Claiming the “Catch us if you can” movie mantra, the quiet Infrastructure Lifecycle Management (ILM) leader Meridian Systems, based in Folsom, California (US), and now owned by the billion-dollar global positioning system (GPS) giant Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB), is going on the offensive with competitors and industry analysts in its newest round of marketing announcements. To the large bastion of technology vendors, reporters, and research analysts reporting on market requirements for what once was simply the realm of Project Portfolio Management (PPM) and Integrated Workplace Management Systems (IWMS) – the company’s somewhat shy, but technology-precocious, management is issuing a hearty challenge: “Catch up (with us)!”
For long-time followers of the building and construction industry, Meridian has steadily amassed (at a Compound Annual Growth Rate [CAGR] of 15 percent) some 5,000 small, medium, and (more recently) large customers that are in charge of capital building/infrastructure projects. Letting its enterprise software be its calling card, and a highly referenceable install base be its voice, the company grew stealthily against industry-standard PPM competitors like Primavera (recently acquired by Oracle) and Autodesk Constructware.
Today, while the company still maintains market leadership in its original arenas of architecture/engineering/construction (A/E/C) solutions, in order to outflank the market, Meridian has, right after the turn of the millennium, begun appending and building on the feature/benefits/technology of its forerunner Prolog product.
“The capital infrastructure market buyers were telegraphing if not talking about their changing needs at least five to eight years ago – but people analyzing and reporting on this space remain wed to writing about things like PPM,” asserts Meridian Systems’ President and Co-Founder John Bodrozic. “Meridian realized that technology vendors in those solution categories were losing touch with their buyers, and today I’d go so far as to say their relevance might even be teetering on obsolescence. Oracle’s acquisition of Primavera just reinforces that they still don’t get it.”
ILM Defined
In 2004, backed by its then recently launched Proliance native Web solution, Meridian founded the ILM market space to define the larger Plan-Build-Operate (PBO) hat-trick set of solutions demanded by both private and public sector organizations responsible for major capital projects. Today, Meridian has a large customer base of 5,000 companies and over 100,000 users. My estimate of the company’s 2007 revenues is at nearly US$ 30 million.
While I am not too keen on acronyms and buzzwords (and TEC is not in the business of inventing these), some definitions would still be in order here. To that end, ILM would denote the ongoing cycle, which consists of the following three components or phases of any kind of capital infrastructure:
1. Planning — i.e., managing project pipelines, site development, entitlements, etc.;
2. Building — i.e., tracking budgets, contracts, changes, schedules, scopes, and quality; and
3. Operating — i.e., direct asset management, work orders, and maintenance management.
Meridian has long realized that none of its competitors cover all three ILM bases in this tightly integrated, never ending cycle. The market observers’ sticking with much narrower terms like PPM (which mainly takes care of the real estate-oriented planning and building phases) or IWMS (Gartner’s coined term, which mainly takes care of things like property leasing).
Needless to say, the scopes of PPM or IWMS are minor and insignificant components of the ongoing operational needs inherent to capital infrastructure. Namely, they don’t apply to hardly anything outside of the real estate segment, i.e., the things like oil rigs, bridges, cell towers, healthcare infrastructure buildings, and so on. In a nutshell, these acronyms’ footprints fall too short when it comes to capital infrastructure.
Sensing a New Direction – Meridian’s Bold Bet on Proliance
Since its founding in 1993, Meridian’s industry play began with a goal to become the system of record for combining capital expansion budgets, integrated project workflow, and schedules, and all of that in a single integrated system. While Meridian initially carved out its identity within the PPM market space (via the classic planning and building spectrum), the company has since introduced advanced Business Intelligence (BI) capabilities to provide senior executives and mid-level managers visibility into the entire portfolio of projects, programs, and facilities through pertinent role-based key performance indicators (KPI), dashboards, scorecards, alerts, trends analyses, and roll-up reporting.
Since the early 2000s, with Proliance, Meridian has expanded on its initial PPM solution footprint by bringing together the complete “Plan, Build, and Operate” spectrum for “Project-Based Organizations”–- hence its self-applied label of “PBO squared.” By adding Business Process Management (BPM) capabilities and taking an early bet on Microsoft .NET Framework technologies (Meridian is a Microsoft Gold Partner), the vendor has assembled a set of best practices to
* prevent schedule/cost overruns;
* gain global project spend management advantages;
* leverage/optimize/plan around multiple projects;
* reduce costs by consolidating multiple information technology (IT) solutions;
* centralize documentation to establish or refute vendor claims;
* optimize investments in building reconfiguration and retooling;
* improve time to market for new goods/services; and
* respond more quickly to competitive trends and market opportunities.
