Asset Intelligence Whitepaper

assetDNAAsset intelligence technology

WHITEPAPER

Asset intelligence: What it is and why it is critical now

Prepared by Infotech Marketing & Communications Pty Ltd on behalf of Relegen Pty Ltd.

Contents

1. Executive summary ................................................................................. 3

2. Why is asset intelligence critical now? ................................................... 3

3. The asset data gap: Our biggest challenge ............................................ 4

4. Trusted asset data: The risks and rewards ............................................. 5

5. The holy grail: A single source of truth ................................................... 5

6. What is an asset? Challenging traditional assumptions ........................ 6

7. The importance of global unique identification for every ‘thing’............. 6

8. Keeping tabs on your assets for real-time, real-world insights ............... 7

9. Using mobile apps to improve asset data quality, and profitability ........ 8

10. Business applications .............................................................................. 8

11. Implementation guidance: Conducting a pilot ...................................... 11

12. The future of asset intelligence: Could it be crowdsourced? ............... 11

13. Relegen’s asset intelligence solution: assetDNA ................................. 12

14. Key takeaways ....................................................................................... 14

15. Taking the next step .............................................................................. 15

16. About Relegen Pty Ltd .......................................................................... 15

17. References ............................................................................................ 16

© 2013 Relegen Pty Ltd [email protected] www.relegen.com | www.assetDNA.com +61 (0)2 9998 9000

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1. Executive summaryToday’s organisations face a complex set of challenges. Continuing market fluctuations are keeping capital and operational budgets tight while the pace of business accelerates. So they have to be more productive and get more out of their assets, at lower cost. Those that do not, risk losing their competitive advantage or becoming targets for takeovers by those that do.

To meet these challenges, organisations must gain deeper insights into their operations so they can make faster, more informed decisions. To do this they require what is called ‘asset intelligence’ – a complete, accurate and true picture of their current business capabilities.

This white paper explores the concept of asset intelligence and offers insights into how new technology applications can help organisations improve the quality of data in corporate information systems and:

Create a single, trustworthy point of truth for asset intelligence to enable better, faster decision making

Know with certainty what things they have, where they are, who has them, when something’s due, how they’re operating, where they’ve been, where they’re going

Empower corporate information with real-time, real-world insights from the field through the integration of smart asset identification systems, new signals and sensor technologies and mobile web-based applications

Deliver the right amount and type of information to users in the context of their roles and workflows for making more informed decisions, at all levels of the organisation

Enable organisations to broaden their definition of ‘what an asset is’ to be any ‘thing’ that is important to their business and to provide an easy ability to manage these things uniquely

Give greater, enterprise-wide asset visibility that can be used to prevent unplanned business interruptions and promote optimisation of resources on a global scale

Introduce new capabilities for reducing risk and efficiently meeting regulatory, safety, environmental and other required compliance across the enterprise

Transform the management of assets to make them more productive and less costly to maintain

By using this new-found asset intelligence, organisational leaders can not only meet today’s challenges head-on but also significantly improve enterprise-wide productivity, lower costs, reduce risk, improve safety and security – overall, maximise return on assets and secure competitive advantage.

2. Why is asset intelligence critical now?The complexity and interdependency of today’s global business environment means organisations must do more than simply maintain or manage assets. Regulators want enterprise-wide compliance, stakeholders want company-wide cost base savings and bigger profits, customers want high-quality products delivered world-wide on time, staff want better, safer working conditions and communities demand corporate social responsibility.

Today the need has never been greater to transform asset data into actionable insights that feed into enterprise-wide decision-making processes beyond engineering, maintenance or production so enterprises can maximise the productivity of resources and drive sustainable growth. The development of a new International Standard for Asset Management called ISO 55000 reinforces the view that there is significant potential to improve performance with better enterprise-wide asset management.

Source: Aberdeen “Asset Management: Using Analytics to Drive Predictive Maintenance March 2013”

Let’s take the example of a mining enterprise operating heavy duty haulage truck fleets at multiple mine sites. While exactly the same vehicle may be in operation at each location, it is likely that the processes to maintain and

In today’s globally competitive economy, organisations must do more than simply maintain or manage assets — Paul Bennett, Managing Director, Relegen Pty Ltd


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manage these assets will vary from site to site. Assuming some differences in operating environments, these different management practices will almost always result in variations in the performance of these vehicles.

In such scenarios, organisations are challenged to gather the intelligence needed for enterprise-level decisions that drive asset optimisation and maximise returns across the business in a timely way. And yet, this is where the significant gains can be made. Similarly, it is difficult to demonstrate a consistent approach to maintenance, production, safety and security as organisations strive to meet increasingly complex compliance and regulatory mandates.

What is clear from this example is that without enterprise-wide asset intelligence, organisations not only expose themselves to greater risk, but more importantly, they will not be able to fully exploit the underlying value that is otherwise locked away in their capabilities.

