Boosting collaboration with holistic operations control

Written by Emily Li, Senior Product Marketing Specialist, AVEVA

All you have to do is look around to see that workers are using their own commercial smart devices in plants and factories. In fact, this trend is so pervasive that ARC Advisory Group recommends that organizations should use HMI software that can deploy on any device using HTML5 technology.¹

Making HMI available on multiple different kinds of devices is more than just a simple technological change—it opens the door to a whole new approach to operations control. Once workers can access HMI on any device, wherever they are, they’re able to collaborate more effectively and put data to better use.

There are three ways you can use modern operations control to enhance collaboration and solve common industrial challenges.

1. Give teams data they can use

Operations data is only as good as what you can do with it. There’s no sense collecting data and compiling reports that don’t result in any changes or improvements.

Modern operation systems structure data hierarchically so that everyone in your organization can easily use it for valuable tasks and predictive analytics. With structured data, any team can use advanced AI and model-derived analytics to get new insights. Then, they can share those insights to normalize best practices and provide early warnings of potential issues.

2. Reduce lag with reports and analytics for multi-level teams

Out-of-the-box automated reporting and analytics make getting and sharing insights even easier. These automated reports fast-track decisions and break down barriers that would otherwise disrupt collaboration. When reports and analysis come in, teams at all levels and locations can discuss them over messages and chats and call for real-time assistance if something doesn’t look right.

3. Close knowledge and communication gaps

With employee shortages and workforce fatigue, organizations need to do more with fewer people, who are often less experienced. Collaborative digital applications bring employees together from across the plant or even across the country so they can pool their knowledge and improve everyone’s work effectiveness. News feeds, real-time chats, call-for-help, digital knowledge bases and reports help inexperienced employees learn from veterans and give everyone the digital dexterity to tackle more tasks than they could otherwise.

All in all, new subscription-based operations tools deliver greater capability and scalability, while ensuring workers stay connected and have access to critical information when and where they need it.

1. ARC Advisory Group. “Human Machine Interface Software Global Market Research Study 2020 – 2025” 2021, p. 28.