Field collaboration for executing maintenance activities from remote
Boasting a 5,900 km-long adduction and distribution network for the management of the integrated water service since 1931, CAFC S.p.A. is one of the largest utility companies in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, Italy, with 2,500 plants and over 570,000 users served.
Global warming, draughts, floods, and other exceptional climatic events are becoming increasingly frequent and demonstrating the importance of water as a basic resource for health, food, well-being, and, in a word, life. In a market that is developing a considerable awareness of environmental issues, water conservation and management acquire a deeper meaning and involve the wise use of water without contributing to its unnecessary wastage. In this scenario, the management of the integrated water service a utility such as CAFC is responsible for takes on its full significance.
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Providing access to clean water is a duty CAFC is fully aware of its true value as no other, responsible as it is of the entire water cycle management, from water collection, through its potabilization, up to the distribution to end users. Therefore, supporting field technicians when executing maintenance, inspection, and emergency response activities in water treatment processes turns out to be a matter of utmost importance to ensure that everybody has daily access to a service running smoothly. Moreover, very often, plants are located in remote sites with low connectivity bandwidth, such as mountains and sea. That is the reason why CAFC was looking for an adequate solution to support operators, while streamlining activities and promoting retention and sharing of highly specific knowledge from senior to junior technicians.
Remote collaboration and knowledge sharing for an efficient execution of maintenance activities in real time
OverIT NextGen Field Collaboration allows CAFC to assist technicians in real time and share knowledge, even when production plants are in remote areas, to enrich the corporate heritage with specific skills which would otherwise remain the privilege of experienced operators, only.
- Remote collaboration & Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality-powered support calls via tablets and RealWear head-mounted display devices for technicians to virtually collaborate with expert colleagues from remote through vocal commands leaving their hands free to execute inspection, service, and maintenance activities in safe conditions - Knowledge repository management and distribution
Mobile digitization of asset-related data and content, such as photos, videos and technical documents, stored in the knowledge repository and easily accessible through the tagging function at any time from the backend and by all technicians - Low bandwidth mode for collaboration in areas of poor coverage
Mobile application running on Android tablets and RealWear devices optimizing the resolution and the number of frames per second used in the audio and video streaming as to be accessible even in sites with low connectivity bandwidth
By partnering with OverIT, CAFC has celebrated dramatic results
Healthy and sustainable environment, clean water and energy, living in harmony with nature and in respect of environmental resources: these are basic and essential conditions for life. CAFC is committed to improving them and looking at the future with responsibility and confidence, guaranteeing high-quality water through analysis and monitoring activities and contributing to the fight against climate change by using clean energy and controlling energy consumption. Investing in increasingly modern and innovative systems, such as OverIT NextGen Field Collaboration, constitutes an important step towards the activity optimization and helps CAFC ensure environmental, social, and economic sustainability, in the light of the main goals of the 2020-2023 Business Plan.
The OverIT NextGen Platform is also contributing to reaching Sustainable Development Goals:
