Given delays and cancellations of new generating capacity, pushing the existing power generation fleet is more important than ever. At ELECTRIC POWER 2009, multiple presentations explored the premise that an active knowledge management strategy — requiring a blend of digital and human elements unique to each power plant — will help you extract the most productivity from your assets.
As knowledge management (KM) becomes a discipline all its own, as did "total quality" in earlier decades, it’s easy to dismiss it as the latest management fad. At the same time, so many of the issues power plants face can be confronted with a sound KM strategy.
Managing a thinly staffed facility, retaining knowledge in the face of a more mobile workforce, integrating the myriad software and monitoring and diagnostic (M&D) and performance measurement tools into a coherent whole, and creating a healthy relationship between the plant and corporate work environments are all assisted through KM. At ELECTRIC POWER 2009, one session, and a presentation from a second session, agreed on the premise that KM offers cost-effective solutions for extracting more productivity from plants in lean times.
Digital Asset Intelligence
The first presentation, by Jason Makansi, Pearl Street Inc., and Paul Kurchina, KurMeta Inc., set the stage. Over the past few years, Pearl Street Inc. has visited several power stations, conducted surveys of plant managers, facilitated the ELECTRIC POWER Conference Plant Managers’ Forum, participated in software user forums, and interacted with plant managers at the HRSG Users’ Conference. The objective has been to progressively learn, and respond to, what plants like and don’t like about their control and automation systems, M&D software packages, and work and task management software — and to learn how they are being used, or not used. One overwhelming conclusion is that the various digital applications are still mostly "islands of automation" that are not integrated into a digital asset intelligence system or strategy (Figure 1).
1. Knowledge management building blocks. Islands of automation and analysis at the plant need to be integrated into a seamless whole. Source: Pearl Street Inc.
At the same time, there is a relentless drive from corporate headquarters toward fleetwide monitoring and enterprise resource management of plant information, and for good reasons. Cost pressures are relentless, new capacity is increasingly being put on hold, carbon is being monetized through taxes or cap-and-trade legislation, cyber-security looms as a new regulatory requirement, and staff realignments continue unabated as the pool of specialized, experienced talent continues to shrink.
To manage the digital side of the house, Kurchina and I presented highlights of the strategy contained in our 2008 executive white paper, "Brains and Brawn: Integrating Digital and Human Asset Intelligence into Comprehensive Power Plant Knowledge Management." It starts with this central idea: Digital asset intelligence (DAI) should be thought of as distinct from the physical assets. Just as the industry thinks in terms of a "boiler island" and a "turbine island," getting the most from digital technology means conceiving of a comprehensive digital asset intelligence "system." Those trained in mechanical, electrical, and chemical engineering disciplines also need to be educated and trained in the corresponding digital systems that will serve the physical plant. The reverse is true as well.
We went further and suggested that the organizational chart be reconfigured for DAI, including a chief asset intelligence officer at the executive level, asset intelligence architects at the design and engineering level, and asset intelligence specialists at the plant level (Figure 2). The DAI system that will serve a plant throughout its life needs to be designed in the aggregate as the plant is being designed. Like the physical assets, it will require maintenance, upgrade, replacement, and enhancement as the plant ages and technology changes. We believe this is the most efficient overall strategy for blending digital and human elements of knowledge management in a way that satisfies corporate objectives and resources typically available to plant staff.
2. Digital assets needing human management. Digital asset intelligence executives, managers, and specialists need to be built into the organizational structure of a generating company. Source: Pearl Street Inc.
Email
Comments
Print
Reuse
