Below is an article from Facilitiesnet.com. Make sure you read the previous blog post: “What is the Value of Reliable Power?” and check back in tomorrow for the final installment!

How Unreliable Power Can Affect the Bottom Line

By Loren Snyder - October 2011   

     

Although it can be difficult to put a price on electrical outages, the Electric Power Research Institute estimates that U.S. economic losses due to power problems reach $100 billion per year. One way to estimate the effect of an outage is to tally the cost of sensitive computer or IT systems that might incur damage during power outages. Of course, the economic impacts of outages can be direct and indirect, including loss of production, loss of clientele, cost of recovery and loss of earnings. 

At the end of the day, deciding to increase or improve power reliability may be a response to experience.

"It becomes a question of interruption," says Mike Kirchner, technical support manager at Generac. "In other words, how much value does an organization assign to reliability? If they've had lots of outages, or lost business, then they've had some pain, and they might be willing to invest more." 

History shows that to be the case. "In many cases the decision to configure higher reliability network power comes in direct response to a major event where the existing power infrastructure was found to be less than fully adequate to meet the business needs of the user," says Rich Feldhaus, Tripp Lite UPS product manager.

Note that for new construction, many decisions about power reliability have already been partially made for facility managers by code requirements. "If an office building has elevators above 12 floors, it must have back-up power," says Bhavesh Patel, marketing director for Emerson's ASCO division. "And if nothing else [life-safety concerns] like a fire require that buildings with an electric fire pump have backup power."

How Do You Secure Reliability?

Once facility managers have established rough cost estimates on revenue loss due to outages, they should begin planning how to combat those losses and retain power reliability. As with any situation in which there are liabilities — safety, revenue loss and more — facility managers should first hypothesize outage operating scenarios and then determine critical power needs. 

One factor to examine in an analysis of risks is the practices of the local utility.

"Some utilities spend more to make sure distribution lines are reliable —trimming tree branches and such so that there aren't interruptions after a storm," Kirchner says. "But when the utility invests less on reliability, sometimes there's a greater need for reliability on a business' part." 

After assessing the impact of outages, facility managers should compare it to the cost of reliability-enhancing equipment, a cost that should include considerations — and expenses — of operating those systems. 

"Choosing the type of generation technology or application should start with a feasibility study," Cavallaro says, "and usually requires assistance from a professional engineer."

Below is an article from Facilitiesnet.com. Don't miss the next 2 related articles!

What is the Value of Reliable Power? 

By Loren Snyder - October 2011

Everyone knows mission-critical facilities have outsized power quality and reliability requirements. But our world is becoming more power hungry, increasingly digitalized and threatened by the prospect of even momentary grid failure. It's therefore sensible that facility managers examine lessons learned from mission-critical facility planners when addressing power reliability for other parts of the organization.

Even for facilities without mission-critical status, loss of power has serious ramifications, particularly at a time when brand loyalty among consumers is eroding. When power reliability problems cause customers to go elsewhere, a teporary outage can cause a permanent shift in clienteles' purchasing decisions. 

Increasingly, all kinds of organizations are requiring what Mark Cavallaro, principal of Current Solutions, calls "premium power" — a combination of power quality and reliability. 

"In an era of both increasing power outages and rising demand for premium power, many businesses may install [back-up] units to protect against the risk and cost of power outages," he says. 

The bottom line, in the case of power reliability, is that facility managers have to measure both the direct and indirect costs of outages. By assessing the effects of an outage, planning for additional reliability, and then making the case with an organization's executives, facility managers can minimize revenue loss. 

What Are the Ramifications?

Facility managers often have a difficult time quantifying the value of power reliability — and for good reason. The extent of problems incurred by outages depends on business requirements and organizational mission.

"I think that higher reliability in non-mission-critical facilities is driven mostly by a desire to ensure profitability and provide quality services in a very tough market," says Mark Hoskins, electrical engineering manager at Cogdell Spencer Erdman. "Of course it depends upon the nature of the business and the operations within the facility, but the facility manager must address and analyze the impacts of reliability as it relates to safety, information systems and business results."

Irrespective of an organization's choice for backup power, the value of having a backup system should be estimated. To that end, the Environmental Protection Agency's Combined Heat and Power initiative offers an approach to estimate the value of reliability. Power outages or service interruptions can impose direct costs on customers in many ways:

• Damaged equipment (think of the effects that surges, swells, spikes and sudden outages can have on sensitive equipment).
• Spoiled or off-spec product (think of any institution or business that has to freeze or refrigerate food, insulin or other temperature-sensitive products).
• Loss of computerized documents, artwork and other intellectual property.
• Extra maintenance costs.
• Cost for replacement or repair of failed components.
• Loss of revenue due to downtime that cannot be made up.
• Costs for idle labor.
• Liability for safety/health.

According to EPA, some customers can determine the direct costs of outages by reviewing recent outage history and estimating an annualized cost of outages to their operations. One approach is to quantify the direct cost impacts of momentary outages (less than 10 seconds) on either a dollars-per-incident or dollars-per-minute basis. Estimates of typical annual values for the number of momentary outages and total time of extended outages can be determined by reviewing utility bills or facility records. 

