Production Intelligence
What is Production Intelligence?
'Industrial Analysis Made Easy'
Production Intelligence is an analytical framework developed by Pattern Discovery Technologies to easily and effectively analyse plant performance. Production Intelligence leverages existing investments in technology and infrastructure and provides a unified platform to unlock knowledge hidden in plant operating data. It consists of:
- Material Flow Data Model (MFDM)
- Extraction, Transformation and Loading (ETL) Tools
- Integrated Data Repository (IDR)
- Modular Analytical Applications
The applications, driven by end-user requirements, are sophisticated analytical tools and predictive models that create actionable views of plant performance. By connecting, transforming and presenting plant data in a unified fashion, Production Intelligence reveals new and exciting opportunities for process improvement. The following figure illustrates the components of a Production Intelligence framework.
Components of a Production Intelligence Framework
Establishing Context ~ The Material Flow Data Model
Complex industrial processes pose a unique data analysis challenge for process engineers and data mining experts. Sophisticated systems that manage and control the production process serve unique purposes and are seldom linked to provide an "overall view" of the operation. Data is often stored in separate databases and in different formats, making it extremely difficult to link events in an informative way.
Data integrity issues such as volume, errors and omissions compound the problem and must be rationalized before any meaningful analysis can be done. Pre-processing data, including working with subject matter experts to establish "context" for each data element, rationalizing data integrity issues and developing data models suitable for analysis, consume much of an analyst's time. To streamline this prerequisite, Pattern Discovery Technologies has developed the Material Flow Data Model (MFDM) which is designed to capture context knowledge and ensure data can be used readily and efficiently in downstream analysis applications.
The Material Flow Data Model is the foundation of the Production Intelligence framework. It is a representation or schema of the operational flow of data throughout the entire process and mirrors the readily understood material flow through the plant. Building on generic elements of material inputs, outputs and transformations, the MFDM establishes "data relationships" across the entire production process. Regardless of how the data is generated or where the data is stored, it can now be linked to other data elements in the operation, providing a clear picture of circumstances and situations that occurred at point of capture.
The MFDM also ensures that data conforms to specific standards, capturing errors, omissions and data gaps that may exist with each data source. As new sources of data become available, it is simply a matter of "plug and play" to incorporate this new information.
In addition to establishing context for the data within the industrial process, the MFDM also provides the computational logic necessary to drive analysis applications.
