With the help of the TotalObserver software solution, the Novi Sad heating plant creates more than 700 service requests per month and can receive all historical data on any part of the property at any time. About 50,000 objects are registered in its property register.
The public utility company “Novosadska toplana” Novi Sad was founded in 1961 with the aim of developing a district heating system so that multi-family buildings could be supplied with thermal energy. After more than five decades, Toplana has become one of the largest companies in Serbia. They own hot water pipes that are over 220 km long, while their total number of heat substations is around 3,000. The property consists of six city heating plants, the main distribution station, supporting systems and related equipment. They supply thermal energy and water heating energy for more than 100,000 end users in Novi Sad and in the surrounding areas. The complexity that is present in this company survives thanks to good organization and quality management, which perform their primary function on a daily basis.
Challenge
With large companies such as the Novi Sad heating plant, there are problems with the organization of the entire business process. This is due to poor communication, misinformation and management complexity.
The Solution
In order to solve its problems related to property maintenance, the Novi Sad heating plant chose the software solution “Totalobserver”. A united property register has been created in the solution, which maintains and manages maintenance processes. The integration of TotalObserver in the company Novi Sad Heating Plant was a special challenge. It was necessary to meet strictly defined procedures, solve the problem of connecting to existing information systems, improve functionality and make work easier for users, without interrupting and jeopardizing the daily activities of employees. For the needs of the Novi Sad heating plant, an integrated version of the solution, intended for industries that own significant assets, geographically dislocated, with a large number of facilities and users was implemented.
Challenge
The problem that was present at the Heating Plant is untimely information, their insufficient up-to-dateness and their reliability. The main data on the property were kept on the accounting cards, while the regular maintenance of the property was very difficult to follow. Records of work performed were monitored at different locations and it was not possible to find all the data in the same place.
The Solution
In the property register, each significant element of the property now has a created “identity card”, with all the necessary information, attachments, knowledge base and complete maintenance history, in one place, clear and up-to-date. The centralized system enables “real-time” access to data, ie. every change or novelty entered on the system of the Novi Sad heating plant is instantly available to all users of TotalObserver. Requests and failures reports are now immediately available to the dispatch center, ready for processing and sending for further implementation. All substations have been geolocated, maintenance processes have been brought under control, communication has been formalized, and a system of notifications and daily bulletins has been introduced. A set of reports is made available to the management. Reports are generated in real-time, significantly shortening the time required for their creation, and providing the analytics necessary for making quality business decisions. Dedicated reports provide insight into the spots of heat energy losses.
Challenge
The history of property maintenance did not exist, it was not known which person was responsible for which work or on which property. The non-location of substations further aggravated the problem of documenting operations. Due to the aforementioned reasons, it was not possible to obtain a report on the property at any time, which made it impossible to control the business. Submitting daily reports to management took a long time to gather the necessary information.
The Solution
On the integration project, there was excellent cooperation with an experienced team, great experts in their field, long-term leaders and managers of the sector, led by Mr. Dusan Macura, Head of the Sector for Production and Distribution of Thermal Energy and Mr. Srdjan Zagorcic, engineer in the sector for production and distribution of thermal energy and the leader of the project team for the integration of TotalObserver. Care was taken to overcome the critical period of the project – the beginning of the use of the new solution. From the very beginning, with the agreement with the representatives of the Novi Sad heating plant, the presence of consultants on the project has been strengthened. The training was conducted successively, following the course of integration and implementation of new programs.
The Result
130 employees in the Novi Sad heating plant are using TotalObserver in the maintenance of heat sources, hot water networks and substations. 49,329 objects were registered in the property register. In the first month, about 700 service applications were created and 150 work orders were opened.
After getting acquainted with the capabilities of TotalObserver, we realized that with one such software solution we can create a register of the complete assets we maintain. We have implemented our maintenance processes, from consumer registration to closing a work order, through a centralized system, maximally user-friendly and easy to use. By using the calendar of regular maintenance activities, we have drastically facilitated the monitoring of the process, and thanks to automatic notifications / notifications about upcoming activities, “forgotten” activities simply no longer exist. The reports, on which we used to spend considerable time, are now available to us instantly. We are much more efficient!
Off-the-shelf versions for different industries will satisfy even the most demanding organizations.
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