Caging the O&M bug through monitoring systems

摘要

What is common between corroded gear wheel in a gear assembly, the flat vehicle tyre and an intermittant supply from your much talked about wind farm? One: Lack of attention, two: old age of spare part, three: lack of monitoring mechanism. While the first two reasons are more people specific, the third points out towards a system approach in asset performance management. The global wind energy players are quite widely aware of these challenges and even while monitoring mechanisms exist to some extent to address some of these O&M challenges, it requires a paradigm shift in mindset for OEMs and customers alike. A paradigm that allows maintenance to move from preventive to predictive; a paradigm that moves from merely "providing a piece of equipment" to "providing a service of equipment effectiveness."