—
Digitalization enabling interconnectivity
and smart automation

—
In the age of Big Data and Industry 4.0, more information about our assets, networks and systems can be collected than ever before.

With the right analysis, this data can be used to generate valuable insights to streamline and optimize processes, enable better planning, improve efficiencies and turbocharge productivity.

While the vast majority of businesses recognize the benefits that digitalization can deliver, many are yet to board the train to a more connected era.

It seems that many manufacturers are still missing out on the opportunities that operational data delivers. Among other benefits, digitalization facilitates advanced condition and process monitoring. Accurate real-time data on equipment and operations enables more precise and intelligent process control and greater automation. Smart asset, process and energy management solutions continuously and accurately monitor performance, and can autonomously improve efficiency, predict maintenance needs, diagnose and address problems, and much more.

By empowering operators with better data, digitalization builds upon the benefits of advanced asset management, predictive maintenance and modernization strategies so companies can get more from their assets and OpEx.

Maximizing the value of digitalization requires a good digital strategy, which employs a forward-thinking, outcome-focused perspective across a company’s entire asset base and operations. By using technology to enhance monitoring and control where it provides the greatest benefit, a good digital strategy feeds directly into better asset management.

This approach not only makes financial sense, but also ensures that machinery lifetime is optimized, with equipment failures and production stoppages minimized.

ABB Electrification Service works closely with customers to develop the right digital strategy for their unique needs, enabling them to unlock the full potential of integrating smart capabilities into electrical systems.

—
Digital energy upgrade for first-class Doha hotel

Among other recent digitalization projects, ABB provided The Four Seasons Hotel Doha with a smart energy upgrade. Located in the heart of Qatar’s capital, the hotel’s management partnered with ABB for a digital energy upgrade to improve predictive maintenance capabilities for the onsite electrical systems and optimize energy use to reduce carbon emissions.

As some of the site’s air circuit breakers were approaching obsolescence, ABB’s local experts worked closely with the hotel’s facilities team to develop an upgrade strategy for the site, providing technical support and information throughout the process. The upgrade included replacing 20 air circuit breakers with ABB’s Emax 2 smart circuit breakers, retrofitting five Ekip UP devices and connecting a substation to the ABB Ability™ Energy and Asset Manager.

Following the upgrade, the hotel began to use the ABB Ability™ Energy and Asset Manager, a state-of-the-art cloud solution that integrates a site’s asset and energy management needs into a single dashboard. This enables full visibility of the electrical system’s operations and provides insights to minimize risk and cost, while maximizing performance and safety.

This resulted in these savings:

The benefits of the ABB Ability Energy and Asset Manager proved to be a solid match with the hotel’s proactive service philosophy and its comprehensive approach to the management of its sites.”

Gireesh Kumar Gopalakrishna Pillai, Chief Engineer for Four Seasons Hotel Doha

READ FULL STORY

—
Largest hospital area in Finland modernizes its power systems to help ensure mission-critical uptime

Finland’s largest hospital area has future-proofed its life-saving power supply thanks to a modernization program with electrification partner ABB. The Meilahti Hospital Area in Helsinki upgraded its electrical system to maximize uptime, eliminate the use of SF6, a potent greenhouse gas, in the medium-voltage (MV) switchgear, extend the life of electrical equipment and optimize hospital operations.

ABB Ability™ Energy and Asset Manager was installed to facilitate remote monitoring and provide personnel real-time information on the condition of equipment, with alarms from devices sending alerts by text message. This level of predictive maintenance helps ensure early warnings of any potential failures, providing crucial information to act upon to avoid unplanned downtime.

Condition monitoring equipment for MV switchgear was also installed, allowing maintenance to take place based on the actual condition of the devices. The mechanical and electrical health status of the equipment is reported in real-time via ABB SWICOM, with one unit able to cover the data of the entire switchgear system. The data can be viewed – anytime, anywhere, even remotely.

With a long-standing partnership, where you know and trust the people, it’s easy to discuss if there are issues and achieve a good outcome. I would recommend ABB’s solutions to others, as the collaboration with ABB on our power distribution wants and needs has been excellent.”

Jari-Pekka Korhonen, Operations Manager for HUS Kiinteistöt Oy.

Largest hospital area in Finland modernizes its power systems to ensure mission critical uptime. Learn more - watch the video

READ FULL STORY

Learn more - watch the video

Digital solutions, such as ABB Ability™ Asset Manager, which have monitoring and diagnostic capabilities, offer companies the potential to shift to a new, predictive, proactive model of maintaining their equipment.

At present, the norm for many companies is to let their electrical equipment run for a few years before shutting down for one or two weeks to check for issues. But with condition-based maintenance, the equipment itself identifies if something is outside of normal parameters so issues can be addressed before they become failures.

FIND OUT MORE