On KPIs for efficient asset fleet management

Fleet management exists in domains like vehicle fleet management but is not done widely in process industries. The benefits of enabling fleet management result from the economies of scale, due to better asset management and other factors. With increasing complexity, it becomes important to break down available information to a level that can easily be understood by a human. Also, it must be considered that different users of the systems in the process industry have different interests and the displayed information should be tailored to the specific role.
Based on a case study of a compressor fleet, key performance indicators (KPIs) for the assessment of asset fleets are proposed. Different dimensions from the operator to the C-level management point of view are considered. A set of KPIs is introduced and suggestions for the adaption to the specific user for enhancement of user-friendliness and user-management are made. While the KPI standard ISO 22400 mainly concerns KPIs for manufacturing operations management at plant level, the scope of this work brings the focus to the enterprise level from an operational and resource efficiency point of view.
In a further step, it is important to incorporate these KPIs into optimization and improvement measures across the fleet instead of sole visualization of information. The aim is to step towards a closer integration of different layers in the automation pyramid, such as scheduling and planning.