The Changing Role of the Operator

operator

The way operators perform their work has evolved, and they have become an increasingly more critical part of today’s business processes—significantly changing the way you operate and adding more value than ever before. The operator’s role has shifted from being purely functional to highly analytical, and they need tools to collect, connect, and act upon vast amounts of production data.

The modern Operator has evolved into a multi-faceted employee with increased responsibilities within a cross-functional role.  To drive excellence they no longer can be a specialist is a single process, rather they are now generalist that must incorporate much more of the process.  Today the Operator is a Key member of the team that requires the ability to reason, plan and solve problems in real-time.  They must utilise a wide-set of software solutions to present data, collaborate and automate advanced intelligent analysis.


GE Intelligent Platforms understands this paradigm shift, and we’re here to help you leverage the changing role of the Operator. Being at the forefront of advanced automation technology and one of the world's largest manufacturers, our open and integrated Proficy software solutions deliver powerful analytics and intelligence—empowering operators to:

  • Analyze large volumes of information from many sources
  • Make objective decisions based on complex, real-time information
  • Understand the system to solve problems quickly and effectively
  • Proactively drive change for greater operational efficiency

Within today’s competitive environment incorporating corporate efficiency directives, greener production, rising raw material costs and competition in the market place.  it is not sustainable to have specific Operators focused on an individual process and machine.  To meet today’s challenges Operators need the right tools to keep them engaged.   Systems are now been developed with heavy input from the Operator, moving away from being purely functional data solutions into intelligent, analytical systems.  IT, IS and Engineering groups are increasingly looking for Operator feedback on initiatives and software purchases to ensure solutions provide value-added information to Users and not just data visibility.

No longer are Operators simply working within their traditional functional boundaries with established guidelines and procedures to maintain status quo.  They are increasingly expected to leverage their knowledge to make objective real-time decisions, which means they need a deeper understanding of the various factors that impact on the entire process -  And have the ability to use that knowledge to improve planning and problem solving with more proactive measures.

Further More:  International Analysis John Hawkesworth and Gordon Cookson advised that manufacturing will be lead by India and China within 50 years.  (Data acquired from The World Bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers 2008).

GE-IP sales in these regions support this and they continue to grow every year.  GE-IP as one of the world’s largest manufacturers warns that more emphasis needs to be placed on getting “More For Less”.  This means streamlined production lines that conserve energy, reduced downtime and waste, more pro-active maintenance systems and tighter integration with the business/ERP systems, thus offering leaner production processes.  A key focus within GE manufacturing sites is to empower their Operators with the tools to obtain better, more consistent results with the objective to remain competitive against international competitors, especially from the developing markets.

Driving Operator Effectiveness and Intelligence

GE’s Proficy HMI/SCADA software solutions offer easy-to-use, off-the-shelf analytics and informational tools that help operators quickly leverage HMI/SCADA data with more intelligence - driving higher value of such data with alarms, events and process information. Our unique features support the way today’s operators need to work, focusing on how they interact with the system, to enable better, faster and more informed decision-making:

  • Added Attention and Focus – Replacing screens with 500 data points, operators can leverage Proficy’s new features in runtime screens with contextualized help, automatic focusing scripts, and enhanced process visualizations.
  • Easy Sharing and Replay Functionality – Operators can share data by email, capture moments in time, and record data and screen activity for easy team collaboration.
  • Web Interfaces – Operators can view, control, and troubleshoot their system with full functionality from anywhere, providing mobility that is vital for increased productivity and collaboration.
  • Historical Trending – Proficy’s dynamic control of objects on the screens enables operators to analyze issues, identify root causes, and take actions to avoid future problems.
  • Automatic Analytics – Analytics tools enable operators to reduce their time to action via constant analysis into real-time alarm information and comparisons against historical models to direct the operator to what is wrong and why.
  • Predictive Analytics – With intelligent preemptive alarm and failure events, operators can proactively avoid process issues and downtime.

GE-IP's recent “More For Less” software releases that enhance the already successful HMI/SCADA platform

  • proficysoa  (Integrated S95/88 Platform)
  • Proficy Alarm Response Management   (Dispense of nuisance alarms)
  • Proficy Workflow  (Work Process Management)
  • Proficy Troubleshooter (Smart Historian)
  • Proficy Cause+ (Enhanced HMI/SCADA)