The Power of Organization
Everything, Everywhere!
At a small brewery with limited engineering staff, I stepped into a project management role where I was tasked with organizing all the process equipment that had started coming in. There were pumps, valves, instruments, vessels – if you could think of it, it was being delivered.
At the time, all this equipment had been strewn across various pockets around the plant. The issue was the trade crews had also started arriving and needed parts – now!!
The civil contractors needed the dimensions of the heat exchanger so they could erect pillars strong enough to support the wet weight.
The electricians needed to know the rating of the pumps to correctly size the breakers.
The construction crews needed to know which piece of equipment was already on site so they could staff accordingly.
Actually, everybody needed answers like yesterday!
Let’s get it together
My task was to organize everything.
I grabbed a P&ID and an empty trailer and went to work (P&ID = Piping & Instrumentation Drawing).
I started organizing each piece of equipment under general groupings.
Process Equipment:
- Pumps
- Valves
- Instrumentation
Then, I broke it down by equipment ID:
- P-100
- V-100
- TI-100
Then I arranged it in alphabetical order:
- P-100
- TI-100
- V-100
With the P&ID in hand I was able to quickly identify all the equipment that was already on site.
Cha-ching!
With this newfound information, the Plant Manager saw an opportunity to finally be able to reconcile the mountain of invoices sitting in his inbox.
Using the data set I had built, I was able to cross check each piece of equipment against its associated invoice.
And as luck would have it (or preparation meeting opportunity), I discovered the brewery had been overcharged by a total of $55,000. Whoa!!!
The Plant Manager bought me lunch that day! Ha!
He was so impressed with how just a little bit of organization – well quite a lot actually – had already saved him $55,000.
Knowledge is Power
When it comes to your SAP Systems, do you really know where each piece of equipment goes?
But let’s take a step back, is each piece of equipment even in SAP?
Remember that upstream process area upgrade from 2 years ago? Is that new bioreactor in SAP? And if it is, are all the critical instruments, safety devices, and electrical components also accurately captured in SAP?
If a mechanic were to be called to the floor right now, would he be confident he could charge his work order to the correct equipment tag in SAP?
How much are you paying your mechanic to sift through SAP again?
Oh, that’s right, you’re actually paying him to fix the equipment, not get lost in SAP.
That’s where Eluciniere comes in.
We bring close to two decades of Process Engineering experience to the table to help you get the most out of your SAP license.
After all, you’re already paying for it – let’s optimize how you use it.
Let’s start a project today to make sure you’re not missing out on $55,000 buried somewhere in SAP.