Galveston National Labs Employs IBM Software to Help Fight Infectious Disease
In the fight against emerging infectious diseases,
The Galveston National Laboratory (GNL)
, one of two
National Institutes of Health
funded bio-containment laboratories in
the United States
, is benefiting from
IBM
software to ensure the optimal performance of all equipment functioning
within its facility. The GNL, which is dedicated to the study and
prevention of emerging infectious diseases, will use
IBM Maximo Asset Management Software
to help automate, manage and ensure the performance of its 3,000
operating assets in one of the world's most complex medical research
environments.
The GNL, a part of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB),
is dedicated to developing the therapies, vaccines and diagnostic tests
needed to combat emerging infectious diseases. Research taking place
in the highly specialized facility includes studies aimed at combating
the H1N1 virus, SARS, West Nile encephalitis, avian flu, hemorrhagic
fevers (such as Ebola), as well as microbes that might be employed by
terrorists.
The
GNL's approximately 190,000-square-foot facility houses research space
dedicated to work at biosafety levels (BSL) 2, 3, and 4. Across the
facility, critically important assets and engineering processes are
managed, calibrated and monitored by IBM Maximo software. These include
biomedical equipment that includes critical systems such as air-flow
handlers, decontaminating showers, and door seals and locks. IBM
software helps these assets operate efficiently with double- and
triple-redundant systems that assure safe and secure operations.
While
currently expertly and efficiently run, GNL will use the IBM software
to achieve an even greater level of visibility and control for
facility, biomedical and IT assets, all managed by a single system to
simplify the use and management of the lab's equipment. IBM Maximo
will provide the automatic performance of routine, preventive and
predictive maintenance on all assets. These maintenance checks
identify where work is required and trigger the planning procedures and
staffing assignments needed to accomplish work orders.
As
a data-mining engine and database repository that supports advanced
analytics, IBM Maximo will also generate information including the
costs of running, repairing and replacing assets as well as performance
predictions. In addition, the data gathered are used to compile
reports that are required to comply with strict federal, state and
local regulations associated with the operation of a high- and
maximum-containment research laboratory.
"IBM
Maximo software provides the kinds of visibility, performance and
predictive data analyses that support the science of reliability at
Galveston National Laboratory," said David Reynolds,
director of Fixed Assets and Reliability Systems. "The software works
to ensure the kind of equipment performance that creates and maintains
a smart, safe, and dynamic environment – one that has a positive impact
on our mission to prevent, diagnose and treat potentially
life-threatening disease."
GNL
expects the IBM Maximo software to yield such benefits as increased
efficiencies, precise and automated asset calibration, reduced
operating costs, enhanced regulatory reporting capabilities, enhanced
safety for scientists and the public, and better coordination of assets
with the GNL's mission to serve as a national and international
resource for the safe conduct of essential infectious disease research.
Examples of such benefits include management, maintenance and data
generation and analysis for:
- Heat, pressure, and chemical systems that are housed throughout the laboratory.
- High-efficiency
filtration systems that remove any airborne materials; these are
calibrated and maintained to sterilize and make safe all air effluents
before they leave the facility.
- Airflow equipment, critical because these assets ensure the "scouring" of air flows throughout GNL.
- Double
and triple redundancies in biomedical and clinical equipment and
systems receive predictive, routine and preventive maintenance from IBM
Maximo, which identifies even the slightest sign of wear far in advance
of any need for redundancy in the first place.
- All operations
in and during chemical showers for scientists in bio-containment suits
as they prepare to exit restricted laboratory areas. For example, IBM
Maximo monitors even the flow of oxygen inside the suits upon which the
scientists working in restricted areas depend.
- Procedures to
help in the shut down and securing of all laboratory assets in the case
of natural disasters, which IBM Maximo can manage even during
hurricanes.
The
data generated by IBM software from all asset management also provide
the GNL important information upon with to base financially astute
decisions, reduce the cost of operations across the facility from the
inside out, and meet all government reporting regulations and maintain
the highest levels of public transparency concerning operations
throughout the labs.
"The
Galveston National Laboratory is providing one of the most compelling
examples of what working smarter to change outcomes for the world
really means," said Dan Pelino, general
manager, IBM Global Healthcare and Life Sciences Industry. "By
becoming increasingly instrumented, interconnected and intelligent, the
GNL has added new strengths to the near-flawless performance of its
assets – both critical and non critical – and demonstrated how analysis
of the data captured through the use of advanced information technology
can play an essential role in the fight to protect global health."