Let’s talk about enhancing the reliability and efficiency of gas transmission assets in the UK, in collaboration with National Grid
Key points
National Grid is the backbone of the high-voltage electricity transmission network in England and Wales, and it also manages Great Britain’s gas National Transmission System (NTS). With a workforce of around 23,000, the company plays a crucial role in safely and efficiently transporting essential energy from production sites to consumers, all while balancing supply and demand from control rooms scattered across the nation.
Natural gas is a vital energy source for Britain, keeping more than 80 percent of households cozy and powering a significant portion of the country’s industries. It flows through robust steel pipelines from coastal terminals and storage facilities to major consumers and distribution networks via the high-pressure NTS. A critical component of this infrastructure is the 25 gas compressor stations, primarily powered by gas turbines, strategically located to optimize the system. The gas from these stations supplies the eight distribution networks that cater to both domestic and industrial users throughout Britain.
There's a lot of potential for improving how we monitor asset performance.
Compressor stations produce vast amounts of calibration data—from pressure and temperature switches to flow transmitters and vibration sensors—all of which need regular calibration to maintain accuracy and reliability.
National Grid has encountered several hurdles due to isolated data scattered across different systems, which has made effective asset performance monitoring a challenge. Moreover, there was no standardized method for recording and storing calibration data. Technicians at various sites often resorted to makeshift solutions and cumbersome paper-based processes.
“Without a centralised and standardised solution for gathering, recording, storing, and analysing instrument calibration data it was very challenging for us to build a true picture of how our assets were operating, optimise our ways of working, and build business cases for investment,” shares Andy Barnwell, Asset Management Systems Owner at National Grid. “Instead of a rich data lake that we could easily interrogate, we were dealing with individual databases built up from information gathered on paper or inputted into Excel spreadsheets and time-consuming calibration processes with multiple steps,”
James Jepson, Control & Instrumentation Systems Officer at National Grid, adds to this sentiment: “As well as lacking a common repository for calibration data, we also had no commonality with regards to the hardware and software we were using to perform calibrations. From the point of view of training, knowledge sharing, and efficiency this was not the ideal situation because technicians moving between sites constantly had to adapt to the ‘local’ ways of working instead of following a streamlined, standardised national process.”
Automated paperless calibration to the rescue
National Grid and Beamex have enjoyed a long-standing partnership—Beamex calibration solutions have been part of National Grid’s operations for several years now. “Over the years we have developed an excellent working relationship with National Grid and, based on our knowledge of their assets and operational process for calibration, we were confident we could supply them with a fully automated and integrated calibration solution that would improve both access to and visibility over asset data through a centralised database,” explains John Healy, Director of Sales for the UK & Ireland at Beamex.
The solution featured the Beamex MC6-Ex Intrinsically Safe Field Calibrator and Communicator, which is designed for hazardous areas and supports the calibration of pressure, temperature, and various electrical signals, along with Beamex CMX Calibration Management Software.
“We already had some experience with the Beamex MC5 documenting multifunction calibrator, which was and still is a fantastic piece of kit, so when Beamex launched the MC6 we purchased a few units to deploy at various sites as part of a trial alongside other manufacturers’ offerings,” says James Jepson. “After that it became clear that the Beamex solution was the way we wanted to go based on its performance in the field, the feedback from the technicians, and the business benefits of combining it with the cloud-based CMX software
Covid didn’t hinder our collaborative implementation process
Like many organizations, National Grid and Beamex had to adjust to the Covid restrictions, opting for remote scoping meetings and planning workshops instead of in-person gatherings.
Nikita Anosov, Project Manager & Scrum Master at National Grid, praises Beamex’s support: “Despite the challenges and the need to adapt to new ways of working, things went very smoothly. Aside from having to do everything remotely, it’s important to remember that this was something of a leap of faith for our organisation in terms of moving to a cloud-based solution for calibration management. The Beamex team were really helpful and supportive from day one of the project.”
Andy Barnwell adds, “It’s been an amazing journey, and we’ve kept an open and honest dialogue, working collaboratively throughout. This approach has definitely helped our team showcase the true value of the Beamex solution to our management.”
