WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT | OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE


in its ability to comply with mandatory regulatory reporting requirements by automatically generating the necessary documentation for each service provided. This is a huge time saver for those operating in complex and continually evolving regulatory environments”. As Wolf says: “Being able to efficiently generate quality


compliance reports on time is key. Siteflow automatic report generation is an enabler for efficient, flawless and timely generation of final service reports”. Another big plus is improved employee experience with


paperless workflows. This is expected to having a strong positive impact on employee satisfaction levels and thus support staff retention. “By eliminating paper heavy processes, Siteflow removes


a major pain point for operations crews and therefore improves job satisfaction. It also helps create a more modern, collaborative and attractive environment for both younger and older crew members” says Hauvette. When it comes to digital transformation, however, ensuring employee buy-in from the outset can prove tricky, particularly in sectors like the nuclear industry. As Wolf confirms: “Shifting from paper to a digital tool meant adapting, at a certain level, our internal processes and learning to think differently. In the nuclear industry, we are relying on tried, demonstrated and tested methods and processes to safely perform our work. That said, transitioning to a digital solution to support our work on site lead us to question some of our habits and ways of working in a healthy manner. Any transformation in the way we work requires effective change management and employee involvement. At Westinghouse, one of the ways we handled it was to set up multi-skilled teams, involving operational key crew members, managers, digital solution specialists from Siteflow. We also defined and executed operational pilot projects and got strongly grounded feedback from the field, eventually working collaboratively to bring forward a solution fitting the overall needs, in terms of customer, compliance, operation and process requirements. It was also a good team bonding exercise”. To ensure a relatively painless adoption of its software,


Siteflow says it provides clients with dedicated training sessions and a hotline service for questions or difficulties. “Overall, the feedback from our crews has been very positive. The adoption by the operators and field service crews was easy, with no issues for the crews on site in using the tablet and working “in digital”, even those who are less at ease with tech and computers. This was a nice surprise.


Ergonomic and intuitive use are key factors in success when adopting new tools,” notes Wolf.


Building a digital future Hauvette welcomes the positive response, but emphasises that there is no room for complacency. The Siteflow strategy therefore also involves actively partnering with customers to ensure the platform remains best-in-class. “Today 70% of company resources are dedicated to continually developing Siteflow and creating one standard software that can be adapted to any industrial use case,” Hauvette notes. Data and development being inextricably linked, energy producers looking to optimise operations and improve the performance of assets across the value chain are now demanding more exploitable data from their service providers. Ensuring the efficient collection, treatment and analysis of data for their customers is therefore fast becoming a priority for Siteflow, too. More generally, it appears that data will play an


increasingly critical role in the renewal of the nuclear energy sector, helping to produce new solutions and improve processes. This is a trend highlighted by Wolf: “Efficient and accurate records and documentation are important in the nuclear sector. We safely perform based on years and years of documented operation and maintenance experience. Digital tools that provide structured data management, can clearly help us to even better access and analyse our onsite service records and performance, in terms of safe, compliant and effective service delivery”. With more available data and developing technologies in


a large number of areas – from nuclear plant design using 3D modelling and augmented reality, to the manufacturing of smart, connected components (IoT) to safer technical dismantling – comes the promise of a new smart industry. Hauvette believes that in the not-too-distant future industry workers will “likely function like today’s tech teams”; tackling objectives and goals in streamlined task forces, integrating digital tools in all of their processes and using automated technology to complete technical tasks. He is explicit in the scale of his ambitions, saying: “The digitalisation of the nuclear sector is really only in the starting blocks, we want Siteflow to become a leading pioneer of that digital transformation”. Amid growing demand and steep expectations for the


nuclear industry, one thing is clear: digital technologies and solutions will play a crucial role if the sector is to realise its full promise. ■


www.neimagazine.com | February 2023 | 47


Top left: Paperless workflows improve the employee experience


Top right: Westinghouse deployed the tool to help organise and streamline its services


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