Re-think your efficiency strategy
Globally, manufacturers and plant managers are constantly seeking to improve their output while reducing their overhead costs. ANT Telecom's upcoming webinar on Wednesday 16th April 2014 will show how we have worked with plant managers to overcome communications issues to improve plant uptime and efficiency.
Alerts and alarms are a key area where plant managers like you are looking to achieve these goals. Normally, alerts and alarms are received in the plant control room, where staff respond to them manually. The responses required are varied: individual staff members may need to be directed to the site of the alert to make a repair or reset a system; a whole team may need to be contacted in order to respond to the alert, which can be laborious if they are in different locations around the plant. If the alarm is related to hazards such as fire or a chemical leak, the entire plant may need to be evacuated. Manually routing each and every alarm is a time-consuming task, requiring round-the-clock monitoring and tying up manpower that could be usefully deployed elsewhere. The delays that can occur while manually relaying alerts to staff ' if they cannot be found, for example, or if there are multiple alerts sounding simultaneously ' also impact on time to repair machinery. This in turn affects the total plant downtime and therefore the plant's output.
In addition to these procedural concerns, the diverse environments in even one plant present a range of challenges to communications equipment. Electromagnetic interference from machinery may render standard GSM technology or basic radio equipment inoperable, and in a noisy environment it can be impossible to communicate effectively by voice alone. In some environments there may even be specialist requirements, such as ATEX certification, which equipment has to meet in order to be safe to use. If a plant's communications systems are not reliable, or cannot be used across the whole site, then response times to alerts (either from the control room or from other colleagues) will be slowed, possibly hampering safety, productivity and efficiency.
Only rarely will a single system approach to plant communications be effective; the range of challenges faced by plants like yours will often require a multi-layered approach, and finding the best solution can be complex. ANT Telecom's consultative approach to these solutions makes the process far easier. By taking the time to understand the unique requirements of your business, we can select the right system platform from our portfolio that includes IP DECT, digital radio, VoWiFi or PMN and design a solution tailored to your needs. In short: partnering ANT Telecom will help you find the right solution for your plant.
ANT Telecom's webinar on Wednesday 16th April, at 1pm is designed to showcase the benefits that a tailor-built communications solution can deliver. ANT's 30 years' experience working with Covance, Severn Trent Water as well as pharmaceutical giants and international whiskey distillers make this a must-attend event for anyone interested in helping their business keep turning, keep running, and keep safe. To sign up for the webinar, visit www.anttele.com/webinar