Matthew Sanders, who works as a Calibration Solution Specialist at Beamex, is all in on this: “The collaboration was brilliant from both sides. We had detailed discussions with the systems team and end users to make sure all the risks were considered, which is critical in a project of this size. The adaptations we made to the solution rollout – including to the data integration technicalities with National Grid‘s BI infrastructure and in terms of user roles and accessibility – have led to increased benefits across the board at National Grid. Our aim from day one was to deliver the best possible solution, and the whole Beamex project team is very proud of the result.”
Sometimes, it’s wise to put all your eggs in one basket.
By centralizing all asset data into a single system, National Grid can dive deep into their assets and make well-informed maintenance choices. “With more and better-quality asset data at our fingertips we have been able to look at saving time and costs by, for example, extending the time between inspections,” points out Andy Barnwell.
The numbers are impressive. “With the Beamex solution in place, thanks to automation we have been able to cut the number of steps needed to perform a calibration, saving 15 minutes per device. While this might not sound like much on its own, it adds up to a time saving of over 4,000 hours per year – and a financial saving that runs into millions of pounds, which is astonishing,” shares James Jepson.
National Grid is looking to expand the use of the CMX system to cover maintenance inspection tasks through the Beamex bMobile app on iOS tablets. This app allows for offline field calibrations with easy-to-follow, step-by-step guidance, ensuring technicians can adhere to standardized scripts.
“Commonality of scripts is important for us because we need to make sure technicians’ work is compliant with our policy and procedures. When everyone is following an established, standardised process and all the information is kept in one place, their work is faster, the data it generates is far more reliable, and we can make better decisions about how to manage our assets,” explains James Jepson.
A bright future is on the horizon for a partnership that keeps evolving.
Thanks to how user-friendly the Beamex solution is, adopting it at compression stations went off without a hitch. “Beamex was very proactive in organising online training for our teams, but the uptake was less than we expected because they are so easy to use that instead of asking basic questions during the training, our technicians were teaching themselves and quizzing the Beamex team on some fairly in-depth issues instead,” shares James Jepson.
This easy learning curve has been especially advantageous given the age range at National Grid—everyone from apprentices to seasoned pros found the tools straightforward to use. And the partnership is still growing: “The great thing about the Beamex solution from a development perspective is that it’s flexible and offers us a lot of options. In the short term we still have some hard work to do to gather more asset data and identify where we can simplify ways of working for our technicians and engineers. In the medium term we’ll be looking at how to further integrate Beamex solutions into our systems landscape and take advantage of even greater asset management functionalities as and when they are developed in collaboration with Beamex.”, explains Andy Barnwell.
James Jepson wraps it up by saying: “The days of sending technicians out to perform things like pressure calibrations with manual pumps are numbered. Automation is the future, and I can see a not-too distant future when we will have a Beamex solution that will allow us to do everything remotely while still performing periodic on-site spot checks with highly accurate portable devices. The sky really is the limit!”
To discover more about how Beamex can support your business and their calibration solutions, visit www.beamex.com.
Beamex Ltd
- 01455 821 920
- beamex.ltd@beamex.com
- http://www.beamex.com
- Unit 1, Interchange 21, Centre Court Leicester Leicestershire LE19 1WR GB
About us
A better way to calibrate – Since the establishment of Beamex in 1975, the company has focused strongly and consistently on calibration. Beamex is a technology and service company that develops, manufactures and markets high-quality calibration equipment, software, systems and services for the calibration and maintenance of process instruments. The company is a leading worldwide provider of integrated calibration solutions for improving quality and efficiency.
Beamex offers a comprehensive range of products and services—from portable calibrators to workstations, calibration accessories, calibration software, industry-specific solutions and professional services. Through Beamex’s global and competent partner network, Beamex’s products and services are available in more than 80 countries. Beamex is certified in accordance with the ISO 9001:2015 quality standard.
Over forty years of experience in manufacturing and developing calibration equipment and systems, close co-operation with customers that have high requirements and uncompromising quality standards, shared by the people working at Beamex, are things that have made Beamex’s calibration solutions world-class. As a proof of Beamex’s success, there are more than 10,000 companies worldwide utilising its calibration solutions.
Beamex’s ISO 17025 accredited calibration laboratory is accredited and approved by FINAS (Finnish Accreditation Service). FINAS is a member of all Multilateral Recognition Agreements / Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MLA/MRA) signed by European and other international organisations, i.e. European co-operation for Accreditation (EA), International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and International Accreditation Forum Inc. (IAF).
What we do in a nutshell
We provide products and services for companies to streamline and digitalise their calibration processes.
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