We covered the Smart RDM platform several times, most recently in our article ‘Smart RDM platform “visited” Amsterdam’. We encourage you to read it! However, whether you are on our blog for the umpteenth time or just the first time, you may wonder what the letters RDM stand for in the name of the Smart RDM platform. If it crossed your mind that their choice was no accident – you’re right! It pertains to the three areas where the platform can improve your organization’s operations. What are these areas? You will find the answer in this article.
Smart RDM – your business on one platform
Before we focus on expanding the acronym RDM, let’s move to the factory. Assuming it’s a manufacturing plant employing 100-200 people, we have a crew, a production floor, a warehouse, machines, tools, materials, and finished products. To someone who has never been in a factory, it may not be easy to imagine all the elements involved in the production process. Questions arise when you find yourself in the centre of this process. How does it all work? How do we organise and manage it? How to connect and orchestrate all the links in the process? To keep production flowing, reduce downtime, detect breakdowns in time, and optimise the work – of people and equipment. And on top of all this, collect information about the process, create reports and forecasts based on it, and make them available to the right people.
The answer is that it is possible thanks to tools like the Smart RDM platform. Time to unravel the abbreviation RDM – it comes from the first letters of the words ‘reporting’, ‘diagnostic’, and ‘monitoring’. We have used the example of a production plant for a good reason – our application is already working in factories. In addition to implementations for manufacturing companies (food, paper, ceramics, among others), we also have large deployments completed for the utility and energy sectors.
How does the Smart RDM platform support the daily operations of companies? It is working on data: the platform collects, processes, and makes available information from selected production areas. However, for all this to happen, data needs to be adequately prepared for further processing, i.e., analysis.
Integration, codification, hierarchisation
In the context of IT tool implementations, it is often said that as much as we put into a system, we get out of it. The foundation of all processes is data, and this is also the case with the processes that the Smart RDM platform supports. The quality of the ‘input’ determines not only the quality of the monitoring but also the accuracy of the diagnosis and the value of the reports that will be generated based on this ‘input’.
How do you ensure your data is of maximum value? The first step is choosing the right production data – deciding on the correct manufacturing parameters to monitor. The close next – putting it in context by codifying it (according to the industry standards common in a particular market segment), for instance, assigned area of reference, machine, machine component, etc.
The next step is to integrate the data – thus creating a Central Repository, a so-called single source of truth.
Then you can move on to mapping the technological infrastructure and production processes in a digital model. Each point selected for monitoring, e.g., a machine component, is given its unique code in the system so that it is assigned to the data flowing from the device in real time. It is important to remember that every industry has its standards. Skillful data codification makes it possible to map an industry-specific process and build a hierarchy of equipment (for ongoing monitoring and advanced analysis) — the points (indicators) selected for observation form a hierarchical data model. Proper monitoring is possible from this point onwards when the structure is complete.
M for Monitoring
The abbreviation RDM starts with an ‘R’. Still, we will begin at the end – intentionally, because the monitoring that is ‘closest’ to production provides this first layer of information acquired through the Smart RDM platform. We mentioned the process database above: this database works in real time so that operators can view the current production situation. Let’s step into the operator’s role (or any other person with access to monitoring) for a moment: he can easily navigate between views (and devices) thanks to an intuitive and straightforward interface. He can observe the processes (their history, trends) on the visualisations and dashboards. The Smart RDM platform will show him any production process or its simulation in graphical form in real time.
Notably, the operator will only see the information they are entitled to – for security reasons, access to views is subject to permissions.
The platform allows alarm thresholds and routes for notifications about malfunctions, outages, and other performance issues. Events are integrated with notifications sent to defined users. The system operator can easily redirect a notification of an event to maintenance personnel, again – with context, such as the location of a sensor reporting incorrect values, for example.
D for Diagnostic
Real-time monitoring enables quick diagnostics. The benefits of monitoring, such as easy navigation between views, setting up alarms, and above all, the “here and now” view, make it possible to quickly detect not only at which point in the process something is not working correctly. Thanks to diagnostics, a lot of downtimes can be avoided or scheduled so that necessary part replacements take place at times when they will have the most negligible impact on production efficiency. For instance, in manufacturing, effective diagnosis significantly increases the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), one of the key KPIs in that vertical.
R for reporting
You’d be hard-pressed to envision a report that cannot be generated with the Smart RDM platform. Our reports can present anything, from the implementation of production plans, the condition of machines, or business KPIs for production efficiency analysis.
Let’s start with what’s closest to production – scheduling. Smart RDM has a built-in mechanism for scheduling and monitoring compliance. Likewise, with device rankings and setting alarm thresholds. You can create any rankings: suffice to configure the hierarchy of importance of events or devices properly.
The platform also generates typical business reports. Smart RDM integrates with various BI platforms for business reporting. Data from the reporting systems used in the company is available using the API. Based on production data and data from external systems, the platform generates precise and efficient reports, and we know how to make them valuable. Our team includes specialists with vast knowledge of integrating process data with reporting tools.
In closing, it’s worth mentioning one of the key differentiators of Smart RDM. It allows for the versatile creation of complete reports based on reliable data. We’re referring to data management with Web forms. Manufacturing companies usually solve problems with data quality and disconnects via unconsolidated Excel files. The result is a lack of information flow within the organisation. Web forms eliminate these bottlenecks – using this functionality, data can be easily corrected and augmented with comments. To eliminate errors from automated systems, sometimes manual correction is necessary.
Our approach to storing and sharing data allows for the protection of knowledge gathered by the company and creates transparent rules for its availability.
We hope you’ll agree that our Smart RDM platform has great potential! In the following articles, we’ll deliver deeper into its capabilities: describe how selected functions improve specific areas of your business. Follow our blog to find out more!