These conclusions are also supported in a recent report by technology research and advisory company, TechNavio, whose analysts have forecasted the Global Enterprise Asset Management Applications market will grow at a CAGR of 6.45 over the period 2011-2015. One of the key factors contributing to this growth is the demand for a single platform to improve enterprise-wide asset performance

visibility and real-time information management. However, the report also cites that the lack of internal cross-functional collaboration will be a challenge for this market and one that must be overcome.1

3. The asset data gap: Our biggest challengeWhilst organisations have always collected information about their assets, the ability to glean actionable intelligence, easily and in a timely manner, continues to elude most. In the past, business units created their own systems for tracking asset data to meet their specific needs, contributing in a large way to data that is inconsistent and incomplete. More recently, organisations have invested heavily in enterprise asset management [EAM] and enterprise resource planning [ERP] systems to address the spread of data and to centralise disparate functions. Further complications arise from the increasing volume of external data coming into organisations, so much so that it may be difficult to know where to begin to look for insights. All of this has culminated in a complicated and disparate view of assets at the enterprise level. Despite the abundance of data in these systems, there is still a lack of knowledge or intelligence, about the assets recorded at all points of their lifecycle, in the real-world and in real-time.

Relegen has helped the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service achieve enterprise-wide visibility and real-time tracking of approximately 6,000 weapons and personal defence equipment that are geographically-dispersed among 37 land-based and 11 vessel armouries around Australia.

The solutionAs part of the implementation, every asset was tagged with HF RFID global unique assetDNA IDs which serves to unify all the information that exists about the asset, with the real-world asset. Authorised officers now use the assetDNA mobile app with a built-in RFID reader to verify the issue and receipt of assets to officers [asset check in check out], manage transfers between locations and conduct physical asset audits.

The benefitsDelivering benefits beyond tracking weapons and personal defence equipment, assetDNA enables the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service to better protect the safety of its officers, improve security around the issue and receipt of armoury and improve staff productivity. Security features ensure assets are issued and received by officers with appropriate training and authority and data-driven audit trails provide accurate records of who received what and when. The solution’s lifecycle management capabilities track individual assets as they move through defined business processes and flag items that are due for inspection, maintenance and replacement. Administration staff also spends less time completing audits and compiling reports for Customs and Border Protection’s Central Office, enabling the Central Office to swiftly make critical decisions based on the latest information at hand. For more detailed information about this asset intelligence deployment, you can read the extended article on www.assetDNA.com

Case study Real-time armoury inventory tracking at the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service


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Just because we are collecting data doesn’t mean insight and action will follow. In its recently released 5th Annual Digital IQ Survey, consulting firm PwC found that while 62% of respondents said that data insights can give them a competitive advantage, 58% said that moving from data to insight is a major challenge.2

One of the fundamental reasons why it is difficult to make a direct connection between an organisation’s assets and the true value they represent is because the asset and its data continue to operate in dis-connected worlds. Organisations must first work to bridge the gap – the gap between data and assets, fiction and fact, between corporate strategy and operational reality. Better asset knowledge management or ‘asset intelligence’ as we call it, is the missing link.

4. Trusted asset data: The risks and rewardsTrusted asset data is crucial to good decision making. Without confidence in the integrity of asset data, decision making is compromised and organisations expose themselves to significant risk. For some, this can result in breaches of safety, security and compliance and for others, it will mean lost product and untapped opportunity. Ultimately, when asset data is problematic, profits can be lost, M&A processes hindered and shareholder value eroded.

Recent reports from analyst organisation Aberdeen Group confirm Relegen’s view that most organisations feel the pain of poor data and see a direct correlation between it and the quality of their business decisions.

In one Aberdeen survey, 70% of organisations expressed their dissatisfaction with the accuracy of their business decisions. In another, 42% responded that an alarming number of business decisions are based on inaccurate and incomplete data. Others voiced concerns about the vast amount of data that remains inaccessible, underutilised and stored in separate information silos so it is not possible to develop a clear picture – all while operational budgets shrink and the pace of business accelerates.3

Robert S. Distefano & Stephen J. Thomas also argue a compelling business case around the costs of poor asset information and impact on shareholder value in their book ‘Asset Data Integrity is Serious Business’.4

There is, however, a more interesting angle to this scenario.

As highlighted in the Aberdeen’s report ‘Asset Management: Using Analytics to Drive Predictive Maintenance’, even with reduced operational budgets, companies can significantly improve performance with a data-driven approach to asset management. Best-in-class organisations were shown to have a 31% reduction in maintenance costs [contrasting with 0% reduction in poorer performers], only 1.7% in unscheduled asset downtime [as against 14.8%], 91% overall equipment effectiveness [compared to 73%] and they outperform in return-on-asset expectations by 20% [as against minus 11%].5

Source: Aberdeen “Asset Management: Using Analytics to Drive Predictive Maintenance March 2013”

Clearly the risks and rewards are significant.

