Lethabo jolted awake in bed as his phone rang at 2:00 in the morning. As the senior maintenance and operations manager at one of the largest plants in South Africa, he was used to this. He spoke to the security manager on the line for a few minutes then started getting dressed. Cable theft. About 50 metres. Power outages for kilometres. “At least everyone else is sleeping,” he thought as he got into the car to head to the plant, “but something has to change.”
Security incidents logged
Asset inspections reported
Reduction in crime activities
What needed to change was data. More specifically, the way data was received and analysed to create awareness and coordination - to move from reactiveness to proactiveness.
Large key infrastructure sites, such as the power-generating plant Lethabo works at, have multiple sources of data for each function such as a security company to ensure the site is protected, maintenance teams to ensure uninterrupted running of equipment and processes and workforce management to ensure that the workers are operating efficiently. The problem? These functions are integrated but their data isn’t. This makes it difficult to get a holistic view of how these sites are operating - and to make informed decisions quickly.
Security and maintenance is primarily run over WhatsApp, with chat groups created for each function. With between 200 to 500 messages being sent every day, it’s common for an incident to get lost in the noise, leading to increased security threats and operations failures, with many hours spent every week trying to compile and make sense of these incidents.
Turning unstructured, ineffective data into the fastest insights on the planet.
This specific site implemented The Awareness Company’s HYDRA solution in June 2021, as their single source of truth. HYDRA takes an influx of new and existing data from people, sensors and systems and transforms it into insightful stories that are easily understood and interpreted into action.
The plant was able to optimise operations with real-time data and deep insights at every step.
You can’t improve what you can't measure and you can’t influence what you have no awareness of. Getting the right insights and awareness at the plant is now possible as their entire process is digitised, from security and monitoring to operations and maintenance - and the coordination of it all.
The need for multiple chat groups have been removed. With HYDRA, the data segregation means that sensitive data is only shared with security personnel and intelligence teams that require that level of awareness. Employees have been using HYDRA effectively, diligently logging, tracking and reacting to incidents as they happen. They are also becoming more aware and educated on the types of incidents to log and what constitutes a suspicious activity.
Management receives real-time high-level awareness of these incidents as well as critical analysis afterwards of how the incident was handled. HYDRA also provides a command and control function, so during an incident, all stakeholders have immediate knowledge of who is the closest available security personnel and who can be deployed. All of this has had an immediate impact on reducing the security threats at the site.
Improving operational efficiencies reduces costs. The site will save thousands of rands on CCTV maintenance as artificial intelligence (AI) camera traps replace the need to monitor the CCTV cameras around the clock, by providing instant alerts. AI also filters out false triggers from wildlife on the site, which reduces wasted time and effort investigating such movements.
More costs have been saved with the digitisation of the fuel delivery process. The amount of fuel is measured in the tanker before and after it is transferred. This reduces the possibility of the plant being fraudulently charged for an entire tanker of fuel but not receiving the full tanker of fuel. The number of fuel trucks required has reduced from approximately 30 a day to 10 a day, resulting in massive savings.
One of the frequent causes of loadshedding, conveyor belts that feed coal into the generation units often break down. Before, maintenance only became aware of this if someone saw that the conveyor belt was not moving. Now the drone insights and sensors feed into HYDRA and they get immediate notification so it can be fixed. This has a direct impact on increasing the plant’s efficiency, influencing power outages and reducing loadshedding.
Tracking people allows stakeholders to see if personnel are arriving on schedule and performing duties efficiently. Digitising the drone and security operations has reduced the time spent on arduous admin. Reports for weekly operational meetings and board meetings are generated at the click of a button, providing management with the in-depth analysis they need.
In time, patterns will emerge and a story will unfold that will allow the plant to understand its risk better. Patterns not only with the incidents that occur, but also with the behaviour of employees in using the system. This will improve coordination and prevent internal security threats. These patterns will also help them understand and analyse the reason behind crime incidents to predict and prevent future threats.
HYDRA provides holistic digitisation of all operations, which means that any function can be added and expanded on the same system to meet all needs, current and future.
This story is not unique to this power plant. Their challenges are experienced by almost all key infrastructure sites. We understand that every business operates differently. That’s why HYDRA is built with flexibility that allows us to tailor the solution to your business processes within days. Digitisation of your business can be up and running in less than a week. We walk the digitisation journey with you, ensuring your requirements, objectives and key results are met. With the power of HYDRA, we help you do what you do better, with maximum ROI and total awareness of your operations.
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Lethabo jolted awake in bed as his phone rang at 2:00 in the morning. As the senior maintenance and operations manager at one of the largest plants in South Africa, he was used to this. He spoke to the security manager on the line for a few minutes then started getting dressed. Cable theft.
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