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Charlottesville, Va. — Sep 22, 2014 — GE's Intelligent Platforms business and longtime partner AutomaTech announced FacilityConneX, an enterprise Cloud solution delivering new levels of Predictive Facilities Management capabilities via smart asset monitoring, advanced predictive intelligence, continuous energy management, and equipment optimization -- all enabled by the Industrial Internet.
Powered by Equipment Insight from GE Predictivity, FacilityConneX helps facility managers make better sense of vast amounts of data that come from their facility operations and industrial equipment with Real-time Operational Intelligence (RtOI). By leveraging the Industrial Internet, this solution can transform that data into smart insights and corrective actions that will optimize efficiency and ultimately save energy and cost. And, real-time mobile access to critical data allows users to monitor the heath of each asset in the facility and understand how efficient equipment and operations are running from virtually any device, anywhere.
"FacilityConneX is designed for continuous monitoring and detection, filtering disparate data into actionable information all in a single concise dashboard view," said Tom Schiller, president of AutomaTech. "It's Cloud-based, requiring no hardware administration, configuration, or costs, and can dramatically reduce TCO by providing facility managers with continuous monitoring on dozens of custom performance metrics to maintain uptime, and catch problems before they become serious."
FacilityConneX is currently in use at Southcoast Health, a group of four hospital campuses in Massachusetts. Southcoast has multiple building management systems from different vendors managing approximately 1.7 million square feet of facility space. FacilityConneX was implemented to identify non-performing equipment and optimize assets that could lower energy costs by tracking energy and utility usage and forecast usage against budget. Management also wanted to receive notifications related to equipment maintenance. More than 100 analytics running across almost 1,000 different pieces of equipment identify any issues Southcoast is experiencing and the probable cause of those issues. The system then recommends areas where their services and maintenance personnel should go investigate or implement a corrective action.
Southcoast Hospitals had also signed an MOU (Memo of Understanding) with the local utilities to get additional rebates for improvements they make in saving energy. FacilityConneX provides the proof that their improvements were completed and that they worked.
"Within the first year, we identified more than $500,000 in potential savings just by correcting system interoperability issues identified by FacilityConneX," said Chris LeBlanc, director of engineering and facilities for Southcoast Health. "We see FacilityConneX substantially reducing the initial time, effort, and cost of commissioning new equipment, but also as a tool for our on-going equipment monitoring, retro-commissioning, and continuous equipment-optimization efforts."
GE's patented GEO-intelligence technology enables the system to intelligently provide information based on user location, role, and asset location. This technology uses situational awareness technology that combines criticality of situation with location and proximity to ensure that users have the information they need, saving time and cost.
"FacilityConneX takes the best that our software platform offers to solve a critical issue for companies looking to manage their facilities efficiently, effectively, and in a 'predictive' fashion," said Bernie Anger, general manager for Intelligent Platforms. "It is another example of how GE is making the Industrial Internet real, achieving real results and solving real problems."