5. The holy-grail: A single source of truthThe challenge facing most organisations is to link asset data from different data silos in the enterprise into a single source of truth – and one that is anchored to the points of interest that provide the business capabilities of the organisation – their real-world assets.

The last thing organisations want or need, however, is another database to manage and maintain. Rather, what is needed is a way for organisations to preserve their current investments and improve the integrity of their corporate data without having to ‘rip out and retry’.


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This lends itself to the bringing together of asset data in a single unified view, where data is integrated, rather than replicated and where redundant attributes can be hidden or eliminated and new, real-world, real-time insights can be incorporated.

By connecting the dots between data and assets, organisations can create one version of the truth that reflects the real world in real-time. This single source of truth becomes the basis for smarter decision making, risk reduction and performance improvement. This is what is we call asset intelligence.

6. What is an asset? Challenging traditional assumptionsAssets are the things that make your organisation unique. They are the capabilities that set your organisation apart from others and create superior value for your customers. They are not the exclusive domain of accounting, maintenance or engineering. They are your competitive advantage.

In the light of this, it is Relegen’s view that organisations should be rethinking their answer to the question ‘What is an asset?’ Indeed it could be any ‘thing’ that is important to you and your business. In some situations the assets of an organisation may appear to be obvious. A rail network has rolling stock, tracks and major infrastructure. But that’s not all. Sometimes, the smallest and least visible of assets, such as a simple switch, can make a significant difference to product delivery and customer service.

Often what organisations prioritise as assets are those items on a balance sheet. But in most organisations this is not the case. At its most basic, the British Standards Institution’s Publicly Available Standard for the management of physical assets [PAS 55] defines an asset as plant, machinery, property, buildings, vehicles and other items that have a distinct value to your organisation. In the broadest sense, however, an asset is any ‘thing’ that is important to your business. It’s a unique point of interest that delivers a business capability.

If you accept that an asset is a capability of a business, then any list of potential assets is diverse. In addition to the obvious plant, equipment, infrastructure, parts and supplies, you must also consider people, systems, processes, environment, documents, customers, evidence, natural resources and more. In a series of papers related to the topic of ‘Asset intelligence’, the world’s largest IT consulting firm, Deloitte, also re-defines an asset as ‘any signal from anything from anywhere that is important to you-the user’.6

What is more, assets are not static. They have lifecycles, operate in workflows and therefore have relationships with other assets, can be recycled and re-purposed and they have a history. They also have rotatable components, which have unique properties and lifecycles of their own.

Quite often, the challenge of managing the vast amounts of data associated with these unique and changing attributes overwhelms traditional asset management software systems. However, the development of new asset intelligence platforms and smart asset identification systems are crucial steps in ensuring assets, their components, histories, relationships and their lifecycles, are better managed across the enterprise in support of the overall goals of the business.

7. The importance of global unique identification for every ‘thing’Today’s multi-channel, multi-national, global supply-chain and multi-party order-to-delivery processes mean organisations of all types need to have greater visibility into their ‘things’, whatever and wherever they might be. Whilst this visibility will mean different things to different businesses, there is a fundamental principle that is common to all – and it must begin with the unique identification of each and every asset that is deemed important to an organisation.

An identifier that is unambiguous and globally unique enables organisations to identify an item and associate information with it, through a unique serial number that stays with it and on it, through its life. It means data integrity

An asset is any ‘thing’ that is important to your business. They are your business capabilities. They are your competitive edge — Paul Bennett, Managing Director, Relegen Pty Ltd


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is assured throughout the asset lifecycle from cradle-through-recycle-to-grave. It is the enabler for best practice asset knowledge management – or as we call it, asset intelligence.

Then, with an incisive view of assets, relationships, events and processes, organisations can stop making guesstimates and start making informed decisions based on accurate information about actual real-world conditions that drive competitive advantage.

For example, different manufacturers of spare parts who share a common customer may each use the same number or alphanumeric combination to describe items that are completely different in form and function. Even within the same organisation the lack of unique item identification works against enterprise-wide asset optimisation. Multiply this across a multi-faceted global supply chain and the problems are compounded.

RFID tracking systems are often presented as solutions to this challenge. While they are an important piece of the puzzle, they are just one component of a much greater system. Rather, it is asset intelligence technology which works to bring it all together to deliver a full and robust solution. Asset intelligence identifies assets, items and components with certainty, using global unique asset identification, directly associating them with the information that is held about them across the enterprise via a central registry. Asset intelligence then enables new real-world insights to be captured in real-time and over time. Finally, asset intelligence enables all these ‘truths’ to be easily shared with all those who need to understand and act on it.

8. Keeping tabs on your assets for real-time, real-world insightsAsset identification and tagging technologies play an important role in the asset intelligence ecosystem because they help bridge the gap between data in corporate information systems and real-world assets in the field. They can be affixed to virtually any ‘thing’ so relevant information can be accessed on-the-spot and new operational data can be collected, simply by scanning the tag with a hand-held device such as a PDA or smartphone. They help deliver high quality asset data to corporate information systems and enable those systems to better understand what is happening in the real-world. This visibility can further be translated into actionable asset intelligence – closing the loop between information systems and the real world, enabling smarter business decisions, faster than ever before.

