The need for better utility asset management
Electric utility companies have a duty of care to ensure that when someone flips a switch, a light comes on. When someone feels the winter chill, they can keep warm, or in the summer’s heat, they have cooled air.
Rising labor costs, unpredictable weather patterns, aging infrastructure, and the constant demand to keep customer rates low makes managing utilities a persistent struggle. Key utility management decisions revolve around when to repair or replace infrastructure assets, which is why XLassets has released a new platform to make utility asset management cost-efficient, intuitive, and reliable.
The year is 2005, there was Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Katrina. Both of those weather patterns destroyed big parts of the country. This brought about the realization that asset records and mapping dating from the early 1900s, along with workforces having had been turned over several times, and in many cases, the actual asset records were inaccurate or missing. The power utility companies were trying to restore services as soon as possible, but these factors made it difficult. This is where XLassets saw the need for the recording of accurate inventory of the electrical plant and an easier and more efficient way to identify what assets had been affected in a damaged area. This inventory process would greatly assist in the repair or replacement of a damaged area.
Had XLassets been around prior to 2005, our program would have been able to provide a list of what was destroyed in the hurricanes. Basically, you can export any level of data straight from the database that can be used in disaster recovery. XLassets uses image capture categorization and independent notes in a secure database to easily automate the process of categorizing and managing assets from in-the-field discovery to in-the-office analysis. XLassets works on the basis that we will validate everything in the electrical grid. XLassets will find assets, validate them, and categorize them on the fly.