The Proliance solution aggressively targets the ILM buyer category by adding the “Operate” category to the classic “Plan” and “Build” ones, which it has enriched as well. The Operate capabilities extend Proliance into the following areas: Asset Management, Preventative Maintenance, Predictive Maintenance, and Service Requests. The full combination is suitable for several verticals, such as: A/E/C, Energy, Healthcare, Real Estate, Retail, Education, Government, Transportation, etc.
Why Do the Competitors Largely Miss the ILM Game?
Despite recent market consolidation like Oracle’s acquisition of Primavera, the combination of PPM and enterprise resource planning (ERP) still misses key ILM market needs and falls short of a tightly integrated, web-based PBO triple-solution combination. Specifically, Proliance has a substantial edge over most of its competitors in this category in its combination of the following three areas:
1. It is a native, built from the ground-up service oriented architecture (SOA)-based platform application that already integrates PPM, scheduling, and facilities management on the same platform;
2. It has a well-developed Microsoft Office Business Application (OBA) strategy; and
3. It has made an early bet on Building Information Modeling (BIM).
While the first two advantages are debatable (i.e., many competitors can claim similar traits and strategies), it is the latter one that is truly differentiating. Namely, designing buildings and facilities using data-rich BIM is taking hold in the marketplace. BIM can be described as a design methodology that results in a digital three-dimensional (3D) model.
This model represents the following three key facets: 1) a facility’s geometrical and spatial relationships, 2) building systems and components, and 3) properties of specified equipment and materials. To visualize BIM as part of a technology solution, imagine a 3D visual interface that sits on top of a database of information that describes all of the elements within a building.
In other words, BIM is the new digitized way to gather necessary models. It starts with the conceptual design, iterative designs, architectural BIM, structural BIM and mechanical, engineering & plumbing (MEP) BIM in the “Plan” phase, to end with the as-built model, as-built equipment, and the complete virtual building in the “Operate” phase.
Still, BIM also provides value on the “Build” phase in PBO – and brings a host of analytic, reporting, view (visualization), and modeling capabilities (e.g., construction sequencing, 4D modeling, clash detection, fabrication BIM, spatial BIM installation, etc.). This allows companies to view potential problems, issues, challenges, and plan for unique circumstances before building any infrastructure.
How Do BIM and ILM Relate to Each Other?
Diving deeper into the PBO project lifecycle, one can see many synergistic opportunities for ILM technology and BIM models to come together. For example, during the Plan phase, the building owner determines the financial feasibility of a project and hires architects and engineers to design the project. Corresponding ILM operational processes and business data in the Plan phase are: project pipelines, budget development, scope development, budget approvals, and funding approvals.
During the Build phase, a general contractor is selected to construct the facility, while the owner and design teams provide oversight. ILM operational processes and business data in the Build phase are: contracts & changes, scheduling, bidding and buyout, design distribution, and requests for information (RFIs) & submittals.
And finally, during the Operate phase, the owner takes over the newly completed facility and manages this new asset through preventative, predictive, and corrective maintenance. ILM operational processes and business data in this phase are: asset management, equipment assets, location assets, maintenance management, and work orders.
Currently, BIM is most prevalent in the Plan phase as architects and engineers can digitally design BIM models that create huge efficiencies in the iterative design process. But once rich BIM models have been designed, significant downstream value can be created for both the contractor and owner through cost reductions, and by providing a more accurate model of the final finished building. For more details on the integration between ILM and BIM, see Meridian’s white paper entitled “BIM and Project Management - Advancing Integrated Project Delivery on Capital Building Programs.”
Given that no one can accomplish everything on its own, Meridian is supporting BIM through a partnership with Horizontal LLC, a leader in implementing BIM methodology. Horizontal Glue Server is a Web-based BIM solution that allows bi-directional data flow between BIM models and Meridian ILM solutions. Support of BIM, combined with the complete PBO spectrum, OBA interface, and aggressive anywhere/anytime/any device SOA deployment have combined to give Meridian the advantage in staking out the ILM space. This holistic approach seems to be lost on much of the rest of the market.
Part 2 of this blog series will focus on the Meridian’s original Prolog PPM product, a desktop solution for the small-to-medium business (SMB) market, and the soon to be launched Prolog Connect PPM Web services-enabled product for the mid-market. Your views, comments, opinions, etc. about any above-mentioned solution and abut the PPM, ILM and BIM software categories per se are welcome in the meantime.
As always, we would also be interested in hearing about your experiences with these software solutions (if you are an existing user) or your general interest to evaluate these solutions as prospective customers.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Enterprise Asset Management Systems: Your Manufacturing Organization’s Underrated Superstar
For all you baseball fans living in the US and Canada, you can probably appreciate that we are quickly approaching what is referred to as “the dog days of August.” This is when the pennant races are close, and almost every game has added significance for a team’s chances of making it to the playoffs.
