Operational excellence solutions from AWEA’s OMS conference

How would you answer the question, “How can the wind industry achieve O&M excellence?”

AWEA and sponsor Uptake asked that question of industry leaders at the AWEA Wind Project O&M and Safety Conference in February. During a Leadership Forum on operational excellence held the day before the conference, participants were split into two groups – one of managers and directors, and one of executives. Attendees then completed a series of exercises to outline the industry’s biggest barriers to O&M excellence and brainstormed how we might overcome them.

The challenge and opportunity that came up most in both groups was data– whether it was making that data actionable, having a single objective source of truth, or ensuring transparency.

The combined result? See for yourself!

Data dominated

Data was the most-discussed topic in both groups, which followed an emerging trend from this year’s OMS conference overall. No surprise, given that global consulting firm McKinsey & Company found that 99 percent of data in some industrial sectors is unused.

Both groups identified O&M “nirvana” as a single source of truth for all operations information. An ideal solution would minimize silos between management, operations, service providers and equipment manufacturers. What that looks like took several directions:

1. Increasing transparency by using aligning OEM and operator goals through shared tools and open OEM technical information.
2. Optimizing data access through reliable real-time data, as well as standard measures of asset performance tracking and efficiency.
3. Prioritizing information and data through decreased noise. This would be achieved through less and better-connected systems, as well as data systems that are actionable.
4. Optimizing field services through data-driven maintenance that is less manual, facilitates the capture of “tribal knowledge,” and switches operations from reactive to proactive.

Learn more: The executive view vs. the director/manager view

Wondering which group was more focused on safety? Information transparency? It’s not what you’d expect.

Join AWEA for a webinar on March 28 at noon ET to learn what differed between the two operational excellence sessions at AWEA OMS, and how they prioritized the challenges and opportunities. REGISTER HERE.