What are cost and HSE benefits of Wirescan Digital?

Moving from a fail and fix to a predict and prevent operation has proven to be a successful transition for many industries by releasing a wealth of cost savings. The cable network business has lagged behind this development for a simple reason – there has until now been no comprehensive and affordable condition assessment and monitoring technology available, which is the basis for condition-based maintenance. Wirescan is now changing this with Wirescan Digital.

Digital systems influence OPEX positively and increase reliability and predictability by releasing the potential already available in the collected condition data by analyzing the data in the right context. This improves control of day-to-day operations and helps to optimize the size and management of operational and maintenance teams.

In a situation where operators have insufficient cable condition information to choose between replace or repair, they are often left to hope for the best, financial risk is introduced. If the cable is replaced too early, CAPEX will be higher than necessary. If the cable is replaced too late, OPEX will be higher than necessary.

Downtime is accompanied by penalties in addition to loss of income. Being able to plan downtime based on actual cable condition information will help operators manage and predict also this cost.

If you have cables you are most probably encounter at least one of the three challenges: the data are not available at all, the data are difficult to access or the data are in format which makes it difficult to utilize.

A “Fail & Fix” model is basically firefighting. More time and effort go in to creating procedures rather than processes. In a “Predict & Prevent” model, the fact that the operator will know well in advance where faults are more likely to occur puts him in a position to introduce condition-based maintenance.

As has been demonstrated in other industries, condition-based maintenance reduces downtime and maintenance cost while it improves equipment performance and increases asset life. Instead of being on “fire duty”, operations teams can spend their energy on prioritizing actions, ensure safe operations, preserve asset value and minimise environmental impact.