Module 1: Operator consultation prior to the procurement of industrial equipment and the construction of buildings

The operation of industrial plants (Industrial Maintenance) and buildings (Technical Facility Management) is, in the best case, already taken into account before procurement. Here, significant disadvantages can be avoided by setting clear specifications. Disadvantages that in some cases can no longer be changed later, or only with great effort and considerable cost. These include  
  • Missing or inadequate availability concepts and contracts with appropriate bonus/penalty regulations.
  • Manufacturer dependencies, e.g. lack of access to data for condition-based monitoring as a basis for predictive maintenance and lifetime prediction of important components and equipment  
  • Insufficient quality levels for electrical installation, EMC, IT/OT
  • Lack of redundancies for important components
  • Insufficient service offerings (full service, partial service, 24/7 hotline)
  • Insufficient spare parts packages and delivery commitments
  • Unnecessary system diversity (e.g. SCADA, HMI, fieldbus systems, lubrication systems)
  • Limited connectivity to systems such as SCADA/BMS and CMMS/CAFM system
  • Inadequate emergency stop concepts with disadvantages for plant availability
  • Insufficient documentation requirements
Don't miss the entry into digitalisation and Industry 4.0 to make maintenance and retrofit/revision/modernisation (RRM) as plannable as possible through condition-based monitoring (CBM). In the course of this, system architecture considerations are necessary that create the basis for CBM and whereby important information can be generated from data.

Example of a possible system architecture

Algorithms/AI can be used to obtain important predictions for maintenance from available data. Solutions from different providers can be used for this purpose.
A simulation and a digital twin should also be considered - possibly a good basis for optimising later operation. The main goals to be achieved by the future operation should already be defined now and what effort is justifiable to achieve the goals. What to look for in the specifications in each case is a first focus of consultation.