Estimating is Tricky

Experience shows that developing cost estimates can be difficult. "In some cases a cost analysis can be accomplished," Hoskins says. "In others, it may be a bit subjective and require input from business owners and building occupants to properly address. Additional reliability costs must be weighed against potential losses due to power unreliability."

Backup Systems Require Vigilance

Let's say Katrina scared your organization into purchasing backup power supplies. Or the 2003 blackout in the Northeastern United States convinced executives to take a closer look at power reliability.

They did the right thing: They invested in a backup system. 

Facility managers can't simply rest assured a diesel generator will fire up when the lights go out. Or that a UPS system is ready to go at a moment's notice. Like all other mechanical things, backup power systems require vigilance and regular maintenance to operate on demand and at peak potential. 

Even though code requires testing of backup power systems, not every organization abides by code. And between testing cycles, the batteries that provide uninterrupted power until the generator starts, can die. 

Recent code changes also require some organizations to keep enough fuel on hand to run a genset for 72 hours. For an organization like a hospital, that can be an enormous amount of fuel. But filling the generator tanks isn't enough, warns Bhavesh Patel, marketing director for Emerson's ASCO division. Without additives, fuel degrades to the point of being unusable, which requires draining the tanks and refilling them with fresh fuel. 

Despite the hardships of backup system maintenance, guaranteeing power reliability is about maintaining an organization's mission profile, ensuring life-safety, and promising profitability, even when the rest of the neighborhood goes dark.

What is SaaS?

Below is a nice article explaining a SaaS system and its benefits. Read up and then be sure to check out our webcast featuring our SaaS system, MaintiMizer.com™!  

Cloudy with a 100% Chance of Enhanced Operational Efficiency

By Jonathan Hakim

A Brief Introduction to Cloud Computing
Software as a Service (SaaS), also commonly referred to as “cloud computing” or “on-demand services,” is sweeping through enterprises in just about every industry.

With SaaS, a customer licenses an application for use as a service on demand, either through a time subscription or a “pay-as-you-go” model, rather than purchase the hardware and software to run a standalone application on their own.

In a SaaS model, customers need only a computer or a server to download the application and Internet access to run the software.  While there is a considerable amount of hype around on-demand services, there are some very real advantages plants can leverage to enhance operational efficiencies, improve reliability and drive ROI up from their predictive maintenance and condition monitoring programs.
The catalyst behind increasing interest in on-demand services in manufacturing is plants’ requirements for services that deliver reliable information and analysis, accessible anywhere in the world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  SaaS technology enables this “always on” business culture and removes the responsibility of implementing and maintaining IT infrastructure, which require hardware investments, software licensing and support costs.  Rather than spending time managing an IT network, plant managers are free to take on critical projects that will help them reach their reliability and uptime goals.
 
The Cloud is Accessible to Everyone
One of the primary benefits of cloud computing is that only minimal PC and technical components are necessary because cloud computing resources remain on the remote data center site.  In many cases, the web services deliver content to a thin client machine via a web browser.  The client computer resource requirements are low, needing only a decent Internet connection to the data center and basic Windows components such as a Remote Desktop client and a modern web browser.

The first question many manufacturing companies have when it comes to adopting a new technology like SaaS is whether it will require major up-front capital investments.  Oftentimes, even if the application or operating systems themselves aren’t expensive, plants will need to prepare their current infrastructure for the new product’s integration, which can lead to unforeseen costs.  SaaS, however, is not one of those technologies.

Look Beyond Cost-Savings to Business Benefits from the Cloud
Though SaaS has considerable cost benefits, plants that rely on the cloud solely for that reason are selling the technology short.  The first, and most important, reason plants should evaluate SaaS for their IT infrastructure is because it enables managers and employees to better share the results of their maintenance and reliability efforts.  Rather than sharing information amongst a small group in the engineering department, general machine condition health information can be accessed by all stakeholders in the enterprise or local plant.  This way, the condition monitoring program does not operate in a bubble and is accessible to personnel from operations, management, maintenance and engineering who are then in a position to make informed decisions that affect plant production and outage planning.  This sharing of information can ensure that the plant runs smoothly, and managers outside of the condition monitoring program always have the most current machine condition information.

For example, Air Liquide offers industrial gases and related services to a variety of customers including those in large industry, industrial manufacturing, electronics and healthcare marketplaces.  With over 100 industrial locations in the U.S., Air Liquide benefits from cloud computing to integrate its plants with Azima DLI machine condition analysts via Azima DLI’s WATCHMAN Reliability Portal.  Rather than collect data from individual field engineers and compile it into reports, information is uploaded to the cloud where the information can be accessed and acted upon by both Air Liquide and Azima DLI expert analysts.
Remote access greatly enhances condition monitoring data analysis practices.  Cost-cutting and lean manufacturing have led to a more distributed workforce including many remote employees. In this scenario, SaaS can have great benefits because isolated employees need only an Internet connection to perform a review or analyze work.  For instance, ordinarily a technician would collect machinery health information on a data collector and download information at the end of the day to a terminal where it would then be stored for analysis.  In a cloud computing environment, the worker can upload the information using a wireless network so remote engineers can review the data in near real-time, as well as store and retrieve data history and reports.  This gives them the ability to accurately assess the situation on the ground rather than having to re-deploy a technician to fix a problem after they have come back from the field.

