System Assessment is an on-site system inspection and status evaluation of an 800xA or a Freelance control system. It is a key service for maintaining high system availability and avoiding disruptions and interruptions in production.
The System Assessment provides a comprehensive evaluation of critical areas that affect system performance, including hardware, software and firmware, system and Ethernet communications, and current maintenance practices. Different parameters are read from the installed system and compared to ABB requirements and best practices. Non-optimal system states and settings are automatically identified.
As result, the Assessment report presents the evaluated findings and gives detailed interpretation and further recommendations in order to reach maximum system performance.
ABB recommends performing a System Assessment annually as part of a regular preventive maintenance program and long-term improvement plan. These checks support customers in achieving and securing improved system performance levels.
The System Assessment procedures have been developed on the base of long-term service experience. All tests are done during plant operation and are executed on a low priority level in order not to strain the system in operation. Following a systematic guideline, an ABB service engineer steps through more than hundred control points in the system. Computer aided data collection and analysis is supplemented by individual inspections and audits.
Once the evaluation has been completed, a detailed report, including findings, improvement recommendations, and areas found to need further analysis is provided. Our standardized rules for report generation guarantee an easy-to-read report.
The resulting System Assessment Report outlines actions that will help prevent potential problems and improve availability, reliability and system performance. It provides general impact and ROI discussions and recommends actions, if required. The report also addresses the technical specialists, explaining all findings, and provides the severity, possible impacts, detailed recommendations and document references for each of them.
ABB offers assistance with the implementation of improvement recommendations. ABB Local Service will present the System Assessment Report to the customer in a meeting. This gives the opportunity to discuss possible Return on the automation Investment (ROI) impacts, and agree, if necessary, in an action plan to improve system reliability, availability and operational performance to its best. An ABB field service professional, experienced in system operation, is available to lead improvement activities utilizing site or ABB personnel.