On-demand access to equipment data helps operators do their jobs better so they can keep the plant running smoothly.
Operators at MMWEC collected rounds using pen and paper. Without digital files, the plant manager couldn't trend historical data to better predict when something may fail in the future.
AssetSense's intuitive mobile apps make it easy for MMWEC to collect and analyze equipment data.
“I don't think you'll get better, more personal service with any other company than you'll get with AssetSense. They will help you any time of the day—or night—and ensure that your system works the way you want it to.”
The Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) is the leading provider of public power services in Massachusetts. For more than 40 years, MMWEC has provided a variety of power supply, financial, risk management, and other services to the state's consumer-owned municipal utilities.
For many years, operators at MMWEC completed rounds using pen and paper. However, these processes were inefficient and didn't give the plant manager a holistic view of MMWEC's equipment.
“I could see what happened in the past month but had no easy way to look at data that was two-ten years old,“ said Glenn Corbiere, Plant Manager, Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company. “We put our historical data into storage, and it was too much trouble for people to locate the files so we could look at trends over time.”
Glenn needed a better way to collect and analyze asset data so he could reduce the risk of failures caused by human error. Operators face a lot of stress when working with equipment, and it's easy for mistakes and downtime to occur. Just one hour of downtime on a single asset can cause plants to lose $250K or more in revenue.
“I've seen days where one operator mistake can cost $1 million,“ said Glenn.
Glenn began his search for an asset performance monitoring solution and found AssetSense. He looked into other technology providers, but AssetSense was the most responsive by far.
Here are three more reasons why Glenn chose AssetSense:
Since AssetSense runs in the cloud, it can store unlimited data. Its big data capabilities allow MMWEC's team to quickly find data about something that happened a few hours or a few years ago.
AssetSense comes with mobile apps that operators can install on their smartphones and tablets. They can use these apps to collect rounds from any location—whether they work on the floor or in the field.
Glenn appreciates how the AssetSense team went the extra hundred miles to ensure the product worked the way he wanted it to work. For example, AssetSense built a customization that allows MMWEC to back up its data to the asset performance monitoring platform. If the plant lost connectivity or something went wrong in its data center, MMWEC's compliance team could still maintain a backup of the equipment data.
MMWEC launched AssetSense in 2015. Most technologies are complex and take six - 12 months months to implement. Since AssetSense is cloud-based, MMWEC got up and running in less than a month.
During the implementation, Glenn found that the plant's basic tablets couldn't handle the large volumes of data that operators collected. So, AssetSense gave him an iPad that performed much better. The plant has since switched to iOS devices, and everything is working well.
MMWEC now uses AssetSense to monitor all its equipment, including pumps, pressure valves, flows, and bearings. Twenty people in the following teams rely on AssetSense for rounds, maintenance, and data analysis:
“AssetSense is reliable and works for us,“ said Glenn. “And our operators haven't had any complaints, which says a lot about how easy it is to use.“
AssetSense has helped MMWEC achieve the following results:
Enhance data accessibility.
AssetSense makes it easier for MMWEC operators to find data on equipment performance. In just a few clicks, they can view years' worth of historical data on every asset in the plant.
"With AssetSense, we can look at anything we want," said Glenn.
Get online quickly.
The MMWEC plant doesn't run every day. But when Glenn gets a call, he needs to start up quickly. AssetSense provides him with data that helps him get equipment online quickly within its normal parameters.
Improve operator effectiveness.
MMWEC has hired a lot of operators in recent years. AssetSense helps these employees get up to speed quickly by giving them parameters for each piece of equipment. Operators can instantly see if something is out of range so they can address problems before they turn into costly downtime.
“AssetSense gives our operators data that makes them better at their jobs,“ said Glenn. “Improved operator performance can lead to improved equipment performance.“
Discover why power plants across North America trust AssetSense to improve equipment reliability and minimize forced outages