In the past decade much has changed in the technology of asset tags. Innovation has fuelled new applications and deepened the penetration of existing ones. More and smaller things are being tracked, more cheaply than ever before, even by consumers using their smartphones. The barcode has gone 2D, increasing the amount of data contained within the code and applications for RFID in business are increasing as the cost-benefit equation improves. RFID has even been identified as key to the coming ‘Internet of Everything’ – the connecting of people, process, data and things.

There is now an abundance of these and other tags on the market – big, small, active, passive, LF, UHF, long-range, tags for reading on metal, ruggedised tags, waterproof, fireproof, shockproof, disposable, tamper-proof and tags that can be built into manufacturing processes. What is more interesting, however, is that the tags themselves are becoming smarter. Technology now exists so that tags are able to sense, monitor and initiate changes in response to their environment without the need for human intervention.

However, the RFID revolution is really only still in its early days and most of the potential for value creation is yet to be realised. Part of the reason for the slow uptake is that understanding and evaluating tagging and sensor suitability poses a significant challenge because of the myriad of available technologies, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Notwithstanding the need to justify the ROI of business process improvement, organisations also need to consider things like frequency, standards compliance,


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memory, form factor, interference issues and affixation, all of which may be a foreign language to most executives.

Thus what we see today is many RFID implementations being used to simply identify assets and track their location –offering no more real advantages than using lower-cost barcodes with unique IDs – rather than thinking about how to take greater advantage to improve business processes. This viewpoint is reinforced by Bill Hardgrave, founder of the University of Arkansas’ RFID Research Center. When addressing RFID adoption issues in the RFID Journal, he says many organisations, retailers in particular, are making a common mistake by substituting RFID for bar-code technology and keeping the same manual processes in place. But, he said, automating processes to reduce mistakes and improve efficiencies is just the first step. To truly benefit from RFID, we must move beyond incremental improvements and use the technology to introduce innovations for gaining and sustaining competitive advantage.7

9. Using mobile apps to improve asset data quality, and profitabilityAccepting the proposition that asset intelligence is the single point of truth that can be trusted for better decision-making, then a critical source of this intelligence will need to come from mobile enterprise asset management technologies. According to the Aberdeen Group’s research into the manufacturing sector, industry leading organisations are 2.5 times more likely to integrate mobile technology with enterprise asset management.8

The most obvious benefit from mobile EAM implementations are increases in the productivity of field operations and avoidance of the risks of manual asset data captured by humans that may be subject to error. Equipping operators with hand-held devices eliminates time-consuming, paper-based work orders and enables employees to locate assets, collect data, conduct audits and undertake inspections more efficiently. RFIDs or barcodes can be affixed to virtually any ‘thing’ so relevant asset

information is accessible on-the-spot, simply by scanning the asset tags. The flow-on effects are real-time visibility of asset conditions, better operational decision-making and improvements in asset integrity management.

Mobile applications can also improve worker safety by enforcing ‘Take 5’ and other risk assessment systems into workflows. What is more, there will always be an electronic record of these activities, making it easy to demonstrate regulatory compliance.

Beyond these mostly-local benefits however, is the potential for much greater gains.

With the advent of cloud-based architectures and the proliferation of mobile devices, there is the potential to accelerate the capture of real-world asset data, not only by field workforces, but by any mobile device and deliver this information to enterprise applications. This approach permits those with the appropriate permission – employees, partners, suppliers, service providers or even customers – to collect, share and use asset data, anywhere, anytime. And, as these people access enriched asset data and continue to contribute to it, the value of enterprise asset information or asset intelligence as we call it, grows significantly over time, as does the quality of decision-making.

10. Business applicationsInnovative thinking exemplifies the applications by which a diverse range of organisations are using asset intelligence to gain a competitive advantage. So what types of organisations are profiting from asset intelligence? How are they using it?

An excellent example of the use of smart asset IDs to enhance a product or service and demonstrate the time and cost savings of using mobile data capture is an application jointly developed by Boeing and Fujitsu for the inspection of emergency equipment on commercial aircraft. Boeing says airline operators can reduce operating costs, reduce inspection time, eliminate labour-intensive maintenance and

provide on-the-spot access to maintenance histories with the airline industry’s first comprehensive RFID technology for commercial airplanes. For example, with this new

Source: www.boeing.com


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system, the inspection of oxygen generators for Boeing’s 777 aircraft has been slashed from 6.5 hours to just 15 minutes, a reduction of 90%. It has also contributed to a 75% reduction in oxygen generator inventory and extended the asset lifecycle by 20%. You can easily imagine how, with this example, asset intelligence becomes even more compelling when applied across fleets and multi-site operations.9

