The Case For A Facility Monitoring System

By Tim Russell

Many facilities choose to install facility monitoring systems to monitor particle counts and other environmental parameters. Why not, as there are multiple benefits in use, and it makes great business sense. However, benefits to a business are not always fully understood.

They include:

• Reduced waste
• Improved yield
• Improved quality
• Increased profits

While there are some that choose to install a facility monitoring system just because regulatory guidance states one should be installed and used, many, given the choice, would choose not to. Initial capital and ongoing maintenance costs seem expensive. The mountains of data that will require analysis seems daunting, as do alert and action level excursions leading to time consuming root cause investigations. Plus, consideration for the maintenance, calibration and validation overhead involved.