Ras Al Khaimah Wastewater Agency (RAKWA) in UAE has seen significant benefits from its installation of Infor Enterprise Asset Management (EAM). Historically the firm has provided maintenance for its operations on a reactive basis.
Alan Turner Executive director, RAKWA commented: “Traditionally we would have contracted out that maintenance to a third party. A change of strategy meant that we brought that work in house and hired a competent and professional team to carry out maintenance. To assist them to carry out maintenance we’ve invested in an enterprise asset management system which has improved the efficiency and quality of our practices.”
When Walid Abdulrehman Mohammed, O&M department manager, RAK Wastewater joined the firm in 2017, he understood that a proactive maintenance approach would lower maintenance costs, reduce downtime and increase efficiency. Abdulrehman noted: “The biggest challenge we used to have was the efficient utilization of man-hours and also the accuracy of the operational data which actually affects your decision-making processes. The data available about the assets was not accurate and not sufficient to conduct a proper assessment.”
To resolve this issue, the company looked to invest in an Enterprise Asset Maintenance solution. Having reviewed the market, it chose Infor EAM. To assist it with installation, it selected Intertec Systems, an Infor Gold partner. Infor was able to demonstrate that its solution supported functionality specific to utilities and especially for wastewater operations. Companies like Evides and the City of Oak Ridge have deployed the solution successfully. Abdulrehman said: “I consider Infor one of the most efficient software and easy to use.”
Implementation
Intertec carried out the implementation rolling out the solution and mapping the entire asset estate, around 3,300 assets. It includes 330 km of sewerage network,13 pumping /lifting stations, and four treatment plants with different capacities and technologies. Asset data held within a central system delivers advantages. Reporting and the application of analytics across the entire estate can provide significant insights.
Employees are now able to update information about conditions and repairs on tablets. It further reduces the amount of paperwork and improves accuracy. This has eliminated many of the manual operations that people were required to complete.
RAKWA has now fully automated its asset maintenance. The solution provides daily schedules for the O&M team, which advises them which assets to check, repair, maintain or replace. It means that no asset is forgotten.
The benefits
The impact is enormous. According to Abdulrehman, there are now 60% less corrective emergency work orders. Abdulrehman estimates that the overall operational costs have reduced by at least 3%. He added: “By doing the right preventive maintenance at a high quality, we are able to keep the assets running at optimal performance with less corrective maintenance and fewer costs. This will play a major role in helping RAKWA achieve its aim of a 30% reduction in its operational cost for collecting and treating one cubic meter of waste water by 2023.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Having completed the the first phase of the project, RAKWA is looking to realise further savings. To achieve this, it is looking at implementing IoT technology. The Infor IoT solution would allow it to collect real-time asset data and further reduce operational costs by improving the scheduling preventative maintenance to replace components before failure rather than a regular periodic basis.
Khaled AlShami, Infor director of solution consulting, Middle East & Africa, said: “With EAM, RAKWA has gained clear visibility of its assets, allowing it to digitise its maintenance function and generate major efficiencies. Effective asset management is essential to all organizations, especially those that provide fundamental utilities such as RAKWA.”
Infor has a strong presence for its IoT solution in both the utilities and transportation sectors. This latest win in the Middle East is also significant in that it is winning business in the public sector. Infor will be hoping its success will lead to further contracts with other government department looking to improve asset management. If successful, it will be interesting to see whether data from common assets are shared to improve efficiency further.