But innovative asset intelligence solutions are not only being embraced by technology companies. A French wine producer of premium quality Bordeaux wines is using RFID to prove the authenticity of each bottle to customers and gain visibility into its own supply chain.10

In neighbouring Italy, Milan’s Malpensa Airport has installed 50,000 tags to equipment and issued its staff with RFID-enabled smartphones to increase efficiencies in repair and cleaning operations.11

By using RFID the UK’s Addenbrooke Hospital has nearly doubled its asset usage rates, thereby reducing the need for excess rentals and purchases, as well as slashing the time employees previously spent searching for missing items.12

RFID technology in the US plant of heating and ventilation manufacturer Carrier has helped reduce shipping errors by

80-90% and increased productivity by 33%. Despite its use of the latest in lean manufacturing techniques, the company says it was essential to use RFID to achieve these benefits.13

Government bodies are using asset intelligence systems to help them manage and maintain a diverse range of assets including properties, emergency equipment, signs and traffic lights. The technology tracks the service and maintenance performed on each asset, replacing time-consuming and error-prone pen and paper techniques.14

Case study Automated asset management inspection system

A NSW Hunter Valley mining company has installed Relegen’s solution to improve inspection routines for all assets along a 4.5 kilometre over-land conveyor at its raw coal processing facility. Trucks deliver raw coal from the mine area to the processing facility where it undergoes multi-stage processing and sampling. The site will leverage assetDNA to standardise important inspection routines along this line. These inspections must be undertaken at least once every shift to ensure the plant operates at full capacity, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The solutionAs part of the implementation, every asset was tagged with Relegen’s combination HF RFID-barcode assetDNA ID incorporating a globally unique identifier which serves to link the asset to all the information that exists about it such as inspection histories and workflows. Employees will use a ruggedised hand-held PDA with a built-in HF RFID reader to identify, inspect and verify the operation of every asset at the raw coal processing facility. The assetDNA mobile app will prompt staff with standardised inspection routines, automate the capture of accurate field data and provide visual guides for maintenance in the form of digital photos. Productivity will also be enhanced with the ability to log defects, update status and close jobs in the company’s Pulse maintenance system on-the-spot without leaving the assetDNA application.

The benefitsTransparency of real-time operations will greatly improve by providing management with a holistic view of the current and historical condition of all the assets operating at the facility. And, because the system documents every action, there will be a full audit trail of every inspection conducted, what action was taken and what remains outstanding. Financial benefits will come from accurate tracking and reporting of person-hours for both routine inspections and ad-hoc tasks. This will aid planning and forecasting and ensure maintenance costs are accurately allocated against the appropriate cost centres. Furthermore, the new system has incorporated the company’s ‘Take 5’ risk assessment tool into the assetDNA mobile application and provides an electronic record of assessment for meeting compliance. This also means that it is possible that the future inspection routines cannot even be started without this important personal OH&S analysis being performed.


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Case study Issue and maintenance of mission-critical safety equipment

When a Kalgoorlie nickel smelter and concentrator went in search for a new automated system to keep track of its inventory of mission-critical respirator equipment for staff and contractors it turned to Relegen. This operation is a fully integrated nickel business comprising mines, concentrators, a smelter and a refinery. The proper functioning and use of personal protective equipment [PPE] is one of the most important issues confronting this site. Each month nearly

AU$ 1million in PPE is on issue to staff and contractors. The risk of misplacing or losing these assets is a significant cost to the business and ill-fitting or problematic equipment can present a serious risk to health and safety.

The solutionNow, with assetDNA, every item of PPE and every user has a unique identifier so that assets can be directly associated with the person to whom it has been issued. The system also keeps track of training and certification, ensuring the issue of equipment is always to those that have been trained in how to use it. Furthermore, it tracks critical servicing information and flags when the users next routine fit-test is due.

The benefitsUsing Relegen’s solution, respirator service technicians can access all information about the [10,000+] assets in their respirator centre via an easy-to-use touch screen. Whether this relates to calibration, certification, physical location, issuance, usage history, cost, inventory levels, or maintenance scheduling, every asset is managed with relevant and accurate information from this single, central location. There are also significant financial benefits arising from the new system. Full asset life-cycle tracking enables better reporting on depreciation, budgeting and forecasting and aids the planning of PPE requirements for intensive usage periods. Furthermore, all costs associated with the issuance and maintenance of PPE can be accurately tracked and allocated against the correct cost centres.

