planning. An important part of the contract is stabilisation of the solution in all regions, which involves training on enhanced functionalities and on the job support of the some 900 users across the country.
Maximo is successfully implemented countrywide at Eskom Distribution`s seven Work Management Centres from which central management of all technical service maintenance units is facilitated.
Eskom`s acquisition of the Maximo software package and signing of the resulting implementation and consulting contracts are part of its distribution business transformation program. The latest contract was signed in July.
Eskom purchased Maximo with the following said objectives:
. To increase maintenance productivity
. To help ensure a higher quality service to Eskom customers
. To ensure longer equipment life
. To improve plant performance
Eskom`s Project Manager Manie Venter says Eskom believes it is on the verge of making these benefits tangible, as the first phase has been installed successfully and significant user buy-in has been established.
"MST and its joint venture partners have demonstrated their understanding of Eskom`s distribution business and the culture of our organisation. The approach which is followed in this project is in the spirit of a partnership with the joint venture group," he said.
Francois du Plessis, MST Services Manager who was the Contracting Project Manager of the initial development and pilot implementation project, says it is a lifetime experience to work with an enlightened and influential company such as Eskom. "The blue-print of the Distribution solution is the result of the combined brain power of Eskom employees. It is a Da Vinci type design and dream, only it is materialising in the same time frame. Within the near future Eskom will be the world benchmark for large power utilities when it comes to power distribution control and business management. MST and our partners are proud to form part of this exciting solution enabled by Maximo," Du Plessis said.
Kevin Elliott, current Contracting Project Manager, says the main project challenge is satisfying the needs of some 900 users country wide. "Eskom Distribution needed a way to simplify and integrate all its work processes while improving the efficiency with which field resources are deployed and managed. Maximo provides the means to track all work activities associated with Field Work Execution."
Elliot says since inception of the pilot in September 1998 in excess of 237 000 Eskom customer faults nationally have been processed through Maximo. The current average time to dispatch a fault is 1 hour 16 min. The aim is to bring this time down to 15 minutes by improving on the quality of customer and network data. In addition to the customer faults, over 126 800 planned maintenance workorders have been scheduled using Maximo.
Thiru Pillay, Managing Director of KME, says the new Eskom contract allows for the empowerment framework that KME participated in to mature into a mature partnership between KME and MST. "Eskom can count KME as a success story - where the empowerment objective has produced a stable and competitive Maximo implementation partner.
"As a result of the new contract KME consultants are now playing a leading role in the project and serve as role models to the industry. The relationship between Eskom, MST and KME is testimony of the success potential of meaningful empowerment in South Africa. Credit is due to all parties whose commitment and effort has produced these positive results," Pillay said.
Eskom finds itself in the company of the United Space Alliance. MAXIMO made an important contribution to the ground support role in the successful launch of the US Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999.
United Space Alliance, NASA`s prime contractor for the Space Shuttle program, implemented MAXIMO to support the Ground Support Systems` functions for work management and scheduling.
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