Unlocking Workforce Potential: Revolutionizing the Energy Transition with GE Vernova's APM Suite

Over the last few years, we believe that “Digital” has become synonymous with the “Energy Transition”, where organizations are looking to meet demand in a reliable, agile, and efficient manner.  While ongoing digital transformation initiatives continue to take center stage across asset-intensive industrial environments, we anticipate that success will continue to be heavily dependent on one key factor – the “workforce.”. A primary organizational challenge is workforce engagement post implementation of any digital tool: Do they buy into the vision and business need? Is the tool breaking down barriers between the office and the field ? Are they able to accurately capture and collate data? Does the data help them with their daily jobs? The list of key considerations goes on.

In a recent webinar conducted with Hart Energy, GE Vernova’s Vipin Nair and Neha Joshi shared the stage with Hans Kauffmann from Bayer AG (a long-standing APM user who recently transitioned to the cloud) to discuss this topic and showcase how GE Vernova’s APM suite is designed to help  unlock your workforce potential.

Whether you are an inspector, operator, or technician in an industrial environment, most organizations follow a standard workflow of four activities – data collection, documentation & integration, analysis, and taking action – to ensure assets are reliable and safe. However, several issues in the current setup could have a cascading effect across the workflow. These include:

• Time taken to collect and document data
• Quality of the data
• Reliance on historical paper-based processes
• Storage of data in multiple databases
• Action management at the right time

Such concerns can result in higher O&M costs and increased asset downtime and will further derail the digital transformation journey of the organization.  Additionally, the ageing workforce coupled with need to document and share knowledge will be a continued challenge and focal point for end users going forward.

Organizations should set a strong digital foundation that is flexible and can adapt to changing organizational requirements. The solution: GE Vernova’s APM suite, an interoperable and composable platform for energy users that includes APM Strategy, APM Health, APM Reliability, APM Integrity, and APM Safety that can be deployed separately or as an integrated enterprise solution. These applications are designed to support specific functions/departments, such as inspection, reliability, or maintenance, and are essential to run the site efficiently. Furthermore, users can access information from one or more applications on a single user interface to help integrate insights and streamline processes. From a workforce standpoint, learning from mature sites and having one standard will help reduce adoption time and pave the way for expansion to the enterprise. The ability to scale software efficiently, whether at a function, site, or enterprise level is paramount with the changing workforce and digital transformation objectives.

Below are some useful links to learn more about GE’ Vernova’s APM suite and key applications:

Demo Hub: Balance Reliability, Profitability & Sustainability with Asset Performance Management (APM)
Enterprise Whitepaper: Enterprise-Ready Asset Performance Management Software (APM)

Help Boost Workforce Effectiveness with Mobility, Contextual Visualizations, and Computer Vision/AI

To help users enhance workforce performance and safety in the plant, GE Vernova has also added several capabilities to its APM suite – specifically around mobility, contextual visualizations and computer vision/AI. Designed to solve workforce related challenges such as data collection, operational visibility, and timely insights, here is a quick overview of the solutions currently offered:

• Integrity Mobile: An add-on capability to GE Vernova’s Mechanical Integrity Application, this mobile application helps inspectors to digitize and streamline the process of data collection in the field. With Integrity Mobile, users can centrally view all inspections details, complete inspection reports, capture and annotate images, view scope of work and create recommendations both in online and off-line modes. Key benefits: Quicker data collection (less clicks), ability to access critical information onsite, and improved safety in hazardous environments

• 2D & 3D Visualizations: Better data representation and situational awareness is a growing trend for the industrial workforce. GE Vernova now supports both 2D and 3D visualization capabilities in APM to meet this need. Use cases include the thickness monitoring module in the Mechanical Integrity application, where users can visualize in 2D critical information such as minimum thickness, last inspection date and more. Similarly, APM attributes such as health, risk, and corrosion can also be dynamically displayed on a 3D model (partnership with Visionaize) to improve decision making. Key benefits: Risk reduction, faster incident resolution, and improved worker safety

Autonomous Inspection: The emergence of AI is yet another key enabler to workforce productivity. For organizations who are looking for smarter asset inspection techniques, GE Vernova has launched its latest offering: Autonomous Inspection. Autonomous Inspection is a cloud-based image analytics application that utilizes cameras in the facility in conjunction with AI/ML models to automate processes and improve decision making. Seamless integration with APM applications (Integrity, Reliability) has paved the way for GE Vernova to support high value cases such as gauge reading, thermal profiling, corrosion detection, and panel monitoring to name a few. Key benefits: Quicker detection and response and improved worker productivity and safety.

Asset-intensive organizations need to ensure that their workforce is front and center of any planned digital transformation initiative to ensure maximum value realization. Additionally, managing the industrial workforce with the onset of such initiatives requires a phased approach. A starting point – adoption of a modular digital foundation, such as GE Vernova’s APM suite, that can offer both standalone as well as integrated applications for a multitude of functions and sites and can seamlessly scale to the enterprise level. Subsequently, the consideration of new technologies such as  mobility, contextual visualizations, and computer vision/AI based on specific functional needs can further enhance workforce productivity and safety. And finally, enforcing standards is critical to process repeatability and the future success of the programs.

The full webinar is available below for on-demand viewing.