Confidence in Making Decisions

We all make decisions everyday, some are very simple and subconscious, others are more serious and can have profound effects. In all cases we use inputs such as data, information, experience and “gut feel” to inform these decisions and give us a degree of confidence about their outcomes.

EA Technology works in the world of Asset Management and as part of the supply chain, offers its clients solutions and services that help to increase their confidence an inform the challenging business decisions they have to make. The asset owner / operator might have one or tens of thousands of assets, but in order to make any decisions they still have the same basic questions to ask:

• Is the asset doing what it’s supposed to be doing?
• If something goes wrong, will it function correctly to mitigate this?
• How can I make sure it keeps doing (1) and make a decision before (2) happens!

Take a High Voltage electrical substation as an example: for points (1) & (2) there are measurements and tests that can be done to ensure these elements are known and thus a level of confidence is gained. Point (3) on the other hand is not so straight forward; predicting the future is not yet an exact science! However there are techniques available to help bridge this confidence “gap”.

Switchgear and cables are significant components of a substation and live partial discharge testing is recognised as the main, non-intrusive condition assessment technique that offers robust evidence regarding the condition of the assets. There are different ways to collect, analyses and present partial discharge information, depending on the criticality and risks associated with the substation. However, using the information obtained from this established and proven technique can help to build the confidence required to make business decisions.