Delivering easy asset performance management for improved business results

Author : J GALE

01 February 2011

Enhanced AMS Suite tackles the complexities of plant management

Emerson Process Management extends its asset management leadership by reducing the complexity of today’s plant environment through tools that help plant management make better business decisions. AMS Suite: Asset Performance Management (APM) now combines predictive intelligence with asset reliability information and decision support, for smarter business decisions. It adds real-time analytics and reporting that enable new levels of insight into asset performance for continuous improvement.

As plants become more complex, the role of plant management becomes more challenging. While plants have benefited significantly from predictive technologies, maintenance management systems and documentation of work processes, managers have lacked the ability to easily and immediately access the ever-increasing volume of data in ways that would enable strategies for additional improvements to reliability and overall plant performance. With the newly enhanced AMS Suite, Emerson adds a key component to the PlantWeb™ digital plant architecture, enabling plant managers to quickly access integrated information from multiple data sources, view real-time analyses and reports of asset health and availability, and devise management strategies for reaching new levels of performance.

“What our customers want to do is make fact-based decisions that impact the bottom line,” said Peter Zornio, chief strategic officer, “and they need to do this in facilities with thousands of pieces of equipment that run 24/7. That’s what these enhancements to AMS Suite enable.”

Emerson announced a unique partnership with Meridium, the global leader in asset performance management solutions, in October 2009. The AMS Suite enhancements, built on Meridium’s APM framework, streamline the identification of the most problematic assets, eliminate repetitive tasks, and highlight opportunities for new operating practices. Maintenance and reliability managers receive more integrated, real-time information to determine that maintenance budget is being spent on the most critical areas for the greatest business return. This extension to AMS Suite easily accesses the predictive information that customers are utilising today and combines this with CMMS/ERP data to deliver an integrated view. The result is that the islands of asset information from across the plant or the enterprise are integrated in a proven solution that helps them make the best decisions for improved asset performance and plant reliability.

“Emerson’s AMS Suite and predictive diagnostic technologies have provided plants with new insights into asset health, enabling them to operate more reliably and safely,” said Stuart Harris, vice president and general manager of Emerson’s Asset Optimization business. “Now, the addition of asset performance management capabilities enables our users to achieve more strategic focus, clarity, and vision. In addition to reducing the complexity faced by management, this enhancement to AMS Suite helps our users move from reactive states to proactive, strategic, and more holistic asset management.”