For more information about additional asset intelligence applications and other success stories, please contact Relegen on +61 (0)2 9998 9000 or [email protected]

The remote structural health monitoring of aging infrastructure, such as bridges, is another sector reaping the benefits of this technology. To detect surface cracks in concrete and other construction materials, sensors must be pervasively deployed. In the past such deployment has been costly. Now, ultra high frequency RFID tags operate as sensors so that their antennae are capable of detecting cracks. Detection of a crack severs the antenna of a tag, manifesting in a drop in the strength of the signal with which the tag responds to a reader.15

Meanwhile, scientists in both the UK and Australia are said to be abuzz about data collected with RFID from bees. An international group of scientists have collaborated on a project at Black Mountain in Canberra where tiny passive RFID tags, each with a unique identifier, were glued to the bees’ backs so scientists could study their homing behavior.16

Similar technology was also used by the UK’s Queen Mary University where scientists were hoping to find new ways to choose efficient routes for data to travel over a network, as well as to determine the effect of habitat degradation on bee numbers in Europe.17


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11. Implementation guidance: Conduct a pilotAfter an organisation has examined its business case for asset intelligence and evaluated technology options, Relegen recommends deploying a pilot program. Unlike consultant-intensive feasibility studies or costly implementation programs, a pilot project is a way to observe a real-world application with significantly lower cost and risk and increased return on investment. This allows stakeholders and specialists to learn from the experience and refine the requirements for a larger-scale deployment.

When approaching an asset intelligence pilot project it is important to consider the following:

Start by asking the right questions: For example, what assets are important to you and to your business? Where are they? What is their history? How do they relate to other assets? Do you already have known data about them? Or, is the data you need new?

Engage the experts, especially when it comes to integrating asset IDs, sensors, signals and mobile applications.

Never underestimate the importance of educating your workforce about asset intelligence so that the organisation can think collectively about where the technology might be further deployed for greater business benefits.

Always look to replicate the success across similar processes, across the entire enterprise.

12. The future of asset intelligence Could it be crowdsourced?Consulting firm Deloitte proposes that asset intelligence will be a key enabler in helping organisations transform their business from reactive to predictive and in many cases, to fully automated. In the future, signals from sensors will actually initiate and terminate business transactions.18

In ‘Signal strength The rise of asset intelligence: Moving analytics from reactive to predictive-and beyond’ Deloitte says: “Beyond a new way of producing signals and managing transactions, asset intelligence is also an

opportunity to use information to drive smarter action and reduce process or service latency associated with human decision-making.”

So in this sense, organisations should have asset intelligence technology uses and applications on their innovation radar, now. They should be considering how it can improve existing processes as well as how it can help them increase market share by creating new processes and product offerings that tie into this new wave of data collection and mobile distribution.

There is also another development that Relegen says organisations should consider.

It foresees significant advances in the improvement of asset data and in turn the management of assets, as a result of crowd-sourced data. This is the process by which organisations engage and leverage the dispersed knowledge of individuals – the crowd – through web-based information systems.

This capability can equip organisations with real-time and real-world intelligence, previously unavailable to them, thus greatly enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of decision making for both operators and executives. This would have been unthinkable only a few years ago.

While it is early days, innovative organisations are tapping into the information gathered by multiple individuals to solve seemingly insurmountable problems in lightning fast and cost-effective ways.

Take maritime transportation productivity and safety for example. It might surprise most of us that the 40,000+ kilometres of the US coastal and inland waterways have


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never been completely surveyed, meaning that maps are incomplete or out of date. So, there is limited data as to where hazards might cause transport interruptions or serious accidents. In 2008 alone there were 322 recreational vessel groundings, resulting in 13 deaths, 241 injuries and US$3.4 million in property damage. However a new system known as ARGUS [Autonomous Remote Global Underwater Surveillance] is being trialled whereby crowd-sourced data can be collected by any ship, at all times and shared with all maritime operations for better decision-making.19

In another example of crowdsourced asset intelligence, researchers in the Netherlands are encouraging the public to register the location of life-saving automated external defibrillators (see http://www.aed4.en/) via the mobile web, so that anyone [including non-medical personnel] can quickly locate an AED during a cardiac arrest emergency

using a smart phone app. Researchers knew there were approximately 20,000 AEDs throughout the Netherlands yet there was no central register. Now the location of more than 12,000 AED devices in the Netherlands have been registered and the initiative is going global.20

In Australia, the National Library [NLA] has been using crowdsourcing to improve the quality of its digital assets held in Trove by encouraging the public to correct the electronically translated text of its digital newspaper collection, thereby improving the full-text search capability for all site visitors. Since August 2008 more than 100,000,000 newspaper lines have been corrected saving an estimated AU$12 million that would have been required if the NLA had to employ staff to do this project.21


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13. Relegen’s asset intelligence solution: assetDNA®

Developed by asset management specialists in mission-critical environments, assetDNA helps organisations significantly improve their approach to enterprise asset management. It does so by bridging the gap between information in corporate systems and assets in-the-field – between strategy and operational reality – transforming data silos into actionable information and a single point of truth to support better decision making.

assetDNA is a fully-integrated solution which includes easy-to-use software, ready-to-run mobile applications, smart asset IDs [barcode, HF & UHF RFID, direct part marking, covert security identifiers] and Relegen professional services. It’s easy to integrate with corporate information systems – EAM, ERP and CMMS – as well as with tablets, touch-screens, SCADA and GPS systems. Implementation can be as simple as the out-of-the-box assetDNA Pilot Kit or a fully-customised system finely tuned to business needs.

