Process plants are no strangers to optimisation. Managers calibrate pumps, machines and production lines to achieve maximum efficiency, while automation helps drive consistency, creating a modern plant environment that is thoroughly streamlined and equipped to meet growing demand.
One area of optimisation that is easy to overlook while chasing a perfectly tailored plant is the spatial layout of the workfloor, says Jose Rojas, NAM Sales Engineering Manager at Pelco. How workers move through a facility and interact with equipment directly impacts productivity and safety outcomes, two components that contribute to the overall efficiency of a process plant. While incremental gains will no doubt come from further refining core systems, the next competitive edge may lie in human-designed spaces that emphasise dexterity and minimise physical sources of friction.
The ignored cost of inefficient movement
Plant evolution is often tied to machinery. A new piece of technology makes grinding or synthesising new materials cheaper and/or faster. If it can integrate into the existing infrastructure without too many problems, it earns a space on the floor. In isolation, this approach makes sense, but it can create a situation in which personnel constantly change how they move around and interact with the machines.
Temporary measures become permanent, stacked atop other temporary measures that have followed a similar trajectory. Workers waste time walking excessive distances, cross high-traffic areas that put them at risk of harm and go back and forth between control points and the equipment they govern. These patterns cause fatigue, opening the door to mistakes that reduce efficiency and stall recovery efforts, a particularly undesirable outcome amid soaring operational prices.
The hidden value of security measures
The means of detecting and analysing movement are now accessible in ways similar to metrics on machine performance and inventory, albeit contained within traditionally separate systems. Physical security measures, such as video systems and access controls, combine with and augment digital twins and procedural analytics by providing real-time data on movement patterns.
Security processes that contribute to situational awareness and workplace safety generate data on routing and congestion, helping locate inefficiencies. Certain areas may experience bottlenecks, or pathways could be blocked by machinery, and plant managers equipped with this information can take active steps to make their floor layout more human-centric.
The broader shift towards “Industry 4.0” primarily focuses on leveraging AI and automation to enhance data-driven decision-making. While people flow design can seem a little analogue on paper, the combined use of systems to generate insight with optimisation in mind places it firmly in line with this emerging design philosophy.
Physical security should therefore be seen as a strategic asset in process plants, one that helps meet compliance requirements and mitigate common external threats such as theft, while enabling safer and more efficient operations through insight into movement and behaviour.
Improved maintenance through movement analysis
Traditional maintenance metrics like cost and completion time don’t provide a fully comprehensive picture of how repairs are carried out. A paper from the University of Strathclyde on worker movement patterns in smart factories shows that the time spent travelling to and from inventories and machines is a hidden, but impactful variable worth considering. Maintenance crews might traipse across a factory floor several times, fetching components and tools as they learn more about the severity of the issue.
Relying on data from a malfunctioning machine to accurately characterise the nature of a fault is, self-evidently, an unsustainable practice. Repair workers in process plant settings will need to liaise with operators, engineers, and contractors, and move throughout the facility to collect parts and equipment. People-flow design facilitates these interactions in ways that systems cannot, using movement data to streamline necessary travel and improve response times to equipment faults.
Designing plants that centre people
It can not be understated how central automation is and will be to process plants in the future. However, as AI, robotics and cloud solutions become more advanced and accessible to operations of all sizes, the competitive edge they provide will diminish. People flow design, while less flashy and a much smaller investment than a procedural overhaul, offers a solution that is unique to each space.
Addressing inefficiencies in physical infrastructure by using systems like existing physical security measures that provide value elsewhere makes people flow design a unique, essentially proprietary advantage that automation itself cannot achieve.
Jose Rojas is a sales engineering manager at Pelco with 25 years of experience supporting enterprise customers around the world. He focuses on delivering tailored technical solutions and leading an engineering team that meets the needs of mission-critical clients.
