The Challenge
Asset integrity management, or AIM, is a plan for verifying that equipment is designed, installed and maintained properly to ensure its safe and effective functioning over the lifespan of an industrial asset. AIM helps reduce the risk of equipment failure, ensure the safety and reliability of its operation, secure associated data, maintain regulatory compliance, and generally optimize the lifespan and performance of assets. But AIM is costly, with data showing that maintenance management typically comprises at least 40% of a business’s total operational budget. In industrial environments where combustible materials are present, such as chemical or pharmaceutical manufacturing or oil and gas operations, asset maintenance encompasses heavy machinery and myriad parts operating together in large systems, so their damage or failure is extremely costly. Shutdowns, turnarounds, and outages (STO) and even regular maintenance often require shutting down assets if technicians do not have the certified mobile devices they need to efficiently and safely perform inspections during operation. Effective and efficient maintenance management is challenging in industries with potentially combustible hazardous areas because only specially designed and certi ed mobile devices are permitted. Without the ability to manage data digitally, technicians must rely on the slower method of collecting data with pen and paper and performing analysis or scheduling maintenance at a later time outside of the hazardous area operations.
