General Electric (GE) has unveiled a real-time operational intelligence (RtIO) app that analyses operations, detects and predicts faults and communicates to technicians using mobile devices and applications.
"The app will send the right information at the time to the right person in the right place. That person will get only the information he needs, not a huge dump of confusing data," says Daniel Coetzee, head of GE Intelligent Platforms in SA.
According to Coetzee, the way things used to work is that information was centralised in the control room at a power station or manufacturing plant. He explains that the operator there would pick up that there's a fault on a machine, and communicate via walkie-talkie to all technicians to see who is nearest. The technician would walk or drive to the machine, investigate the problem and report to the control room on the actions required.
"Now RtOI will communicate directly with the nearest technician; it knows via GPS where they are - and will tell them what is wrong and what needs to be done. In addition, it will detect and report faults that are going to happen, sometimes weeks in advance of what would have been a catastrophic failure, allowing technicians the time to deal with the issue."
RtOI runs on all modern smartphones and tablets, whether they are running Apple or Android operating systems.
Coetzee says the app puts operational intelligence in the palm of the user's hand, at any time of day or night. "It's changing the way people interact with plant and process systems, and how they drive solutions for the problems that arise. It makes operating people more efficient."
He notes that in addition, a technician can walk through a plant and RtOI will update as he goes, providing information on machines in his vicinity. Managers can monitor plant performance from their offices or homes, they don't need to phone to ask what's happening.
Behind this operational and predictive analytics is a GE computing system running patented software.
"The analytics use an extensive data base of statistical information and what has happened previously. This allows us to predict what will happen next, days and sometimes weeks in advance. It's an additional layer of optimisation.
"This technology is ideal for today's young technicians and engineers who are computer literate and have grown up with smartphones and mobile apps. They have been asking why they can't do things differently, now with RtOI they can do exactly that. We give them real-time information on their phone or tablet," Coetzee says.
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