Disruptions in critical infrastructure, such as power outages, water distribution issues, or industrial shutdowns, can have serious consequences. Critical infrastructure consists of physical structures and digital operations, but as system automation increases, their reliability increasingly depends on information management.
– Protecting critical infrastructure today requires high-quality automation information management. Up-to-date and easily accessible information ensures that the power stays on, the water remains clean, and production continues, says Juha Nissilä, CEO of Vitec ALMA.
– In mechanical maintenance, 80% of disruptions are related to equipment failures. In electrical maintenance, half of the faults are related to equipment, and half are resolved through equipment-related documentation. In automation fault maintenance, 20% are related to equipment, and 80% of disruption resolution involves equipment documentation. This must be considered in improving reliability, as faults are often challenging to locate, and poor information management prolongs the resolution time, Nissilä continues to justify his claim.
Nissilä speaks from experience. Vitec ALMA has been developing the ALMA® management system, suitable for asset management, design, maintenance, documentation, and project management in the technical field, for nearly forty years.
In many critical infrastructure organizations, technical information is scattered across different systems, network drives, or even paper documents. This complicates fault resolution and slows down decision-making in critical situations.
– We have seen fault situations where finding the right document can take hours or even days. Or if the information is not even stored, it has to be collected manually from the field, which is too slow in a critical situation. Think, for example, of power grids where substations are scattered over a wide area, Nissilä explains.
Another common challenge is information aging. When power grids or automation systems are updated, documentation management can lag behind.
– If the information is outdated, then in the worst case, irrelevant information may be sought when fixing a fault.
If the information is stored, it must also be accessible when it is most needed.
– In critical infrastructure, we cannot rely solely on cloud services. If connections are lost and the information is only online, we are in trouble. Documentation must also be available offline. Preparedness is crucial, and we have taken this into account in the ALMA system, Nissilä emphasizes.
The competitive advantage of the ALMA management system is that it combines the information management of mechanical devices, electrical connections, and networks into one system.
– As a result, our customers know what the overall facility is like. Our customers can check at once whether the signals are correctly routed to the cross-connections of the substation controls. Fault resolution is most effective when it is known how the facility normally operates.
Vitec ALMA's clientele consists of critical operators for society, such as power plants, water plants, and process industry companies, for whom continuity, reliability, operational reliability, and secure solutions are important.
– If you feel any uncertainty about whether information management and preparedness are in order, it is worth at least discussing with us. Let's ensure that you know the right things to secure critical infrastructure, Nissilä encourages.