The solution is at the forefront of asset intelligence technology. Its development is driven by practising engineers; its open architecture is built on the latest .NET technology. It takes advantage of the latest developments in asset tagging technologies and its asset-centric approach enables organisations to re-define what they have traditionally regarded as an asset to be anything that is important to their business – and all at a much more granular level than ever before. In doing so it supports the delivery of the intelligence that is needed to make faster, smarter decisions, improve operations, mitigate risks and drive business performance of assets in ways that far outpace traditional approaches to asset management.

Globally unique assetDNA IDs

Relegen is a leader in asset identification and tagging, its deep expertise gained delivering asset intelligence technology and services to the Defence, mining, manufacturing, and law enforcement sectors for more than a decade.

Relegen sources and supplies a wide range

of asset tagging and identification systems

including HF & UHF RFIDs, covert security

identifiers, as well as having in-house

capabilities for direct part marking, barcode

label printing and engraving, integrated barcode-

RFID tags, and a patented, multi-layered system

that combines RFID, barcode and microdots

into a single smart solution.

Learn more at www.assetDNA.com or contact Relegen on +61 (0)2 9998 9000 or via [email protected]


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14. Key takeaways Today’s organisations are facing a new range of challenges: rising operating costs, increasing regulations and volatile markets. In such environments organisations must focus on operational excellence and productivity, across the enterprise. They must work to intimately understand what capabilities [assets] they have and use this knowledge to drive performance. And yet, despite investment in corporate information systems, enterprise asset management remains a key challenge. While there is an abundance of data in disparate systems, there is lack of integrity, compromising strategic decision-making and exposing organisations to significant risk.

To address this challenge, organisations must look to asset intelligence technology which integrates enterprise asset data silos with real-time insights from the field. Organisations can then use this new-found asset intelligence to significantly reduce the time between information, decision and action to drive innovation in asset utilisation, business processes, productivity and profitability across the enterprise – a quantum change from traditional approaches to asset management.

Innovative organisations are using asset intelligence to improve productivity and operational efficiencies, enhance asset knowledge management, improve asset integrity and asset lifecycle management, and drive business performance.

They are recognising and embracing the principles of effective asset intelligence including:

Endorsing that quality asset data is predicated on global and unique asset identifiers

Defining their assets uniquely so they can be associated with all the information stored about them across the organisation

Gathering new signal and sensor input data for a full 360

degree view of corporate assets.

Linking data from sensors, mobile devices, SCADA and other inputs to EAM and ERP systems

Ensuring that all knowledge and histories about the asset are kept with the asset and not buried in data silos or lost with retiring employees

Realising that mobile data capture applications must be integrated with corporate information systems if those applications are to achieve their potential and contribute to the ongoing improvement of corporate data.

Deploying asset intelligence systems to enhance products and services and support occupational health and safety objectives

Using asset intelligence technology to help meet compliance and regulatory mandates by providing a foundation for trusted information

Moving decision-making towards real-time so operators can identify problems before business interruptions occur

What do these initiatives mean in terms of benefits?

Simply put, a fast growing body of research shows that having asset intelligence will positively impact the profitability and competitiveness of an organisation

Through well executed asset intelligence systems enterprises will achieve better, more timely decision-making because corporate asset data is integrated with real-time insights for a complete and enterprise-wide view and delivered to users in the context of their workflows

The value proposition is clear, not just for asset-intensive industries, but for all organisations both large and small – better decisions and superior performance is enabled through real-world, enterprise-wide asset intelligence.


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15. Taking the next stepTalk to experts at Relegen to learn more about assetDNA and explore the many ways asset intelligence technology can be put to work for your organisation.

Relegen Professional Services can help organisations develop a road map for building capabilities for asset intelligence. Our staff can also help with:

Asset intelligence technology evaluation and implementation

Asset identification and tagging [barcodes, HF & UHF RFIDs, microdots and direct part marking]

Asset auditing, inspection and certification

Asset intelligence consulting and advice

Asset lifecycle management

Asset management consulting

Business process development and review

Improving asset data integrity

Mobile data capture/mobile EAM

Physical asset audits

RFID asset tracking systems

For more than a decade, Relegen has been involved in asset intelligence technology projects for Defence, government, mining, manufacturing and industry, at a strategic consulting level as well as in project implementation, management and operation. Our experienced Professional Services team will bring this asset intelligence expertise to your business.

