Internal audit of management systems as a tool of the management process improvement

Summary

Case study of the experience of SUE «Vodokanal of St. Petersburg» demonstrates the importance of carrying out internal audits of the environment management and quality management systems for the improvement of the management process. The advantages that the enterprises are gaining upon having introduced and certified the management systems are presented. The process of internal audit is proposed and described in details. It is shown how the internal audit provides for the add-on value in the enterprise activities. The add-on value of the audit is considered as an aggregate of three components: administrative component (supplying top managers with the information on the capability to reach the set objectives), production component (identification of problems elimination of which can improve the efficiency of the enterprise and, consequently, improve the satisfaction of all the stakeholders), and economic component (resource optimization). Internal audit of the management systems is a tool for determining and analyzing «bottlenecks» in organizational processes, in the development of timely correcting measures for the improvement of the enterprise activities. The priorities in audit execution are shown. Examples of using the audit results in the improvement of the management processes are set.

Key words

quality management system , ecological management system , internal audit , system approach , audit criteria , audit certificates

The background of establishing an automated process control system

Summary

In the process of establishing and operating automated process control systems at Gorvodokanal of Novosibirsk MUE facilities the basic principles of the integrated and system approaches have been used. The integrated approach envisages a comprehensive analysis of the facilities subject to automation; whereas the automation system is constructed for achieving the set goal under any possible operation conditions. The main stages of the system approach for providing for the efficient operation of the automated process control system are described. The system approach envisages synthesizing the object and the automation system as part of the water supply or wastewater disposal system for achieving the set goal. In this regard the impact of the system and its components on the object and purpose of automation as well as the interaction between the automated object and water supply or wastewater disposal system is specified. On the basis on the system and integrated approaches the structure of the centralized corporate process control system is suggested. The main advantages of the corporate structure of the automated process control system in relation to the centralized operating automated process control system that was previously used for the remote process control are briefly outlined. The corporate system based on the system and integrated approaches is a flexible open structure that can be restructured, adapted and supplemented with new modules or third-party software that is seamlessly built-into the system. In the long term the structure of the corporate automated process control system will be the technical and software basis for establishing management information systems.

Key words

automated process control system , system approach , integrated approach , corporate automated control system , efficiency of operations

Energy audit of pumps in industrial and municipal systems and labeling of the operational efficiency: systematic approach
(part 1)

Summary

On the basis of a systematic approach, uniform criteria have been developed for estimating the energy efficiency of pumps in real industrial (municipal) systems from the standpoint of environmentally friendly operation in a low-carbon economy. At the same time, the integrated approach of pump manufacturers in tests and designers of real systems with pumps in the process of research and optimization calculations was taken into account. An example is given of estimating the eco-friendly energy efficient operation of a variable-load pump in a municipal system with a time dependent static head component. An example of a typical report of an energy survey is presented based on: the estimation developed for pumps by energy labelling classes for operating conditions in the system, with arbitrary load profiles; a computable structure of the pump design cycle modes with determining the ratio of energy-efficient and energy-consuming operation modes, excess demand energy and taking into account the negative impact on the environment in the form of greenhouse gas emissions in CO2-equivalent. An approach to improving the incentive mechanism for pump operators for the implementation of energy service contracts to reduce the energy intensity of industrial and communal technological processes is considered.

Key words

energy audit , centrifugal pump , system approach , pump load profile , Eco-Efficient Index , labeling of the eco-efficient energy consumption , carbon unit