There are many buzzwords associated with the multitude of new developments in today’s technological world, and the use of terms like Smart Instrumentation, The Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and Servitisation are becoming increasingly common. Some may be familiar but exactly what they mean to industry may be unclear.
BSRIA is uniquely placed at the forefront of the use and application of technological innovation especially within the building services industry. BSRIA’s vision is to be leaders for information, knowledge and improvement for the built environment; to ‘make buildings better’; concepts such as the BSRIA Business-Focused Maintenance (BFM) methodology fit this remit and are increasingly relevant with technological advancement.
Today’s engineers can use a variety of instrumentation that can be considered ‘smart’. However not all smart instruments are created equal, to be truly smart the unit must be linked to the internet through a hub or router creating an Internet of Things (IoT) device. The device generates data that is uploaded and analysed either by a human operative or a software application. Developments in this area have included preventative maintenance planning with the use of smart monitoring instruments including ultrasonic flow meters, process emissions analysers, power meters, temperature and humidity monitors. Such instruments are becoming indispensable tools, providing non-invasive, user-friendly and cost-effective solution to smart maintenance testing.
Advancing development of smart instrument technology means that the concept of Servitisation is increasingly relevant to the way today’s building services sector products and services are created and marketed.
The concept of Servitisation was first discussed in 1988 by Vandermerwe & Rada in their ‘Servitisation of business: Adding value by adding services’ paper. Servitisation of products involves a strategy of adding value by adding services to products or even replacing a product with a service package. For example, the Servitisation of instrumentation can be supplying a basic unit, with extras including accessories, software, service, repair, calibration and data management being sold as additional options. Data management can include Apps, portals, processing and storage; maximising and unlocking the value of this data is an ongoing challenge.
A recent BSRIA publication (BG75/2018 Building Services Analytics) delves into some key issues ‘Building services can generate vast amounts of information. Connected devices are providing more and more information, and this information is becoming more accessible…. But many building operators lack convenient ways to turn the flood of data into information they can use to prioritise and act’. Learn more by visiting the BSRIA bookshop at www.bsria.co.uk/information-membership/bookshop/.
BSRIA Instrument Solutions is ideally placed to provide its customers with the latest developments in smart instrumentation supplying products from a comprehensive range of leading suppliers. For further details of the Instrument Solutions equipment hire, sales and calibration capabilities visit www.bsria.co.uk/instruments or call our team on freephone 0800 254 5566 (UK only ) or +44 (0) 1344 459314.
