Audits
Audits can set up different levels of expectations for the parties involved. Existing assets, design work, emergency response, newly developed systems, or a custom application can present different perspectives for those involved. Cranberry Consulting Company use our combined experiences to understand and communicate our customer’s goals throughout the team with unbiased opinions.
We have heard some amazing stories from building and machine operators about their systems. “It has been operated in hand since…” “It works wonderfully until it doesn’t” all the way to “there is nothing wrong with our systems, leave it as is”. But we are usually brought in when incomplete or lacking documentation is available. And by incomplete, we mean the front end of the control system and programming located in the engineer’s office is the only documentation available for the system(s) operating. Even if construction or design documentation is available, modifications or upgrades to the site or systems, or additional systems or phases have been added, but no documentation has been altered! In other situations, we’ll report back to the customer how great a control system operates but identify the vulnerability of the applied control system. Even the deficiencies of the mechanical system(s) not allowing for proper operation are common occurrences.
New design work or a greenfield construction project is expected to have documentation readily available, but scope gaps can lead to disorganization and confusion among project teams. Worse still, lack of communication during key portions of the design can leave a team member behind making an uphill battle for the whole project team. Often that team member is bound by the sales process, responsibility matrix, or just a bad situation. A third party offering unbiased guidance through support focuses on the issues and bottlenecks. After all, a team is only as good as it’s weakest link, so strengthening those weak areas brings about success. We have found knowledge and mentorship are the deciding factors of making a tough project successful.
A call comes in that a failure has occurred. The top priority is to understand the red event and get back to operation. But second, why did this occur in the first place? On the first reasonable flight to the site we go again! The customer wonders why a system operating and properly maintained for years has failed to create an unexpected liability. It may not have been an issue with the operator, maintenance crew, or situation. Then what? The original design of the system was not correct for the application! Corners can be cut due to time, budget, or quality constraints in a project. When faced with this situation, our approach is very similar to retrofits and new design work, but our feedback is far in advance of a project team to remedy the miscalculation. We create an unbiased document looking at the situation and offering an opinion on what failed and based on the current application, how to remedy the situation.
Newly developed systems are tough to conceive, our hats are off to the designers that create these innovations. But what about looking from a different perspective to not only allow the design to be created, but flourish and multiply, every inventor’s dream! Our experiences in startup of building systems, industrial systems, and equipment manufacturing gives the design, build, commission perspective; our experience in retrofits and auditing systems provides the operations perspectives to add valuable feedback to ensure the systems aren’t a science project, but a fully functioning system day 1. Though we like supporting all teams, innovation is something we truly enjoy.
Through use of the software platforms, onsite investigations, our programming knowledge, in-depth understanding of mechanical systems, machine design, and controls systems a clear path can be presented for upgrades, purchase and sale, red events, system analysis, etc. Whatever the goal of our clients, our goal is to inform and report to best serve the parties involved. The goal could be a more sustainable system, OT CyberSecurity remediation, a more reliable system, the general knowledge of what is in place, etc. We are happy to make your goals a reality.