16. About Relegen Pty LtdRelegen has a proven track record of supplying people and technology to the Australian Defence Force since 2001. Today, its professional, technical and engineering expertise is also employed in asset intensive industries including mining, government, utilities and more. Relegen is an accredited major service provider on the Defence Materiel Organisation Support Services Panel, ISO 9001 certified and a preferred supplier to top tier firms. The company has built a solid reputation for delivering professional services and innovative technology solutions to meet some of the toughest engineering challenges across defence and mining. It was recently included in Rio Tinto’s ‘Top Ten Supplier Recognition Program’ two years in a row. For more information, please visit www.relegen.com and www.assetDNA.com

+61 (0)2 9998 9000

[email protected]

www.assetDNA.com | www.relegen.com


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17. References1. TechNavio. (2012, October 01). Global Enterprise Asset Management Applications Market 2011-2015. Retrieved from http://

www.technavio.com: http://www.technavio.com/report/global-enterprise-asset-management-applications-market-2011-2015

2. PWC. (2013). PwC’s 5th Annual Digital IQ Survey. Retrieved from www.pwc.com: http://www.pwc.com.edgekey.net/ca/en/technology-consulting/technology-advisory/digital-iq.jhtml

3. Aberdeen Group. (2013, April 05) Analytics Trends 2013: The IT Perspective. Retrieved from http://www.aberdeen.com: http://aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/8426/AI-it-analytics-trends.aspx

4. Distefano, Robert S. & Thomas, Stephen J. (2011). Asset Data Integrity is Serious Business. New York: Industrial Press Inc.

5. Aberdeen Group. (2013, March 19) Asset Management: Using Analytics to Drive Predictive Maintenance. Retrieved from http://www.aberdeen.com: http://aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/7937/RA-enterprise-asset-management.aspx

6. Deloitte. (2010) The rise of asset intelligence: moving analytics from reactive to predictive and beyond. Retrieved from http://www.deloitte.com/: http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_bh/bh/insights/b746fb3bc77ad210VgnVCM3000001c56f00aRCRD.htm

7. Hardgrave, Bill (2013, April, 28) Don’t just automate – Innovate! RFID can do much more than speed up existing processes. Retrieved from http://www.rfidjournal.com: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?10633

8. Aberdeen Group. (2013, March 01) Mobility Making Waves in Manufacturing. Retrieved from http://www.aberdeen.com: http://www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/8386/AI-mobility-collaboration-manufacturing.aspx

9. Boeing (2011, May 17) Using RFID frequency to inspect planes. Retrieved from http://www.boeing.com: http://www.boeing.com/Features/2011/05/bca_radio_frequency_05_17_11.html

10. Swedberg, Claire (2013, July 17) Chateau Le Pin Uses NFC to Ensure Its Wine’s Authenticity. Retrieved from http://www. rfidjournal.com: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?10834

11. Swedberg, Claire (2013, June 19) RFID Helps Milano Malpensa Airport to Complete Maintenance Work On Time. Retrieved from http://www.rfidjournal.com: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?10781

12. Swedberg, Claire (2013, June 02) RFID Boosts Medical Equipment Usage at U.K. Hospital. Retrieved from http://www. rfidjournal.com: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?10916

13. Roberti, Mark (2013, June 19) Carrier Takes Manufacturing to a Higher Level. Retrieved from http://www.rfidjournal.com: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?10718/

14. Swedberg, Claire (2013, August 14) RFID-based Solution Offers Municipalities a Low-Cost Solution for Tracking City Assets. Retrieved from http://www.rfidjournal.com: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?10912

15. Bhattacharyya,Rahul, Kalansuriya,Prasanna and Sarma, Sanjay (2103, August 04) Monitoring Aging Infrastructure. Retrieved from http://www.rfidjournal.com: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?10867

16. Swedberg, Claire (2011, August 14) RFID Helps Scientists Study Honeybees’ Homing Behavior. Retrieved from http://www. rfidjournal.com: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?8466/

17. Heath, Nick (2008, February 28) Scientists track bees with RFID. Retrieved from http://www.zdnet.com: http://www.zdnet. com/scientists-track-bees-with-rfid-3040151281/

18. Deloitte. (2010) The rise of asset intelligence: moving analytics from reactive to predictive and beyond. Retrieved from http://www.deloitte.com/: http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_bh/bh/insights/ b746fb3bc77ad210VgnVCM3000001c56f00aRCRD.htm

19. SURVICE Engineering Company. ARGUS [Autonomous Remote Global Underwater Surveillance]. Retrieved from http:// argus.survice.com/

20. The AED4.eu project. Retrieved from http://www.aed4.eu

21. Hagon, Paul. (2013, February, 12) Trove Crowdsourcing behaviour. Retrieved from http://www.nla.gov.au: http://www. information-online.com.au/pdf/Tuesday_Concurrent_2_1125_Hagon.pdf

© 2013 Relegen Pty Ltd. Relegen and assetDNA are registered trademarks of Relegen Pty Ltd. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

This publication contains the opinions of Relegen Pty Ltd only and has been written in general terms and therefore cannot be relied on to cover specification situations. Application of the opinions in this material will depend on the particular business circumstances involved and we recommend that organisations obtain professional advice before acting or refraining from acting on any of the contents in this publication. Relegen Pty Ltd accepts no duty of care or

liability for any loss as a result of any opinions in this publication.

CONTACT US

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Documents

Asset Intelligence Whitepaper