Data investigation and analytics development in support of plant maintenance operations planning

主要工业设施是维持生活质量、推动经济发展的支柱，在改善阿尔伯塔省乃至整个加拿大的社会和环境可持续性方面也发挥着关键作用。数据驱动的分析决策支持对这些设施的关闭和维护项目至关重要。提高主要设备运行和整个生产系统运行的维护和维修计划的可靠性和可预测性对加拿大工业的战略竞争力至关重要。拟议的ENGAGE项目旨在开发和实施数据驱动的定量技术，以改进当前的实践，从而使工厂操作员能够以更科学和更积极的方式预测潜在的故障并计划适当的维护操作。目标是从历史数据中识别隐藏的模式和复杂的关系，以便在计划具有更高可靠性、效率和成本效益的维护操作时提供分析决策支持。大部分的研究（包括数据分析、算法开发和测试）将由阿尔伯塔大学的PI团队进行。合作伙伴公司（帝国石油公司Kearl工厂维护团队）将促进现场相关信息和数据的收集，并提供有关主要设备、传感器和工厂操作和维护实践的技术知识。这个ENGAGE项目将有助于扩大亚利桑那大学和其他加拿大主要大学建筑工程与管理（CEM）研究项目的范围和影响。因此，机电管理不仅局限于设计和建造阶段，还包括大型基建项目整个生命周期内的运作和维修阶段。这也有利于让所有利益相关者都参与进来，实施新兴技术，并应用科学方法来更好地管理项目。****************

Major industrial facilities act as the pillars to sustain the quality of life, drive economic developments and also play a pivotal part in improving social and environmental sustainability in Alberta, and in Canada at large. Data-driven, analytical decision support for planning shutdown and maintenance projects on those facilities is vitally important. Improving reliability and predictability in developing maintenance and repair programs for major equipment operation as well as the operation of the entire production system is crucial to strategic competitiveness of the Canadian industry. The proposed ENGAGE project is intended to develop and implement data-driven quantitative techniques to improve current practices so as to enable plant operators to predict potential failures and plan for proper maintenance operations in a more scientific and proactive fashion. The goal is to identify hidden patterns and complex relationships from the historical data so as to lend analytical decision support in planning maintenance operations with higher reliability, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. The majority of the research (including data analysis, algorithm development and testing) will be performed by the PI's team at University of Alberta. The partner company (Kearl Plant Maintenance Crew, Imperial Oil Ltd.) will facilitate the collection of related information and data from the site and provide technical know-how on major equipment, sensors, and plant operations and maintenance practices. This ENGAGE project will contribute to broadening the scope and impact of Construction Engineering and Management (CEM) research programs at U of A and other major Canadian universities. As such, CEM is not limited to the design and construction phases, but to encompass the operations and maintenance phase in the full life cycle of a major capital project. This is also conducive to having all the stakeholders on board to implement emerging technologies and apply scientific approaches for better project management. ****************