Key performance indicators improve industrial performance

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are important for monitoring the performance in the industry. They can be used to identify poor performance and the improvement potential. KPIs can be defined for individual equipment, sub-processes, and whole plants. Different types of performances can be measured by KPIs, for example energy, raw-material, control & operation, maintenance, etc. Benchmarking KPIs with KPIs from similar equipment and plants is one method of identifying poor performing areas and estimating improvement potential. Actions for performance improvements can then be developed, prioritized and implemented based on the KPIs and the benchmarking results. An alternative to benchmarking, which is described in this paper, is to identify the process signals that are strongest correlated with the KPI and then change these process signals in the direction that improves the KPI. This method has been applied to data from a combined heat and power plant and a suggestion are given on how to improve boiler efficiency. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.