SAP : Managing Utility Assets with SAP Leonardo

The biggest challenge in the utilities industry is asset management. All utility companies own many large, complex machines that provide water, electricity, or gas to customer homes and businesses constantly.

Yet it is difficult for utility companies to keep these assets fully operational every day, all year long. Managers must figure out how to minimize downtime and maximize uptime.

To make maintenance processes easier, faster, and safer, SAP Leonardo for Utilities uses Internet of Things (IoT) technology to collect information from utilities' assets and then analyzes the information in SAP Cloud Platform. Sensors gather information specific to each asset and send it to the cloud, allowing everyone in the company to access the information. This versatile kit can manage water, gas, electricity, and wind assets of big power plants, distribution grids, individual homes (solar panels), and even wind farms.

Anticipated benefits of using SAP Leonardo for Utilities, service and assets option, include:

• Reduced power outages
• Improved customer satisfaction
• Improved overall equipment effectiveness
• Reduced maintenance effort and cost
• Improved replacement and investment strategy

By automating the collection and analysis of asset information, utility companies can track each asset's activity, better predict when service is needed, and prevent downtime. Connecting the assets to the cloud improves ease of accessibility.

In the past, maintenance was conducted on a set time interval, such as monthly or quarterly. This was costly and inefficient. With the service and assets option, managers no longer assume when their assets need to be fixed; they can schedule maintenance appointments when they are needed. This will help decrease maintenance costs and improve asset uptime, to ultimately aid in reducing the amount of power outages and increasing revenue and customer satisfaction.

SAP Leonardo for Utilities utilizes new sensors that provide health indicators-like current electricity output or temperature of the asset-in real time. This is useful in the case of underground assets, often buried under concrete or structures. Rather than tearing up an entire road to service a gas leak, it is safer and less expensive to have sensors identify which part of the line has been compromised.

SAP has been working on this use case for some time. With Siemens, SAP Leonardo for Utilities, service and assets option, aids wind power technicians by making the repair process easier. Knowing which turbine to repair and what the problem is, Siemens technicians can spend less time in dangerous areas.

SAP Leonardo for Utilities, service and assets option, can help with asset management for utility companies by monitoring the health of transformers, gas lines, wind mills, and water dams. It uses SAP Cloud Platform to keep all involved parties informed. And, by lowering maintenance costs and reducing the chances of power outages, it can improve customer satisfaction.