Four ways Ultimo Operations Suite Makes Better Collaboration Possible

Successful interdepartmental collaboration is essential for success in industrial businesses. Failure to communicate properly can have very severe consequences. The Cullen Report, for example, identified inadequate information transfer during shift handovers as one of the contributing factors to the Piper Alpha disaster. 

In the oil industry, one company found that while startup, shutdown, and changeover periods make up less than 5 percent of operations staff time, they account for 40 percent of plant incidents1. In fact, nearly half of all incidents or accidents in the process industry are linked to communication errors during shift handover. 

By simplifying knowledge-sharing between different departments, it is possible to help plant operators, maintenance teams, process owners, and safety and reliability teams enhance the way they collaborate, manage risks and control costs. Well-maintained assets are critical to a smooth operation. In our Trends Report, most of the asset managers surveyed ranked uptime, efficiency, and cost control as their most important key performance indicators (KPIs). 

The Operations Suite is part of the Ultimo enterprise asset management (EAM) platform, and it is designed to bridge the gap between production and maintenance, with dedicated modules for shift handover, autonomous maintenance and downtime analysis. 

Here are four ways it optimizes collaboration:

1. Shift Handover: The digital events log

The Ultimo shift handover module is a digital logbook for recording vital information about the assets and facility. It is not limited to the exchange between shifts and teams; it can also be used to record instructions for the next shift or highlight issues that need to be raised with the technical or safety departments. Shift handover is integrated within other Ultimo modules such as work order management and health, safety and environment (HSE) processes. The integration ensures that all information relating to the assets is available companywide and that actions and incidents are well documented. 

2. Autonomous maintenance

Autonomous maintenance capabilities enable the management of shared responsibilities, integrate operations and maintenance teams, while simplifying compliance with industry and government regulations. Production-, maintenance- and process managers alike will enjoy ease of use higher job satisfaction. 

3. Actions and observations made easy

Ultimo provides a quick and easy way to record actions and observations, including checklists, visual instructions, and related documentation in support of compliance requirements. The autonomous maintenance module enables reporting that supports the operational and strategic aspects of the business, including when duties are carried out—and if not, why. 

4. Cost control and analytics to reduce downtime

With Ultimo, downtime is recorded, clearly displayed, and analyzed using an optional integration with Power BI. Plant operators understand why failures occur, the actions taken before and after an incident, an overview of costs incurred, and how the operation was restored. 

The planning of maintenance activities is simplified, which leads to a reduction in production losses. Similar to shift handover and autonomous maintenance, downtime analysis is integrated within all modules in the Operations Suite. 

Not only is Ultimo’s EAM platform scalable, quick, and easy to implement, but data is accessible on any laptop or mobile device. The Ultimo Operations Suite helps eliminate the data silos and communication gaps between departments, empowering everyone involved in the operation. 

To learn more about collaboration and the Ultimo Operations Suite, read the full whitepaper here.