Data on the Go: How mobile computing is evolving maintenance processes
Written by Treena Hein
These
days, it’s a whole new world for maintenance and engineering
technicians. The use of mobile computing devices — allowing workers to
take speedy, automatic readings, easily access asset histories and do
much more — is on the rise, replacing the traditional pen and clipboard.
“Mobile solutions are a fundamental change for field and plant workers,
because they provide access to the office computer, other company
personnel and the internet — but also because they revolutionize the
old world of manual data collection,” says David Berger, founding
president of the Plant Engineering & Maintenance Association of
Canada and a consultant with Western Management Consultants.
Technicians are now using mobile computing power to do things undreamed
of a decade ago: collect equipment performance data like pressure and
temperature readings or send a picture with a message to a manager or
co-worker for advice. With mobile devices, technicians can also handle
work-order details more efficiently, transfer information to their CMMS
database in real time, or search vendors’ websites and make direct
inquiries without office support.
Early challenges with mobile computing have been overcome, and the full
capabilities of hardware and software are now being realized. “The
first step involved software firms providing some version of what you
had in the office on a mobile device, but usage was clumsy,” Berger
says. “There were issues with operating systems in that sometimes you
could only view things instead of use them, you had to scroll around a
lot, and the units weren’t rugged enough.” He notes that now systems
are readable and usable on small screens, and workers have access a
large range of powerful tools, from cameras, RFID/bar-code scanners and
GPS to a scribbling function and the ability to hold a conference call.
Being connected to a company’s CMMS at all times (or most of the time
using a store-and-forward function where data is collected, stored and
sent when the device encounters a Wi-Fi or cell network) can result in
productivity improvements of anywhere from 10 to 30 percent. “New
instructions can be sent to the technician based on data the technician
has sent in or a change in priorities on that day,” notes Kris Bagadia,
president of PEAK Industrial Solutions.
Having the data collected in real time also means workers can be
alerted and respond on the spot. “An immediate reaction to a reading
that’s out of the normal range can save a significant amount of money,”
he says.
Tablets offer more
Up to this point, PDA-style handhelds have been more common than
tablets — and are still the number one way of collecting data, notes
Florian Lenders — but their limitations have put the focus on tablets.
“The small screen size of handhelds makes it hard for technicians to
see the text, especially in poor light situations, and workers are also
looking for more information access on-screen,” says Lenders, the
vice-president at Ivara Asset Performance Management Software in Burlington, Ont.
“There is a shrinking market for cheap ($500 to $600) PDA-style
handhelds with only a handful of suppliers providing ruggedized, units
at a price equal or higher than the latest tablets.” He adds, “There’s
also concern about the life expectancy of the current PDA operating
systems, as Android and other options gain ground.”
Besides, whether you use a handheld or a tablet, both hands are needed
— and while handhelds can more easily be clipped onto a belt, tablet
portability has come a long way. “They’re stored and are brought out
like a clipboard when needed,” says Scott Ball, the Canadian business
development manager for Austin, Texas-based Motion Computing. “They can also be attached to a shoulder strap during climbing.”
The greater amount of information that can be accessed with a tablet is
critical for technicians and managers. “They have the capacity to
contain CAD diagrams and full electronic versions of a manual,” he
observes.
The computing power of a tablet is also important, allowing things like
saving multiple trips to a given area of the plant or field site. “The
software supported by a tablet can analyze a given reading and
determine whether, for example, an oil sample should be taken,” Lenders
says. “And once the data is automatically transferred or downloaded
later to your company’s CMMS back at the office, the system
automatically plans the next work order, alerts the lab that an oil
analysis request is coming, and so on.”
However, Bagadia points out, “As long as you have Wi-Fi and your CMMS
system is web-connected, you don’t need additional programming for your
mobile device. You just collect it, send it, your CMMS system does the
analysis and any needed results come back.”
Tablets, beyond providing accessing to more data and providing more
computing power, also provide another advantage. “To be useful to
maintenance personnel, the more things a device can do, the better, and
tablets can do a lot,” Ball says. “Our tablets have a bar code reader,
camera, GPS, wireless capability and other things, that are now all
considered standard features.” (He notes that they are all integrated
into the device because attaching items to one another is a potential
failure point.) He adds that outdoor-screen technology, which makes it
easier to read a screen in direct sunlight, is also becoming standard.
“Most customization of mobile computing solutions for each client is therefore all about the software,” he says.
The first step is to speak to a well-established company about your
needs. “You should choose a device that meets or exceeds the software
vendor requirements for memory and accommodates the intended use,”
Bagadia says. “Managers need to consider the benefit of enough memory
to download large amounts of information to the portable device — for
example, making the entire equipment or inventory available for
technicians.” He adds that in order to help technicians with
trouble-free data capture and recording of work progress, the device
should give them the ability to choose from lists of pre-defined codes
and phrases.
Costs kept low
The best news of all is that the cost of tablets has dropped enormously
in the last 12 months. “The release of the Apple iPad has put a huge
amount of pressure on manufacturers to lower their prices,” Lenders
says. “The cost of a rugged tablet is now $1,000 to $1,500, which is 50
to 75-percent less than about a year ago.”
Bagadia says the overall price of instituting mobile computing at a
company will not be as high as one thinks. “Most people have the
misconception that if you have 50 technicians, you’ll need 50 mobile
devices,” he notes, “but depending on factors like what your
technicians are using them for and how many shifts you have, you’ll end
up needing only a percentage of that number.”
Ball says service providers generally set up a pilot test with one or
two devices where everything from applications to connectivity is
examined. (This will also give a company a good idea of how soon cost
return can be reached.) “Interference issues where the wireless signal
drops off can exist in plants,” he notes, “but wireless infrastructure
is not the barrier it used to be. Store-and-forward is there if you
need it.”
Bagadia agrees connectivity is becoming less of an issue by the day:
“Widespread wireless access is everywhere now. In the very near future,
it’ll be hard to imagine anywhere, even two floors down, where Wi-Fi
won’t reach.” However, Lenders is less optimistic. "Remember, most
industrial plants are usually in the middle of nowhere," he says. "I
have customers who still don’t have cell coverage at the plant site,
and this gap is not going to be bridged easily. The cost of industrial
Wi-Fi is very high and no one I know is pushing for it. The future is a
wired industrial world, but it's a few years away as far as I can
tell."
When asked to speculate about the future, Ball says he foresees even
lighter and more rugged devices, with more battery life. “I can see
more use of speech recognition too for some things, but ambient noise
can be an issue with that.”
Treena Hein is a freelance writer based in Pembroke, Ont.
These
days, it’s a whole new world for maintenance and engineering
technicians. The use of mobile computing devices — allowing workers to
take speedy, automatic readings, easily access asset histories and do
much more — is on the rise, replacing the traditional pen and clipboard.
