Merging asset integrity management software with engineering services for total asset integrity support

Asset integrity management is a vital component in ensuring safe and effective equipment operations. Asset failure can have catastrophic effects, resulting in loss of life or injury, detrimental environmental impacts, as well as causing devastating damage to a company’s reputation. There is also the financial impact due to loss of production, asset damage and legal costs. As a result, the industry is moving towards a structured approach to asset management, which helps organizations manage and optimize the lifecycle of assets more effectively.

In today’s increasingly digital world with more focus than ever on remote work capabilities, the industry is also quickly moving toward an asset management solution with digital twin, mobility, and remote assistance capabilities. An effective asset integrity management program has risk management at its core and includes several key elements like planning and performance management. Every sector of industrial activity faces the common challenges of maximizing value from assets while minimizing equipment and safety risk. Facilities must also demonstrate compliance with industry standards and regulations like ISO 55001, American Petroleum Institute (API) and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

A robust asset management strategy meets these challenges and improves plant, asset, and equipment availability and uptime. It also results in the identification of critical assets and equipment, the optimizing of maintenance and inspection schedules, and the elimination of unnecessary activities. An integral component of any mechanical integrity program is a comprehensive, digital asset integrity management (AIM) or inspection data management software (IDMS) with risk based inspection (RBI) methodology. Such software makes it possible to centralize all asset data into one easily accessible database – reducing the time to find information and providing a visual, digital twin view of the live conditions of assets at any given time, complete with risk levels for quick and responsible planning.

The challenge: limited resources hinder progress in mechanical integrity programs

Most operators recognize the value that a comprehensive AIM software will deliver to their operations and are eager to incorporate one into their mechanical integrity programs – but they are concerned about the resources that might be required. One of the most common challenges faced by operators in process industries is a lack of onsite resources. This creates apprehension when deciding if or how to adopt a new asset integrity approach. Often, they cannot even get that far as they first must acquire the essential buy-ins from management and need assistance to make a convincing business case.

Limited resources also become a factor when companies are dealing with large amounts of unstructured data. Often, asset data is so difficult to find or takes so long to retrieve, it can result in critical errors or missed insight that lead to asset failure. Moreover, it places extra strain on limited resources due to wasted time searching for information that should be readily available.

The solution: merging engineering services with innovative technology

To address these challenges, Vysus Group and Antea have forged a partnership that merges the engineering and consulting expertise provided by Vysus Group with the AIM software technology and implementation expertise of Antea. This ensures operators have the support they need at every phase of the journey – making the business case, assessing the best tools required, access to the most feature-rich and technologically advanced AIM software in the world, implementation and training services, and then ongoing support with running and optimizing the software with resources supplied onsite. The partnership eliminates the problem of limited resources within the company by supplying those resources to the company – in the form of highly skilled industry experts with decades of specialized experience.

To understand how the partnership between these two companies provides benefit, it helps to first understand what each brings to the table.

Antea is a global software company of mechanical and chemical engineers with the most feature-rich, comprehensive asset integrity management platform in the world. Founded in 1989, it has provided innovative software solutions, implementation, installation, and training support to operators in the Oil & Gas, Petrochemical, Power Generation and Energy sectors around the world for over 32 years. In that time, it has had zero turnover – maintaining 100% customer retention. Antea helps operators solve problems caused by unstructured or difficult to retrieve asset data with their AIM platform. The software utilizes digital twin technology and is scalable from single to multi-site. It consolidates all asset data from disparate sources – including P&IDs, PFDs, spreadsheets, point cloud data, laser mapping, etc. – and overlays it onto a 3D digital model of the plant and all assets within it. When used with Antea RBI, it translates into a virtual replica of the facility that instantly displays risk levels of various equipment with color coded matrices. Accessing any piece of asset information is as simple as zooming and clicking on the area of interest. Antea supports data loading, migration, cataloguing and optimization before, during, and after implementation. Most predominant in Europe, Antea has expanded with offices in USA, Canada, Malaysia, Abu Dhabi, and Algeria.

Vysus Group emerged out of what was formerly known as Lloyd’s Register Energy, which means that all the heritage and legacy that came from Lloyd’s Register lives on in what is now Vysus Group. It is a team of subject matter experts that focuses solely on the engineering solutions for maintenance, reliability, and mechanical integrity – applying asset management consulting services to clients in various industries across the world, driving continual improvements in performance. Vysus Group’s deep knowledge and passion for rigorously improving operational performance, mitigating risk, and optimizing cost results in better decision making in an ever-changing world.

The partnership combines Vysus Group’s engineering expertise and consultative solutions with Antea’s technology platform, optimizing asset integrity management for the marketplace. It delivers a one-stop-shop solution that leverages Antea’s software platform and training with Vysus Group’s consultative services that include implementation support, program maintenance, and evergreening. This ensures that all phases are provided by “one” services provider – software platform implementation, program maintenance, and system optimization moving forward with new projects and daily operations.

This streamlines processes for the end user, reducing the impact of logistics, finance, and legal efforts necessary to handle software and service programs. Operators will benefit from diverse client portfolios, including Vysus Group’s history with both Lloyd’s Register and Capstone Engineering. Both companies’ global footprints provide experiences and diverse expertise that are unrivaled in the industry.

How does it work in practical implementation? Antea focuses predominantly on the cyber aspect of implementation (data mining, analysis, migration, cataloguing), while Vysus Group focuses more on the physical aspect – providing consultants and making things happen on the site, advising on physical workflows, providing consultation on activities happening and in using the database in day-to-day operations. This helps end users by eliminating stress associated with an implementation and saves them from having to exhaust their own limited resources.

With the differing expertise provided by both companies, operators have support and resources provided for all stages:

• Assessment of company history, current data situation, AIM tool selection, and making the business case (Vysus Group)

• Data analysis, migration, cataloguing, and integration (Antea)

• Implementation, installation, and comprehensive training for the most feature-rich AIM software available on market (Antea)

• Project implementation and support (Vysus Group)

• Ongoing support to ensure that once the new AIM software is implemented, the next project implementation can be performed seamlessly without exhausting resources at the company (Vysus Group)

• Ongoing support with data loading and optimization of the database (Antea and Vysus Group)

Ultimately, this helps operators:

• Reduce procurement pain points

• Improve product delivery

• Reduce resource requirements for implementation and operation

• Reduce go-live time for mechanical integrity programs by working in parallel through the software install and program development

• Reduce response time for troubleshooting by leveraging subject matter experts (SMEs) from both companies

• Improve return on investment by ensuring optimal use of the tools and programs

This partnership will bring value to both new and existing clients by combining the expertise and experiential viewpoints of the two companies into one asset integrity support provider. In addition, the partnership will bring value to the two companies’ offerings as a whole, as they begin to work closely together, communicating strategies and observations along the way. Insights gained from Vysus Group contributions will help Antea further evolve its technology offering to address the specific challenges most often encountered by operators. Antea’s technological expertise and 30 years of operations will in turn help bolster the consulting support delivered by Vysus Group. Together, the two companies will enhance each other’s offering while being able to deliver to operators an unprecedented level of streamlined support for every stage of the mechanical integrity journey.