Tackling Fear of the Cloud
Fear of cloud computing has been widely publicized within the media.  In fact, according to the ISACA IT Risk/Reward Barometer survey, nearly half of the 1,809 US IT professionals surveyed said that the potential risks associated with cloud computing outweigh its benefits and that 25 percent of respondents do not plan to use the cloud for any IT services.  This data is misleading because SaaS is a relatively new technology for the manufacturing industry, and the benefits and risks have not been clearly defined as of yet.  The technology is maturing, but is still in its relative infancy and many companies are currently evaluating the technology to see how it fits within their IT infrastructure.  Many of the claims made against SaaS are groundless and rooted in a fear of the unknown.  With the right education and partner, a plant can easily become more comfortable about the safety, security and reliability of its data in the cloud.

The key to alleviating cloud fears is to evaluate the potential SaaS partner’s network and security model and see how well it maps to the plant’s infrastructure.  The customer’s IT department should be directly involved in these discussions from the start.  They are truly the experts and have a specific set of criteria for their own enterprise network.  Here is a quick list of questions you should be asking that are helpful in appraising a cloud vendor’s security model:

• Do you clearly understand how the cloud computing offering works from the SaaS vendor?
• Does the vendor meet the IT security model of your plant?
• Does your plant have the delegated ability to control access to their system?
• Will your plant have clear lines of communication with the vendor for sales and technical support needs?  Does the vendor have a structured change management and patch management process?
• Can I obtain a copy of my data if I need to?

Flexible Cloud Deployment Models
An under-reported benefit to deploying cloud computing within your IT infrastructure is the flexibility it offers. While many companies wring their hands when thinking about sharing their sensitive information with a third party, SaaS technology has matured to the point where manufacturing organizations can put as much, or as little, data in the cloud as they are comfortable with at any one time.

ACME Industrial Services is an integrated plant reliability maintenance company that uses the cloud to centralize all of its field engineers, who are stationed all over the world.  ACME’s central facility in Hyderabad, India is fully integrated with the field engineers by using a predictive maintenance SaaS solution hosted by Azima DLI on the other side of the globe in Tukwila, Washington.  At the central facility, engineers provide machine condition analysis support and the results are published within the cloud.  Customers can then view detailed condition information for their machines within their local plants, rather than relying on spreadsheets delivered by email or other analog channels.  In this example, the cloud provides an infrastructure that allows an Indian services company to streamline its workflow and better serve its clients from a central location.

An Australian premium provider of bearings, Continental Bearing Company (CBC), also leverages the cloud in a customer-facing application. CBC utilizes the cloud to connect their customers and field services technicians to analysts located throughout the United States.  The analysis is executed on servers in the cloud allowing the results to be published instantly via Azima DLI’s WATCHMAN Reliability Portal.  This value added is branded with CBC’s logo so the service is transparent to the Australian industrial market and helps establish CBC as a one-stop shop for Australia’s bearings market.

Admittedly, cloud computing is still at nascent stages of adoption for predictive maintenance and condition monitoring initiatives, so we strongly recommend “doing your homework” along with implementing a thorough evaluation of a potential SaaS partner. Customer support, uptime and security protocols should be at the forefront of your discussions when evaluating vendors, especially if this is your first foray into the cloud. A good SaaS partner is critical as it will be the key in helping your plant achieve the performance and budget goals that will catch the eye of senior management and keep your predictive maintenance and condition monitoring programs running smoothly.

This article was originally published on CMMScity.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's the time to sit back and think about what you're thankful for. The time to be giving to those you love and to complete strangers. While the sentiments of gratitude and generosity are beautiful, the sad reality is that most Americans have high anxiety around the holidays and miss the meaning of the season. This year, remember to take a moment and breathe! If we all came to our Thanksgiving dinners with positive attitudes, this years Thanksgiving could be the best one yet! Arrive on time, lend a hand, be on your best behavior, and set aside your differences. Make an effort to be kind and to change the dynamics of your "dysfunctional" family dinner, who knows you may even see a change for the better! Thanksgiving is a time to reconnect with family and friends, it is not a chore. 

From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Here: The Continuous Improvement Webcast!

Now through Sunday, November 13, 2011 you can watch our webcast presentation featuring our Continuous Improvement Curriculum.

The Continuous Improvement Curriculum program was developed by and for MaintiMizer™ users. The courses are designed to help utilize MaintiMizer™ to its fullest extent. Sit back for 10 minutes and let us show you what CIC can do!

Click Here to Watch the Webcast!