No measurement, no management - how to use data for 'real-time' management

With the evolution of enterprise informatization and digitization, data has gradually become the "protagonist" of enterprise management. In the past, data was just numbers displayed in reports; now, data has become a tool for enterprise production and operation management, as well as the basis for management decisions; in the future, data will become the infrastructure for intelligent production in factories.

"You don't manage if you don't measure." said Ann Moore, general manager of OSIsoft Greater China, from production management to business operations , and even all aspects of personal life are inseparable from data. "For example, a company monitors the daily temperature changes of dairy cows to summarize and predict its optimal breeding period, thereby increasing milk production. For another example, in a building In terms of temperature control, the indoor temperature can be adjusted at any time according to the temperature change outside, which can save energy and reduce consumption."

"For manufacturing enterprises, the significance of establishing a digital factory is to achieve intensive management. "Jiang Juchuan, general manager of the Information Management Department of Offshore Oil Fudao Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of CNOOC, concluded that the so-called intensive management is to maximize the utilization of resources through the information management platform, and to "intensify" operation and management.

Data is the basis for efficiency optimization

Offshore Oil Fudao Co., Ltd. is a company that uses offshore natural gas as raw material to produce urea and methanol and other products of chemical enterprises. Before establishing a digital factory, faced with the shortcomings of production management, "the operation control of production equipment depends on the operator's ability, experience and sense of responsibility. Moreover, after an alarm occurs, it can only rely on the operator's ability and experience to judge and deal with it. Production brings hidden dangers, and at the same time, it is not conducive to the optimization of energy consumption and equipment safety." Jiang Ju legend.

For a company with continuous production (24 hours) such as Offshore Oil Fudao Co., Ltd., the operation status of the device is very important, because the number of shutdowns and shutdowns directly affects production efficiency and product quality . To this end, CNOOC Fudao Co., Ltd. has established a "production intelligent diagnosis platform", which maintains the daily operation of the machine through real-time data monitoring and effectively controls controllable accidents. In the "production intelligent diagnosis platform", the basic IT construction is the collection, storage and utilization of real-time production equipment status data. There is a lot of data from the production site, such as temperature, pressure, liquid level, flow, valve position, vibration, displacement, etc. How to effectively store these huge and multi-source data and effectively connect with the upper-layer application data analysis system is very important. In the past, some real-time databases caused data "overflow" due to capacity and storage technology, and the problem of large energy consumption for data calls. Therefore, the legend of Jiang Ju: "Our requirements for the real-time database are: 1. There must be a large enough inventory capacity, and the access efficiency is relatively high; 2. The interface for connecting to the application software system must be rich, so that the collected data The data can be used and analyzed effectively.”

“Offshore Oil Fudao Co., Ltd.’s demand for the underlying database application when building a digital factory is exactly the advantages and specialties of OSIsoft PI System accumulated over the past 35 years.” Ann, general manager of OSIsoft Greater China, said, "It turns out that the underlying OT (operation technology) and IT (information technology) are isolated from each other. The PI System connects the two and completes data integration for the upper-level information system ( ERP, etc.) use.”

Using OSIsoft PI System, Offshore Oil Fudao Co., Ltd. has realized the connection of all software platforms, which can realize cross-departmental process control. For example, the previous equipment management, process management, and safety management had their own systems and databases, which were isolated from each other. The inability to share data created a blank spot in the management of equipment hidden dangers, and also directly caused various departments to shirk their responsibilities. "The PI System is like an ocean, where data from various tributaries are aggregated, and the ability to quickly and effectively retrieve data is very important for us to realize the cross-process and cross-professional flow of data." Legend of Jiang Ju.

So what are the effects of data collection, storage, and integration?

From "empiricalism" to precise management

As mentioned above, the "intelligent production diagnosis platform" is to ensure the stable operation of the device, effectively control the controllable accidents, and reduce the shutdown of the device The number of times is the main goal. With real-time monitoring data, real-time alarms and early warnings can be carried out, and tasks that cannot be observed and judged by humans can be completed. "By manual work, only when the equipment suddenly screams or vibrates greatly, it may be too late. Some improper operations will affect the equipment and production process." According to statistics, in the use of PI System After that, the number of alarms of Offshore Oil Fudao Co., Ltd. dropped by 19.8%, and the "alarm judgment rate" and "fault prompt accuracy rate" both reached 100%. At the same time, the maintenance cost and maintenance frequency of the device have also been reduced. "In the past, each set of equipment had 6-7 parking times per year, and the number of parking days was 45-50 days. Now, the number of parking times has dropped by 1/3." Jiang Ju legend.

According to the data of Offshore Oil Fudao Co., Ltd. in 2013, the qualified rate of chemical fertilizer products has been significantly improved, and the production operation stability has increased by 19.8%. According to the calculation that the production energy consumption is reduced by 1% for every 10% increase in the operation stability, the production energy consumption in 2013 is reduced by 1.98%, that is, the production cost is reduced by 17.028 million.

“ "Digital Factory" enables Offshore Oil Fudao Co., Ltd. to achieve unified management and control of resources such as electricity, water, and raw materials in all subsidiaries of the company. This is what Jiang Juchuan calls "intensive management". "Centralized and unified management helps to control the efficiency of resource use from the overall perspective of the company, so as to effectively control costs."

"PI System's long-term accumulation in petroleum, petrochemical, mining and other industries allows users to enjoy advanced foreign experience in general management in some industries, thereby helping enterprises to optimize production and increase profits." Ann said, "At the same time, PI System provides a series of Visual tools are also convenient for enterprise applications.” That is to say, even employees without an IT background can operate and manage on a unified interface.

"In the past, a group of employees dealt with one set of equipment and one product, but now they can deal with multiple products and multiple sets of equipment at the same time. For example, the dispatch center not only dispatches urea plants, but also methanol and compound fertilizers. How much of the liquid ammonia is sent to compound fertilizer production; whether the steam produced by urea can be used for methanol production, through unified management and scheduling, will bring benefits." Jiang Ju legend. In terms of inventory management, "We have two sets of urea production units, one with an output of 520,000 tons and the other with an output of 800,000 tons. If a contract of 150,000 tons is signed, and the former has only 100,000 tons of inventory, the remaining We will divide the next 50,000 tons and provide it by the device with the output of 800,000 tons. Through the digital unified platform, we can basically achieve zero inventory."

"Data is like food, and OSIsoft PI System is like a complete set of kitchen utensils, different cooks (enterprises) can use it to make different dishes.” Ann said.