As I was enjoying one of those rare idyllic days lying in the backyard hammock and reading the sports page, it occurred to me how the good teams are not just about one or two great players. Rather, they are comprised largely of players whose natural athletic ability may not necessarily match that of the few superstars on the team, and who may not be found basking in the limelight, but who consistently work hard and practice on a daily basis. These are the players that, when given the opportunity, can deliver the key play or get the big hit when the game is on the line.
This made me think about how in a manufacturing environment, the most unlikely areas can contribute in a critical situation. In many organizations, it is the maintenance department that, much like the unsung heroes of the baseball team, manages to keep aging equipment running flawlessly. When a machine unexpectedly breaks down, it is this department that knows what is required to repair it. And just like the baseball season, summertime is a busy time for maintenance departments, as companies choose to use the summer holiday period to shut down in order to install, repair, or replace equipment in their production facility.
In this blog post, I thought it would be a good idea to take an inside look at the challenging world of enterprise asset management (EAM), and find out how this unheralded software can give your company the winning edge.
Factors Leading to Critical Failure of Assets
* poor maintenance practices
* undocumented maintenance logs
* poor budget planning
* inability to track known rates of failure for equipment
What Is EAM
Because competition within industries is fierce, any downtime in a facility can make the difference between profit and loss for the organization’s bottom line. In many organizations that are capital equipment-intensive (i.e., mining, oil and gas, utilities, aerospace manufacturing, etc.), the ability to plan maintenance or replacement of such physical assets as machinery is controlled through an EAM system.
An EAM system generates analytical data to optimize machine-operating efficiency, and calculates costs to support and maintain single pieces or a series of physical assets. EAM also works closely with the computerized maintenance management system (CMMS). CMMS provides predictive maintenance schedules and, by analyzing available inventory, assigns physical resources (inventory and labor) to a scheduled work order for equipment pieces. This generates replenishment purchasing requisitions for maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) spare parts.
In the diagram below, you can see how EAM works as part of a three-pronged approach with EAM, CMMS, and production to gather data for analysis. This analysis helps managers to decide whether to repair equipment, schedule resources, or plan for new capital equipment purchase and installation.
image 1
Benefits of EAM
* Ensures compliance with government-legislated health and safety programs by demonstrating tool and machinery reliability through the tracking of all historical maintenance.
* Develops life cycle management systems to identify known or predictive mean time between failure (MTBF) and root cause analysis.
* Allows the ability to implement continuous process improvements in the areas of tools and identification, to properly calibrate tools and equipment as part of a predictive maintenance program. This is done with the help of radio frequency identification (RFID).
* Allows the ability to schedule maintenance and installation of new equipment and to manage repair budgets and schedules, through integration of EAM with CMMS.
* Enables streamlined procurement management policies for MRO spare parts.
* Enables trend analysis to determine when maintenance is cost-prohibitive and to plan for replacement of capital equipment.
EAM Products to Consider
At TEC’s web site, you can review different vendors’ products as well as obtain white papers and vendor comparison reports. In this section, I offer a brief overview of some EAM products worth consideration.
IFS EAM
IFS’s product offerings include over 30 modules of enterprise solutions, many of which that can be purchased as either an overall integrated solution or as a bolted-on best-of-class solution. IFS has a unique add-on available that includes both IFS EAM and IFS ERP called IFS OEE (with “OEE” standing for overall equipment effectiveness). This solution performs analytics while equipment assets are running (which avoids downtime), and it makes the necessary adjustments to maintain an optimum level of production. IFS EAM allows organizations to proactively manage assets and maintenance activites. It combines unique features to permit data modeling on equipment in order to determine whether equipment is near the end of its production life cycle. For further details, visit IFS’s vendor showcase.
Infor EAM Enterprise Edition
Infor EAM delivers a unified solution for monitoring and managing the performance, maintenance, and deployment of company assets. With Infor EAM, the maintenance and plant engineering practitioner is able to perform maintenance optimization, staff productivity analysis, budget forecasting, and strategic planning. There are five separate modules which, combined together, form a complete EAM solution.
* maintenance
* inventory/warranty
* uptime
* reliability risk management
* strategic planning
For further details, visit Infor’s vendor showcase.
A Final Thought
Today’s manufacturers are fighting for any edge that will lower their costs and that will allow them to meet the challenges of global manufacturing and ever-stringent regulatory and compliance legislation. One paradigm shift has been to conduct maintenance based on an actual condition, and not on aggregate rates of failure. This departure from the traditional approach is a result of systems now being able to track real-time performance of equipment. Through EAM, condition-based maintenance (CBM ) is now a reality, and it will permit your maintenance department to perform like champions.
