How Early Anomaly Detection Can Prevent Multi-Million Dollar Failures
Return on Investment.
We estimate that by proactively planning the event and ensuring necessary resources are allocated to the location in advance, the extended downtime can be significantly reduced, potentially saving over $30,000,000 in lost production.
Overview.
For operators of critical equipment in remote and unmanned locations, the cost of an unexpected failure extends far beyond the repair itself. In a remote desert environment, identifying a fault, sourcing replacement parts, transporting them to site, and restoring operations can take weeks, during which production can be lost entirely. For an energy services company operating in North Africa, the natural gas and condensate flowing through a single compressor line was valued at approximately $860,000 per day. A catastrophic compressor failure, realistically requiring around 45 days to resolve in such a location, would represent over $30 million in lost production.
To evaluate whether continuous remote monitoring could protect against this risk, the company deployed Intelligent Plant's Foundation Analytics tool on one of its compressor assets. Within just three months, the analytics identified an unexpected and potentially catastrophic anomaly, allowing the client to take swift preventive action despite the site being unmanned and difficult to access.
Challenges.
Remote and unmanned industrial assets present distinct monitoring challenges:
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Cost of Unplanned Downtime: For critical equipment in remote locations, an unexpected failure is not just a mechanical problem - it is a logistics challenge. Identifying the fault, sourcing parts, transporting them to a remote desert location, and restoring operations can realistically take around 45 days, during which production can be lost entirely.
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No On-Site Personnel: The site is typically unmanned, meaning there is no physical presence to detect early warning signs of equipment degradation. Without continuous automated monitoring, issues can go undetected until they reach a critical stage.
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Environmental Variability: While the desert location typically experiences high temperatures, unexpected environmental shifts can occur and affect the performance of critical equipment in ways that are difficult to anticipate without continuous data monitoring.
Solution.
Intelligent Plant's Foundation Analytics tool was deployed to continuously monitor the compressor's performance, providing the client with automated anomaly detection without requiring a physical presence on site. The tool established a baseline of normal operating behaviour and flagged deviations in real time, allowing the client to respond to potential issues before they escalated into costly failures.
Key Elements of the Solution:
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Remote Monitoring: Foundation Analytics monitored key performance indicators including inlet temperature and pressure continuously, providing operational visibility of an asset that would otherwise have no on-site oversight.
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Anomaly Detection: The tool identified deviations from established normal operating conditions in real time, giving the client early warning of developing issues regardless of the site's remoteness or staffing level.
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Proactive Alerts: When an anomaly was detected, Foundation Analytics immediately alerted the client, enabling a rapid and coordinated response - dispatching a team with the right resources before the situation became critical.
Results and Impact.
Foundation Analytics demonstrated its value within just three months of deployment, identifying a critical anomaly that would have been undetectable without continuous automated monitoring:
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Unexpected Temperature Anomaly Detected: Despite the site being located in a warm desert environment, Foundation Analytics identified an abnormal drop in the compressor's inlet temperature to below 0°C - a reading so unusual for the location that it immediately indicated a serious process abnormality rather than an environmental fluctuation.
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Severe Damage Prevented: The low inlet temperature indicated that the process was not functioning as expected, raising the risk of liquid dropout and cavitation within the compressor and its associated components - conditions that can cause catastrophic and costly mechanical damage if not promptly addressed. Early detection allowed the client to dispatch a team with the necessary resources before any major damage occurred.
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Production Protected: By identifying and resolving the issue before it escalated into a full compressor failure, the client avoided what could have been an extended shutdown. Based on the daily production value of natural gas and condensate flowing through the line (~$860,000 per day) and a realistic 45-day shutdown period for an unmanned remote location, an undetected failure of this type could have resulted in over $30 million in lost production.
Foundation Analytics provides clear alerts to users when there is a shift from normal operation
Conclusion.
For operators of critical equipment in remote and unmanned locations, the question is not whether unexpected failures will occur - it is whether they will be detected early enough to prevent them becoming catastrophic.
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The successful deployment of Foundation Analytics in a remote desert environment underscores the importance of advanced monitoring tools for ensuring the reliability of critical equipment. By providing real-time insights and early detection of anomalies, Foundation Analytics enabled the client to take preventive action, avoiding significant damage and costly downtime.
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This case study highlights the effectiveness of Intelligent Plant’s solutions in maintaining operational integrity in challenging and remote locations. The client’s ability to quickly identify and address a critical issue demonstrates the value of continuous monitoring and the proactive management of assets, even in the most inaccessible environments.