Smart mapping solutions provider Esri said industry leaders and government organisations such as Malaysia’s Pengurusan Aset Air Berhad (PAAB) are continuing to adopt advanced smart mapping technology to achieve the greatest benefit from their infrastructure.
The adoption of geospatial technology allows organisations (such as MIMOS, and the Royal Malaysian Police) to realise value for every Ringgit invested, said Esri Malaysia chief executive officer Lai Chee Siew, who added that the use of the technology was picking up pace gaining across the region as more organisations look for smarter approaches to maximising returns on asset and resource investments.
“Malaysia has always been well-regarded for its world-class infrastructure and facilities, however our traditional asset management practises are fast becoming out-dated,” Lai said.
“Today, best practice asset management goes well beyond maintaining inventories of equipment, property and in some instances people. It entails a greater element of situational awareness,” he said. “Network assets, continuously need planned and unplanned maintenance. Traditional approaches to asset management offer little more than a static stock count.”
Lai said advanced smart mapping technology – also known as Geographic Information System (GIS) technology – integrated data from various sources to create a dynamic view of information.
“Using GIS technology, network asset managers can instantly determine the location, condition, and ongoing cost of maintenance for high-value equipment,” he said. “They can see patterns of damage, leakage and loss and make more informed decisions when it comes to repair or redeployment of assets.”
Near real-time
Lai said the technology also helped to monitor service records, equipment efficiency indicators and historical patterns of use in near real-time. “Decision-makers are now recognising the fact that the most valuable resource they have is their organisation’s own information, and the ability to use that information to make better decisions on where they should invest and how they can better maintain their resources and infrastructure.”
“This is what PAAB [national water asset agency] has done: they have successfully leveraged GIS technology to ensure they are making the most out of their assets,” he said. “When you look at the components of the water industry, companies like PAAB have utilities and plants, and various distribution systems that they continuously have to monitor and track so they can properly maximise the use of each resource.”
Lai said that faced with the challenge of a rapidly growing portfolio of assets and operators, PAAB has developed a GIS-based web dashboard that provided a high-level view into the operations and asset handling of the organisation.
Their system will deliver decision-makers with a spatially referenced inventory about each reservoir, the year it was built, top and bottom water levels, updates with the maintenance and other relevant information needed for decision making and forecasting, he said.
In addition, by having a system that integrates workflows, the company’s asset managers are able to save costs as a result of better and more effective management of existing assets and the ability to coordinate the timing and scheduling of cross-asset activities, Lai said.
“By knowing when to do the maintenance during an asset’s lifecycle versus letting the infrastructure degrade to the point of purchasing a replacement enables an organisation to ensure that costs, revenue and resources are managed effectively,” he said.