As I was enjoying one of those rare idyllic days lying in the backyard hammock and reading the sports page, it occurred to me how the good teams are not just about one or two great players. Rather, they are comprised largely of players whose natural athletic ability may not necessarily match that of the few superstars on the team, and who may not be found basking in the limelight, but who consistently work hard and practice on a daily basis. These are the players that, when given the opportunity, can deliver the key play or get the big hit when the game is on the line.
This made me think about how in a manufacturing environment, the most unlikely areas can contribute in a critical situation. In many organizations, it is the maintenance department that, much like the unsung heroes of the baseball team, manages to keep aging equipment running flawlessly. When a machine unexpectedly breaks down, it is this department that knows what is required to repair it. And just like the baseball season, summertime is a busy time for maintenance departments, as companies choose to use the summer holiday period to shut down in order to install, repair, or replace equipment in their production facility.
In this blog post, I thought it would be a good idea to take an inside look at the challenging world of enterprise asset management (EAM), and find out how this unheralded software can give your company the winning edge.
Factors Leading to Critical Failure of Assets
* poor maintenance practices
* undocumented maintenance logs
* poor budget planning
* inability to track known rates of failure for equipment
What Is EAM
Because competition within industries is fierce, any downtime in a facility can make the difference between profit and loss for the organization’s bottom line. In many organizations that are capital equipment-intensive (i.e., mining, oil and gas, utilities, aerospace manufacturing, etc.), the ability to plan maintenance or replacement of such physical assets as machinery is controlled through an EAM system.
An EAM system generates analytical data to optimize machine-operating efficiency, and calculates costs to support and maintain single pieces or a series of physical assets. EAM also works closely with the computerized maintenance management system (CMMS). CMMS provides predictive maintenance schedules and, by analyzing available inventory, assigns physical resources (inventory and labor) to a scheduled work order for equipment pieces. This generates replenishment purchasing requisitions for maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) spare parts.
In the diagram below, you can see how EAM works as part of a three-pronged approach with EAM, CMMS, and production to gather data for analysis. This analysis helps managers to decide whether to repair equipment, schedule resources, or plan for new capital equipment purchase and installation.
image 1
Benefits of EAM
* Ensures compliance with government-legislated health and safety programs by demonstrating tool and machinery reliability through the tracking of all historical maintenance.
* Develops life cycle management systems to identify known or predictive mean time between failure (MTBF) and root cause analysis.
* Allows the ability to implement continuous process improvements in the areas of tools and identification, to properly calibrate tools and equipment as part of a predictive maintenance program. This is done with the help of radio frequency identification (RFID).
* Allows the ability to schedule maintenance and installation of new equipment and to manage repair budgets and schedules, through integration of EAM with CMMS.
* Enables streamlined procurement management policies for MRO spare parts.
* Enables trend analysis to determine when maintenance is cost-prohibitive and to plan for replacement of capital equipment.
EAM Products to Consider
At TEC’s web site, you can review different vendors’ products as well as obtain white papers and vendor comparison reports. In this section, I offer a brief overview of some EAM products worth consideration.
IFS EAM
IFS’s product offerings include over 30 modules of enterprise solutions, many of which that can be purchased as either an overall integrated solution or as a bolted-on best-of-class solution. IFS has a unique add-on available that includes both IFS EAM and IFS ERP called IFS OEE (with “OEE” standing for overall equipment effectiveness). This solution performs analytics while equipment assets are running (which avoids downtime), and it makes the necessary adjustments to maintain an optimum level of production. IFS EAM allows organizations to proactively manage assets and maintenance activites. It combines unique features to permit data modeling on equipment in order to determine whether equipment is near the end of its production life cycle. For further details, visit IFS’s vendor showcase.
Infor EAM Enterprise Edition
Infor EAM delivers a unified solution for monitoring and managing the performance, maintenance, and deployment of company assets. With Infor EAM, the maintenance and plant engineering practitioner is able to perform maintenance optimization, staff productivity analysis, budget forecasting, and strategic planning. There are five separate modules which, combined together, form a complete EAM solution.
* maintenance
* inventory/warranty
* uptime
* reliability risk management
* strategic planning
For further details, visit Infor’s vendor showcase.
A Final Thought
Today’s manufacturers are fighting for any edge that will lower their costs and that will allow them to meet the challenges of global manufacturing and ever-stringent regulatory and compliance legislation. One paradigm shift has been to conduct maintenance based on an actual condition, and not on aggregate rates of failure. This departure from the traditional approach is a result of systems now being able to track real-time performance of equipment. Through EAM, condition-based maintenance (CBM ) is now a reality, and it will permit your maintenance department to perform like champions.
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