Making more of plant asset management

The worldwide market for plant asset management (PAM) systems is set to grow by around 10% a year over the next five years, according to a study by the ARC Advisory Group. The market is currently worth more than $1.1billion and is forecast to exceed $1.8billion by 2009.

‘PAM systems are rapidly becoming the initiative of choice of manufacturers in today’s competitive environment,’ says ARC research director, Wil Chin. ‘Improving management of capital assets is one of the best ways to increase productivity with little to virtually no production upsets.’

The ARC study observes that previous PAM solutions monitored automation assets or rotating and reciprocating equipment - basically condition monitoring - but a new breed of solutions combines both. Combining information from intelligent field devices, sensors and process information in the right context, says Chin, has proven to be a viable way of identifying problems and assessing the health and performance of any asset.

Editor’s note: This month Invensys Process Systems announced a series of asset performance management solutions that brings together technology and expertise from across the group - including Foxboro, Avantis, SimSci-Esscor, Triconex and Wonderware - and partners such as Swantech (a specialist in stress wave analysis technology for condition monitoring). The initial solutions include monitors for field devices, control loops and plant equipment, along with system-level monitors for alarm and security management.