Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, has announced EcoStruxure Process Safety Advisor, an IIoT-based digital process safety platform and service that enables customers to visualize and analyze real-time hazardous events and risks to their enterprise-wide assets, operations and business performance.
Safety Advisor is built on Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure SIF Manager application for tracking and validating safety instrumented function (SIF) performance over the life of a plant. It provides a single view into the health and status of the user’s safety instrumented functions, which helps to identify potential risks and their impact on operations performance.
Platform- and vendor-agnostic, Safety Advisor uniquely extends the functionality of SIF Manager. Using a secure, cloud-based infrastructure, Safety Advisor aggregates real-time data, analytics and insights from multiple sites and geographies into a single user interface so customers can create an accurate, enterprise-wide risk profile in real time. It also identifies the need to take corrective action via easy-to-understand performance dashboards and leading indicators for safety health and then documents the entire process using an embedded SIF audit trail that supports safety compliance.†
“EcoStruxure Process Safety Advisor enables the industrial workforce to create a closed-loop safety model that validates actual performance against original design criteria,” said†Sven Grone, safety services practice leader, Schneider Electric. “Because they can now accurately predict when safety risks will exceed acceptable thresholds, they are better able to avoid incidents and reduce downtime, while improving the efficiency, reliability, and profitability of their operations. At the end of the day, Safety Advisor ramps up our customers’ ability to run safely, comply with safety regulations and drive measurable results to the bottom line.”† ††
EcoStruxure is Schneider Electric’s open, interoperable, IoT-enabled system architecture and platform. EcoStruxure delivers enhanced value around safety, reliability, efficiency, sustainability, and connectivity for customers. EcoStruxure leverages advancements in IoT, mobility, sensing, cloud, analytics, and cybersecurity to deliver Innovation at Every Level. This includes Connected Products, Edge Control, and Apps, Analytics and Services. EcoStruxure has been deployed in 480,000+ sites, with the support of 20,000+ system integrators and developers, connecting over 1.6 million assets under management through 40+ digital services.
A unique safety solution driving better business and operating decisions
Safety Advisor is the only solution on the market that consolidates and contextualizes past, present and future operating risks and performance data for the entire enterprise across multiple sites and geographies. The visual clues, statistics, and analysis of past and present performance improve decision making and help owners, managers and operators mitigate risks before they become a serious safety incident.
First, it collects, digitizes and analyzes local data from existing safety systems, process control systems and other layers of protection and accurately monitors gaps between their design and actual performance. It then provides contextual insight into past, present and future operating risks on real-time operating conditions.
From there, Safety Advisor aggregates data from every site into a secure cloud platform, with a single searchable interface that provides a dynamic view into enterprise-wide operating risks. Users can then drill down to visualize risks related to individual sites, process units, hazards, protection layers, and safety device integrity.
“ARC research shows that operating profitably and safely requires personnel to understand their past, present and future risks,” said†Mark Sen Gupta, director of research, ARC Advisory Group. “Having an automated system that provides that critical insight ensures every member of the organization—from corporate and business managers all the way down to a site maintenance technician—can make fully informed decisions about how to best operate their assets safely. Having immediate access to this information, in near real time and via a single cloud-based user interface, provides a necessary single source of truth. ARC believes solutions like Safety Advisor will drive more effective collaboration, faster resolution of past and current issues and faster detection of potential issues before they become problems.”
Real-time measures for real-time†profitability control, safely
Safety Advisor enables customers to understand their risks within minutes, and then act decisively to drive better business results.
“In order to move from managing your operating and business risks to controlling them, you need to be able to accurately measure the performance of every of layer of protection, as well as every piece of equipment, process unit, plant area, and plant, in real time,” said†Steve Elliott, senior marketing director, Process Automation control and safety offerings, Schneider Electric. “Safety Advisor establishes those ongoing, real-time measures. Because it helps our customers determine how hard they can safely drive their assets and operations, they can begin to control their business risks, including risks to the safety, sustainability, efficiency, reliability and, most importantly, profitability of their operations, in real time.”
