Global manufacturer INVISTA’s Victoria, Texas, facility experienced the power of digitalization when working with industrial software company Mobideo, said INVISTA Turnaround Execution Coordinator Michael Goranson.
One of the challenges the facility had been dealing with was not having real-time visibility, Goranson explained during a 2022 AFPM Summit session held recently in San Antonio.
INVISTA gives case study to improve turnaround management
From left are Daniel Goulet, president of North America Mobideo, and Michael Goranson, turnaround execution coordinator for INVISTA.
“Because the term ‘real time’ is thrown around loosely, Mobideo defines it as following events as close to the work as possible by tracking the person who’s actually doing the work; tracking when the event is completed; or tracking that the work’s actually going on,” said North America Mobideo President Daniel Goulet. “An example of that is a simple schedule update in which the person who is doing the work uses the app to say ‘Hey this work is complete,’ which is more real time then a foreman coming to the scheduler at the end of the shift and saying this is the work that was done today, update this manually.”
“Being able to have that real-time data and have an official awareness to monitor key decision making was crucial for INVISTA,” Goulet said.
Mobideo’s work package software offers a suite of digital applications used in turnarounds, for job package tracking, workforce communication, auditing, material packaging and tracking, form management, buildouts, permitting and geolocation capabilities.
Since Mobideo’s software is designed for mobile use, real-time updates improve scheduling as lag time in data entry becomes obsolete. With a smart device, workers gain the ability to update schedules in the field instantaneously after completing a task.
With that same smart device, all areas of the turnaround can be opened to the user, such as using the turnaround work package to log environmental, health and safety auditing conducted in the field. Pictures, drawings and specifications can additionally be accessed using the app. Making the hike from one plant block to another to access needed information is no longer necessary.
Turnaround projects demand verification on workflow completion through multiple signatures. While routing one form to various principles proves challenging and costly from a time management standpoint, the process is simplified and improved in Mobideo’s packaging. Each principle can now electronically sign the document for release. Goranson explains “Its increased efficiencies dramatically from having to go find them in the past.
Back in the day, it was a Word document that was printed out, run around, getting all their hand signatures; it would take us days, sometimes even a week, waiting for an approval. At 9:21 that night, eight hours later, we had all signatures. We were approved to continue working. Its efficiency!”
With all of a turnaround’s moving parts, one of the major challenges is keeping track of personnel and equipment. Time can be wasted while searching for a set of valves needed for a task at hand, Goranson said as he praised the ability of the Mobideo software to track these assets.
“Mobideo’s mobile application serves with such success due to its ability to be customized on various levels,” said Goulet. “While turnarounds include multiple jobs taking place simultaneously, Mobideo accommodates all in real time representation.”
That representation takes form as a resemblance of tools used in the turnaround industry. While wall charts have long depicted task progress, Mobideo provides the same view in a digital format combined with the ability to be altered and expanded upon as needed.
Goranson reasoned that this mirrored representation from past tools now inside the app allows for ease of use and acceptance. Customer forms can be designed to be used within the app and improved with the ability to be completed and signed electronically.
While supply chain issues and inflationary fears influence a rise in material costs, efficiency drives profitability and Goranson believes that Mobideo’s software enabled efficiency by reducing operating costs and decreasing bottlenecks in completing processes.
