Southern Water has announced that they will be using PIONEER to give their
asset managers the capability to optimise capital maintenance investment
programme to meet the service objectives and expenditure outcomes of AMP5.
Having developed the Common Framework for Capital Maintenance Planning and
assisted many companies in implementing best practice approaches for the
PR09 price review, Tynemarch have now released an integrated software
environment, PIONEER, in which to run an advanced suite of models. The cost
and service forecasting models cover both above and below ground assets
(non-infrastructure and infrastructure) using a variety of techniques - e.g.
mathematical, statistical, FMECA, dependency and fault trees - in a single
application.
PIONEER will be a key tool in the new Asset Management Directorate in Southern
Water. It will ensure that asset management is at the centre of the organisation's
delivery of services to customers and the environment. The optimal set of
interventions to achieve this objective will be identified using PIONEER,
balancing risk across the different asset types through an integrated analysis.
This will involve embedding best practice processes and procedures, by building
a component level risk-based approach to asset management. PIONEER represents
a key component in the successful formulation of Common Framework compliant
asset plans and their regular update as a 'business as usual' process. The
aim of Southern Water is to achieve industry leading Asset Management well
before the next Price Review, PR14.
Some of the key advances offered by PIONEER include:
Combined under-ground and over-ground asset analysis, e.g. water mains, trunk
mains, pumping stations and treatment works, so that an integrated optimisation
can be undertaken across asset types to balance risk
A wide variety of model types are supported and accessible for users to review
or modify
User configurable multi-criteria optimisation to meet service objectives,
cost constraints, resource limitations, etc.
Schematic and graphical outputs showing areas of risk and the effects of
expenditure on assets
Recognition of repair, refurbishment and replacement as alternative interventions
Prioritisation of investment, allowing the best possible level of service
to be achieved with the available resources
Linkage to external asset failure consequence modelling software, such as
MISER and other corporate data systems
Full compliance with the Common Framework and flexible for future developments
in Regulation
Notes:
PIONEER is an intranet-based software tool which identifies the investment
and changes to operational strategy required to achieve a specified level
of service at least cost. More information can be found on the
PIONEER web page
The first customer for PIONEER was United Utilities. The Ofwat Reporter
judged UU as "best in class"1 for implementing the
Common Framework for PR09.
Southern Water delivers 555 million litres of drinking water to more than 1
million homes every day through 99 water treatment works and 13,500km of
pipework. They collect, treat and recycle the wastewater from over 2 million
homes via 21,600km of sewers and over 370 wastewater treatment works. The
Asset Management team is at the centre of the Business, ensuring our assets
deliver best possible value to our customers.
1 Deadman, C., (2009) Power and Water Summit, 30-31st March, Abu Dhabi, UAE
