Energy Assets Pursues Pole Position in Metering Operations
World-class motorsport data analytics informs new predictive maintenance regime
Meter installation engineers at Energy Assets look set to cut their carbon footprint, thanks to engagement with a specialist team from Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE).
Energy Assets, which has an install base of 900,000 meter assets, worked with the Business Dynamics Team from WAE – born from the Williams motorsports organisation - to review meter and data logger maintenance and performance. The outcomes included logistics innovations with the potential to reduce field engineer mileage annually by around 10%, along with enhancements in data capture and communication.
James Walker, Group IT Director at Energy Assets, said: “As a business, we have an innovation and continuous improvement mindset, so our objective was to collaborate with a partner external to the utilities industry who would bring a new lens to elements of our metering operations.
“In WAE Business Dynamics, we found a team capable of applying the world-class technology, analytics, logistics and data communication routinely used in F1 to offer a fresh perspective on established ways of working in our industry.”
The performance improvement consultancy team used big data tools to help Energy Assets develop an intelligent risk score covering fault monitoring and predictive maintenance, based on analysis of 250,000 meter assets across Britain.
These data mining insights allowed Energy Assets to take a fresh look at elements of its meter installation procedures, enabling them to plan and resource their field engineering teams more effectively. The WAE team also employed advanced diagnostics to inform a predictive meter maintenance regime alongside period-based schedules.
Said James Walker: “As a result, we have been able to optimise maintenance planning to minimise disruption to customers, clarify rules around fault diagnosis, and introduce innovations in logistics. For our engineers, this will mean more efficient scheduling, with the potential for a 10% reduction in journey mileage, and more responsive parts supply, which offers long-term value to our business and a service improvement for our customers.
“We were also able to benefit from WAE’s battery expertise regarding future energy meter battery deployment programmes and advance remote data communication and capture.”
Steven Houston, Head of Data Analytics in the Business Dynamics Team, said: “When you think about motorsport you think of operational excellence and data-driven decisions. Our team has been successfully bringing learnings from motorsport to drive performance improvement for our customers over the last four years. Energy Assets embraced these competencies and have been able to benefit from tangible productivity gains and operational efficiencies in their maintenance activities.”
