The management of alarms in the industry can be a problem for senior management when neglected, since it can directly interfere with the company’s plans and objectives.
With Industry 4.0 growing rapidly, it is essential to have methods to predict incidents, act quickly, and optimize resources in operations. In this sense, industrial alarms are essential for financial health.
Therefore, if you want to understand more about the topic, be sure to check out what alarm management in the industry is, its operation cycle and 7 advantages of its use. Enjoy your reading!
What is alarm management in the industry?
Alarm management in the industry consists of managing all aspects that involve the alarm system life cycle. Thus, it goes far beyond just monitoring, and it offers important advantages to the company.
How does alarm management work in the industry?
As mentioned earlier, alarm management operates at all stages of an alarm system’s life cycle. As such, it is important to understand each stage of this cycle more deeply.
Step 1: Ideology and Objective
Understanding the ideology of industrial alarm management is important in order to present the theme to all involved, generating engagement and commitment around the system.
By creating an ideology, all employees involved will be able to provide a more satisfactory answer with regards to other steps in the process, that is, the ideology reinforces the importance of alarm management in the industry — right from its first use, up until the creation of an audit plan.
Step 2: Data Collection and Identification
Once the ideology and purpose of alarm use are internalized, it is time to collect data to identify the need for installation or replacement of the alarm system.
At this macro stage, the alarms that will be used in the industrial system, as well as important information regarding next steps, will be identified.
Step 3: Documentation and Process
At this stage, alarm use rationalization takes place, as well as the industrial processes that accompany the life of the operator. And the more detailed the document, the better the quality of alarm management.
At this point, some characteristics need to be recorded, such as:
- Type of alarm used;
- Control point (or setpoint);
- Activation priority;
- Alarm rating;
- Document review process;
- Etc.
Although the ANSI/ISA 18.2 norm – responsible for guiding alarm management standards in the industry – does not make specific recommendations of what should be documented, it is necessary to involve the responsible technical team at this stage.
Step 4: Project Detailing
Once the previous steps have been properly performed, it is time to detail the project in the most appropriate manner, which can be accomplished with the use of 3 subtopics:
- Basic Alarm Project: addresses the statuses of the alarms, their uses and other logical functions, among other points;
- Human/machine interface for alarm systems: describes the best way to indicate each alarm to the operator, which can happen by means of audible, visual signals, etc.
- Advanced alarm methods: Provides guidance for implementing extra management techniques that are not present in standard control systems.
Step 5: Implementation
As the title itself suggests, it is at this stage that the whole plan will be put into practice, with the appropriate adjustments being made on a day-to-day basis.
The implementation step involves training, testing, adjustments and all the necessary documentation for the alarm system to work as expected, since the next step is, in fact, to start the operation of the alarms.
Step 6: Operation
The operation is the execution step of alarm management, where some adjustments can still be made, be they unexpected problem fixes or improvements. This step’s main function is to ensure that the alarms work as expected.
Step 7: Testing and Maintenance
The function of the tests is to validate that the alarm system in operation is functioning normally and that, if a fault is identified, maintenance will act quickly to ensure that the system starts functioning as expected again.
Thus, testing is a key element for good alarm management in the industry, and needs to be done on a regular basis to ensure system integrity.
Step 8: Change Monitoring and Management
At the eighth stage, we proactively conduct performance monitoring so that the system is validated, especially with regards to the ideology and objective of alarms in the industry.
If failures occur, whether by deterioration or obsolescence of technology, the monitoring step —through the system’s analysis and data—will indicate that it is time to act to prevent further damage.
Step 9: System Analysis and Audit
The last step in the alarm management cycle in the industry is more robust, and less frequent, and it entails monitoring the system as a whole.
In addition to analyzing the operational part, management practices , blind spots, system failures and performance problems are also evaluated in the audit stage.
As such, the audit needs to ensure that the ideology and health of the system are intact and working as planned.
Advantages of alarm management in the industry
With the growth of Industry 4.0, we have also seen a popularization of alarm systems, which are essential tools for the proper functioning of companies that rely heavily on process automation.
Along with alarm systems, there are also 7 advantages which are important not only for the industrial process, but also for the company as a whole:
- More safety in the industrial operation routine;
- Fewer resources spent on unexpected maintenances;
- Greater response speed for catastrophic events;
- More assertiveness in identifying equipment failures;
- More assertiveness in identifying production processes failures;
- Greater productivity in operations;
- Considerable improvement in business results.
So, as we can see, alarm management in the industry goes far beyond just increasing safety in operational areas —it has become vital in modern industry.
In practice, a high-quality alarm system will enable better results for the company, which as a result also becomes more competitive and prepared for the future.
Do you like the content? So, be sure to also read: What is the importance of technology in Industry 4.0: find out how it works and examples of its use
