Building Operational Efficiency Through Smart Energy and Asset management in Modern Infrastructure
Introduction
The rise of smart energy and asset management has made it more critical than ever for organizations to have better operational visibility into how their facility's systems interact with each other and perform as a whole. With modern facilities now tasked with monitoring multiple energy systems, many distributed assets, and all of their operating processes in a very complex environment, the need for one integrated operational framework to provide stability and efficiency as well as support long-term operational performance is absolutely necessary.
While traditionally, organizations have operated their systems one at a time and separately, there is a move toward an integrated operational model that connects energy monitoring and equipment performance with infrastructure data via a centralized management structure. This change allows for operational teams to move from a reactive maintenance model to a proactive model of managing their infrastructure and operational activities.
The Growing Complexity of Modern Infrastructure
Modern facilities manage a variety of operational aspects at the same time, such as electrical systems, how well equipment runs, building automation technologies, and distributed infrastructure assets. Often, these facilities do not have a coordinated operational structure; as a result, organizations are limited in their ability to rapidly respond to operational inefficiencies and anomalies due to fragmented monitoring processes.
What typically exists in infrastructure environments today?
- Distributed energy consumption systems
- Building automation and monitoring technologies
- Equipment performance tracking tools
- Asset lifecycle management platforms
- Data aggregation and dashboarding tools for monitoring
When these systems work independently from one another, there is limited operational insight. Therefore, implementing Smart Energy and Asset Management frameworks enables organizations to link these systems into one cohesive operational environment where they can evaluate energy consumption, equipment health, and facility performance.
Improved Performance Management Over Multiple Locations
For large and distributed infrastructures, operational visibility is important for performance management. If an organization has many locations within its operation, it should have the ability to view performance metrics through a central operational interface for the multiple facilities of the organization.
Organizations using Visualize Operations consolidated view of energy, equipment performance, and facility usage data will increase their ability to make informed decisions about the efficiency of their infrastructure and provide their infrastructure teams with the ability to identify operational inefficiencies more quickly.
As an organization evaluates an infrastructure plan through the use of Perennial Intellect, they're typically going to see that having improved operational visibility results in having better resource allocation and coordination between their technical teams.
Key Operational Capabilities Enabled by Integrated Systems
By utilizing an integrated infrastructure framework, companies can achieve the following operational capabilities to enhance their monitoring efficiency and asset management performance (improved asset utilization and reliability):
- Real-time energy consumption monitoring for all company facilities.
- Central cradle-to-grave tracking of asset performance and reliability.
- Consistent monitoring of operational processes.
- Advance scheduling of maintenance activities based on operational parameters.
- Comprehensive reports for infrastructure supervision.
Additionally, the capabilities listed above, with the assistance of Smart Energy and Asset Management Systems, enable firms to transition from fragmented monitoring methods to coordinated Operational Intelligence monitoring practices. Numerous infrastructure reviews conducted by Perennial Intellect have continuously demonstrated the operational benefits from using coordinated monitoring of the infrastructure and facilities.
Supporting Operational Stability in Critical Infrastructure
The operations of critical infrastructure facilities depend on continuous system operation, and therefore infrastructure management is extremely important. Hospitals, production plants, distribution centers,
and other mission-critical operational locations rely heavily on their ability to monitor infrastructure performance to ensure that their operations continue without interruption.
Integrative monitoring systems provide organizations with the tools they need to identify when equipment is not operating as it should, monitor energy usage/consumption, and respond quickly and effectively to any deviations from normal operational standards. By integrating different types of monitoring systems, businesses will reduce the probability that an operational disruption occurs and will increase their ability to provide reliable infrastructure services.
The operational research analytical frameworks presented by Perennial Intellect illustrate the importance of an integrated approach to monitoring infrastructures to support resiliency in the type of environments where interruptions in service provision can have dire consequences.
The Move from Monitoring to Operational Intelligence
Traditional infrastructure monitoring systems have been about gathering operational data, not providing analytical insight into what that data means. Newer operational frameworks now provide monitoring functions, paired with an analytic engine that turns the raw data you have into actionable intelligence.
Combine analytic tools and centralized monitoring dashboards to help organizations track the trends of their operations, identify inefficiencies, and coordinate their maintenance programs more effectively. As a result, infrastructure teams will be able to take a more proactive approach to managing their operations.
In most of the infrastructure strategy literature published by Perennial Intellect, it usually states that organizations using structured monitoring intelligence will typically have improved infrastructure efficiency and a better long-term understanding of their operations.
Infrastructure Management Frameworks for Growth
A key aspect of an organization’s modern infrastructure management is having a way to expand to new jobs and environmental conditions and adapt accordingly.
- Expand on their monitoring capabilities due to new build locations
- Integrate new infrastructure technology upgrades
- Continue centralized compliance monitoring
- Maintain consistencies with operational policies across build locations
Organizations are able to create an infrastructure management structure by utilizing smart energy management and asset management frameworks and developing systems capable of adapting to new demands.
The emergence of many research projects from Perennial Intellect regarding operational infrastructures has shown a clear link between scalable infrastructure management frameworks and operational disruptions associated with continuous system growth.
Conclusion
Operational efficiency within modern infrastructure ecosystems requires the ability to provide centralized energy monitoring, asset performance monitoring, and infrastructure analytics within a single unified system. Integrated infrastructures will allow for organizations to maintain consistent operational visibility while also improving the efficiency of the use of assets and the reliability of their infrastructure. As organizations continue to grow and manage complex infrastructure networks, an integrated operational framework will be critical to ensuring stability, resilience, and long-term viability, and for those that are looking for additional research and operational guidance to develop better insight into integrated infrastructures, they may want to learn more from Perennial Intellect.
