Energy industries such as electricity, oil, gas and chemistry face the problems of aging industrial plant facilities and the shortage of operators/maintenance personnel. The challenge lies in continuing to perform maintenance that is comparable to the current levels in terms of both quality and quantity despite the limited human resources. Given the situation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has developed a smart patrol inspection system for industrial plant/factory facilities. It is mainly comprised of the wireless sensor, tablet computer and our original application software. Having been on trial or applied to patrol inspection inside/outside our company, this system produced a promising effect as indicated by about a 90% reduction in the time required for a patrol inspection of the water supply facility at our company. The use of this system can help with digitalization of patrol inspection processes, thus contributing to solving problems related to the maintenance of plant/factory facilities, as well as more advanced and labor-saving features and higher profitability.
