Arguably no part of maintenance and asset management has changed more in recent years than the field of condition monitoring and asset health.  Assets today can be covered with hundreds of sensors that collect a range of operational and health data.  New condition monitoring techniques are being developed all the time.  And the emergence of big data, predictive analytics and artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionise the industry. 

Despite the enormous potential these changes promise, many businesses struggle to reap the benefits.  New software and hardware sit unused because staff doesn’t understand how to use them, or because they’re not integrated with their existing processes and systems.  It’s also common for a business to end up with more data than they know what to do with, meaning they struggle to turn it into useful information.  It’s for these reasons that the industry is full of abandoned projects and orphaned technology. 

For many industries, however, there’s a more fundamental challenge – keeping their employees and communities safe from the consequences of a critical asset or process failures.  Almost every site contains hazardous areas and prescribed equipment, which could result in catastrophic safety, environmental, and legal consequences if not properly managed. In recent years we’ve seen numerous disasters on the news, many of which represent management failures more than technological failures.  And when it comes to asset health and integrity, it pays to remember that people and processes play as big a role as technology does. 

At Bluefield, we can help you develop asset health and condition monitoring strategies for your assets.  We can also assist you to monitor and improve the integrity of your critical assets, hazardous areas, and prescribed equipment. 

When developing asset health strategies, a common challenge our clients face is working out how to use data to protect their assets.  Our specialists, many who’ve spent years maintaining fixed and mobile asset classes, understand how to set acceptable limits and intervention thresholds for condition monitoring data. And they’re experts at using asset health data to diagnose and respond to defects. 

We can also help you diagnose the kind of physical defects and management system issues that put workers, managers, and the broader community at risk. We do this by conducting detailed asset integrity reviews and asset risk assessments.  A particular area of focus for Bluefield is assisting clients to ensure they meet their statutory obligations, including the prevention of fires on mobile equipment. 

Bluefield has provided asset health and integrity support across many industries, including transport, oil and gas, mining, manufacturing, and many others.  In addition to our asset management specialists (who come from reliability and engineering backgrounds), we employ specialists with trade and technical experience in prescribed equipment, electrical and mobile assets.  We also have software developers and data specialists who can assist with the design and optimisation of asset health systems.