The Future of Preventative Maintenance Is Waiting
Imagine a world where you’d be alerted that your car or HVAC unit was about to break down before it does. For oil and gas companies, that possibility is already a reality for their equipment, and it can be found in cutting-edge digital solutions that manage equipment performance data and analyze it in real time.
Despite these capabilities, GlobalData reported in 2022 that the industry has long been affected by the uncertainty of cost-benefit, cybersecurity, and labor shortages, leading most oil and gas companies to hesitate when considering modernizing their processes and systems. The ever-growing trend of reliance on digital processes and systems, however, made it unavoidable for the oil and gas industry to prioritize cybersecurity and a digital-first approach. Supply shortages and heightened pricing also cause notable ripples around the globe, so there’s an added responsibility to stay consistent and effective.
Digital Oilfield Solutions Offer Agility and Reliability
Digitalization of oil fields – or “digital oilfields” – has been pushed to the forefront of industry leaders’ minds. Digital oilfields are the next stage for the oil and gas industry, which needs not just a bright outlook, but the agility to respond to any sudden challenges and stay reliable in a volatile market. At the same time, it is expensive and complex to build and maintain these facilities, so the best systems should be in place to ensure the infrastructure keeps working like a well-oiled machine.
Digital solutions like advanced equipment management can assist in not only efficient and stable operations but offer a significant return-on-investment due to this improved efficiency and reliability. One essential part of this agility is to closely monitor equipment, immediately deploy maintenance and repair in the event of an issue and prevent future issues through predictive tools.
Where Physical Equipment and the Cloud Collide
These solutions are at the cutting edge, offering tools for everything from data management to performance tracking. For example, oil and gas companies can track their production lines according to the best process for them, whether they want to manage equipment in groups or individual parts. Setting and tracking KPIs using meters and sensors allows companies to compile and assess quantitative data such as the amount of fuel used, time passed, miles driven, and more. By having around-the-clock access to comprehensive real-time data reports and projections, employees can respond immediately to issues and even prevent issues from occurring.
These solutions additionally have the ability to connect field workers to all this data by hosting everything on the cloud. Maintenance crews working in the oilfield can easily access and update data through these solutions using their devices. Even if they’re offline or have poor connections, they can utilize these tools by downloading and viewing any reports they require. These capabilities allow them to pinpoint problems and fix them as soon as they arise so that downtime is drastically reduced.
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Perficient was recently recognized for its capabilities in the oil and gas industry, both in the US and in the UK. Learn how you can take advantage of our digital oilfield expertise to reduce downtime and ensure reliability.
