Enterprise integration: Putting asset management on the map
-- Manufacturing Business Technology, 8/25/2008
Enterprise applications vendor IFS and geographical information systems (GIS) specialist ESRI will combine capabilities to reduce costs in asset management and enhance customer service in utilities companies.Utilities, telecom, and oil & gas companies have vast networks of widely distributed assets, including transmission and distribution lines, substations, pipelines, and buried cables spreading across large numbers of locations and miles. Keeping these well-maintained and delivering top-quality customer services is vital. Safety with respect to assets, the public, and personnel must be maintained, and availability demands are extremely high. Ease of access to maintenance history, asset specifications, drawings, maps, and other documentation enables utility managers and technicians to do a better job—faster and at a lower cost.
By bringing together GIS and enterprise asset management, users can visualize all aspects of their business operations, such as electricity grids. This ability to navigate from maps to the IFS Applications suite and vice versa resolves operational and customer issues faster and more cost-effectively.
Geographical context also makes it easier to understand the challenges faced by field-service teams. This ability translates to better decision-making concerning personnel and equipment deployment, thereby ensuring companies get assets back online faster.
“After several years of collaboration on a number of specific projects, we have now formalized our working relationship with IFS,” says Mitchell D. Garnett, an ESRI manager for Utility Solutions. “We view IFS as a premier solution provider for asset-intensive industries. We now look to expand the work we are doing with IFS and deliver greater value to our joint customers.”
One such customer is Statnett, which owns and operates the main Norwegian power grid and the Norwegian section of power lines and subsea cables to other countries.
“Statnett integrated ESRI and IFS Applications some years ago,” says Einar Mørk, Statnett maintenance department director said. “We have seen reductions in manpower and materials costs, improvements in customer-service levels and asset performance, and better environmental stewardship.”
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