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Smartflow’s consultants have conducted thorough research internally and externally, getting input directly from the field workers. In our line of business, the adoption of technology by the field worker is as important as the introduction and implementation of it by the business leaders.
Among the most important goals inspectors have set for themselves or are trained to pursue are delivering complete checklists according to the customers’ specifications, ensuring the integrity and quality of the product by submitting complete inspection reports, reducing risks by making sure all inspections are delivered and approved in time and create a predictive work environment by gathering data that can help anticipate production and shipment delays.
Digital Inspections requirements
Transitioning from paper to digital is not enough. What can inspectors do with the new tool that replaces their paper clips? How can that tool enhance and simplify their efforts, and most importantly, how can it provide room for improvement in daily operations?
Consider the following scenarios
Mark is an HSE inspector and has an administrator role in the Smartflow app. He needs his app to allow him to easily create different inspection checklists to perform those checks on different assets.
Ronald, chief inspector, performs daily routine and/or on-routine inspections. As a user of the app, he wants to quickly search and select an inspection checklist for a specific asset to perform the inspection and assure the quality of the delivered asset in time, with no delays or errors.
Rebeca, senior inspector, is responsible for inspecting tank gauging equipment at a tank storage site. She wants to have the option to perform inspections offline when the worksite has no internet access to prevent any delays or risks that can occur because complete inspections were not submitted in time.
Mike is a contract inspector, and he is performing industrial plant inspections, periodic external inspections, overhaul or shutdown internal inspections, and emergency shutdown inspections. His main request as a user is to see all inspections of an asset in one go, so he knows which inspections have been performed by who, when, and what important findings have been shared.
Jamie is a lead coating inspector. He uses Smartflow to perform painting inspections and test plans, surface dust test inspections, surface profile measurement inspections, and when required, SSPC-SP 10 Near-White Metal Blast Cleaning, a very important item on coating inspection.
The most important feature for him is to be able to send the inspections to the responsible person for approval in real-time, so he can stay assured the inspection is performed as requested and there’s no need to come back to repeat it or worse that he missed anything as per the customer coating specification.
Christine works as an auditor and inspector general. She has admin roles within Smartflow. Her main responsibility is quality control for analyzer, field control system, control valve, displacer type level transmitter, electromagnetic flowmeter, emergency shutdown system, float type level switch, gas and flame detector, glass gauge, and many others.
Each activity in the quality control department needs a specific form, which has to be completed and signed by the quality control personnel and third-party inspector. For Christine, one of the most crucial elements in the Smartflow solution is to have the possibility to place comments in an issue so that she can inform everyone involved in this issue of any regularities, extra mentions, corrective action procedures.
Erik is terminal superintended, and he is responsible for the ISGOTT documentation. He has to make sure that all the ship/shore documents are already created and ready to be filled digitally once a ship arrives at the terminal. For Erik, it is vital that he has already filled the already existing ISGOTT templates before the ship arrives and that the checklist pre-fills information while the hands’ shake procedure takes place. While Erik is meeting the ship charger, his team back in the office can see what he fills in the checklist in real-time.
Peter is a technical inspector. Daily, he works with fixed equipment like pressure vessels, heat exchangers, piping systems, industrial valves, etc. To assure top quality of his inspections and to provide concrete information backed up by visual proof, the most useful feature in Smartflow that he makes use of daily is uploading documents (pdfs or pictures) and connecting the issues to others so more users can see the additional information in other data forms and solve the issue faster.
How can organizations support their inspectors with digital checklists and forms?
By introducing a connected worker solution that aims to ease field workers’ workload and simplify processes, organizations facilitate collaboration and transparency.
When frontline workers carry on their inspections or tasks digitally, in real-time, they can capture historical data, monitor it, collect it, and report any key findings, alarms, or events, more accessible, faster, with just a click. With a real-time alarm and notification system, these situations are visible to all key stakeholders. No issue can be missed giving decision-makers enough time to strategize their following action and field workers’ the right tools to perform their inspections with little challenges.
Final Thoughts
Do you want to equip inspectors with the right tools to perform their work always to meet customers’ expectations?
Get in touch and speak to our consultants about your needs and expectations. Get a live demo so you can assess if our solutions is the one for you.
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