22 May

Knowledge is Not as Powerful as Actionable Information

by Synergy Systems in Engineering & Automation Experts

This photo, “Information” is copyright (c) 2014 Barney Moss and made available under an Attribution 2.0 Generic license

The old trope says that knowledge is power and technology has made knowledge more available than ever. In fact, knowledge has become almost too easy to acquire. Books have been written about information overload. What these books really point at isn’t knowledge or information. We live in a time of data overload to the point where it’s difficult to translate it all into actionable information. Luckily for the business world, all this data can work towards a profitable end.

The process industry benefits from advanced technology that not only collects all data available, but translates it into actionable information. We stressed this last week in our discussion on Key Performance Indicators or KPIs. KPIs are the informational result of data translation. They let everyone from the engineers to plant managers know exactly what they need to without forcing them to sort through masses of irrelevant numbers.

Power to optimize your process and increase bottom line profits requires more than simple knowledge, these days. Knowledge is data. You can accumulate as much as you want, but it will mean nothing if it’s not actionable. Business with expertly designed control systems and HMI screen receive a huge competitive advantage over the competition. With real time data translated to actionable information, businesses having all they need to achieve their goals.

15 May

The Value of Key Performance Indicators in the Process Industry

by Synergy Systems in Engineering & Automation Experts

Control Room

The term Key Performance Indicator, or KPI, is all over the internet. A simple Google search will bring up a ton of blogs about KPIs for various industries. While the term is rather general, it’s meant to serve a specific purpose. That is the great triumph and great downfall of KPI. There are many to choose from for every business, but the KPIs chosen must be specific to business needs and goals to work.

When it comes to integration and automation, KPIs service a vital purpose. They represent the responsibility of technology to examine all data and present it to a plant operator as information. Data is nothing but numbers, ones and zeros representing all the inner workings of a machine. Sifting through all that would take a human far longer than necessary and can delay crucial action. That’s why we have automation. Intelligent technology can be assigned KPIs and programmed to deliver specific information interpreted from the mass of data.

Consider all you can measure on a human body. There are basic numbers, such as weight and calorie intake as well as performance numbers such as how much weight the body can lift, squat, bench or push. This is like the body of a plant or control system. All that data is important to someone, be they a nutritionist, doctor or trainer. Each person has certain KPIs they’re looking for just like each engineer may be assigned a specific section of the plant.

In optimized systems, KPIs can serve an even greater purpose. Through the interpretation of a few data points, a plant manager can be given the pulse of their system. One glance is all that’s needed for an engineer to diagnose whether their system is healthy or not when using optimized control systems with strategic KPIs.

What KPIs do you consider most important to your business?

Are your control systems optimized to quickly diagnose the pulse of your plant?

24 May

Data vs. Information: a growing Synergy

by Synergy Systems in Synergy News & Achievements

Synergy Systems Services Include

These days, there is nothing our state-of-the-art technology can’t measure. From the amount of electricity being used per hour in a plant to the amount of product being created within a day, nothing is beyond measurement. While the data we can gather is remarkable, translating it into useful information that can be used at every level in a plant can be difficult.

To this end, we have updated our website to reflect three of our growing services aimed at turning data into information, improving the overall process of the plant and defining the specific information needed in all levels of a plant.

The following services are growing areas of Synergy Systems Inc.

Asset Reliability: We imagine a process system with tangible assets that have the ability to collect a variety of data and easily resent it as information relevant to workers in every level of a plant.
Business Performance: Since business performance is often dependent on the human element of a plant and worker’s ability to make fast decisions, we strive to design HMI which takes this human element into consideration. We strive to create HMI that makes it easy to read and react to information about the plant or process.
Key Performance Indicators: Key Performance Indicators, also known as KPI, are specific measure of performance chosen by a business in order to maintain progress toward a goal.

These three services together create the most optimized system for safety, reliability and efficiency. Intelligent technology is able to gather enormous amounts of data and present to those at different levels of a plant the specific information they need.

We are proud to be growing our expertise into these areas and furthering our commitment to the creation of safe, reliable and efficient plants.