• 80% reduction in time spent searching for assets
• 70% improvement in alarm response times
• Increased workforce productivity - more tasks in less time
• Enhanced digital asset visibility - views of the facility, improving spatial awareness and enabling remote colaberation.

‍

To address these challenges, the facility’s team partnered with PlantQuest to deploy an integrated asset mapping and visualization platform. The implementation was carried out in a structured, step-by-step process over a number of months:

• Utilizing the site’s layout drawings, PlantQuest mapped the entire site, creating an interface similar to that of Google. This gave a visual canvas of the plant onto which asset information and location data could be layered.

Maintenance personnel went out with tablets running PlantQuest, verifying assets in the field, and dropped location pins on the digital map for each equipment tag. Over a number of weeks, the maintenance and calibration teams, alongside our implementation partner Transcat, all areas of the site were walked down, capturing the location of all applicable assets. This collaborative effort ensured that all assets location and respective metadata was 100% accurate and up to date.

• In partnership with Woolpert, 360° Imagery & LiDAR data points were captured. Approximately 30,000 m² of floor space (plantrooms, tech spaces and utility rooms) were scanned using high-resolution 360° cameras and LiDAR capture technology​. This process created an immersive, street-view style visual record of the site. The resulting 3D point cloud and panoramic imagery were then integrated into PlantQuest, aligning the scans with the 2D map.

PlantQuest’s interactive digital map provided a floor-by-floor “digital twin” of the facility, allowing technicians to search for any asset and see its exact location, accessible through a web application and IOS tablets.

Upon implementation, the facility now had a powerful platform that transformed how teams interact with site data. Key features of the adopted solution include:

• Interactive asset lookup and navigation system. Technicians and engineers could simply type an asset ID or description into PlantQuest and instantly see its location highlighted on the facility map. The system all overlaid relevant information like work orders and alarms; for example, a maintenance planner could view all open work orders for a building or floor, with icons indicating where those tasks are. Field technicians responding to an alarm could quickly open up PlantQuest, see exactly which sensor or equipment triggered the alarm and where it is, then use the built-in routing feature to find the fastest path to that location.
• Interactive 2D/3D Navigation: The solution provides an interactive map of the facility with seamless switching to a 3D view. Users can zoom into any room or asset on the 2D map and then drop into a 360° panoramic view of that actual space​. This Google Street View-like experience allows staff to virtually look around equipment in high detail. Technicians benefit from enhanced spatial awareness; for example, they can remotely inspect a valve or gauge in the 360° view before even going on-site. The seamless 2D-to-3D transition means critical context (like what surroundings or obstacles exist around an asset) is always at their fingertips, improving planning and safety.
• Multi-Asset Navigation: PlantQuest’s platform introduced a capability to navigate to multiple assets in one trip, which has been a game-changer for routine inspections and walks. Users can select a set of assets or checkpoints, and the system will calculate an optimal route connecting all of them. The maintenance team leveraged this feature to optimise their GEMBA walks—regular floor walks to observe operations and safety. They created a standard route through the facility covering all critical inspection points, from production lines to utility systems. The software ensures each GEMBA walk follows the same efficient path every time, making the process repeatable and consistent. New supervisors unfamiliar with the site can perform the walk just as effectively as veterans, guided by the digital routes​. Beyond GEMBA walks, the multi-asset routing is used for planning rounds such as safety checks and preventive maintenance routes, ensuring that no checkpoint is missed and travel time is minimised.
• Visual Workorder Planning for Planners: Maintenance planners now have an intuitive, visual tool to efficiently plan and optimise their workload. With PlantQuest’s interactive mapping interface, planners can view workorders geographically, instantly seeing exactly where tasks are located across the site. Advanced filtering capabilities reflect those active in the clients SAP PM, enabling planners to filter workorders based on criteria such as Workorder Type, Priority, Assignee, GMP Criticality, Due Date, Status, and Asset Type. By using these filters, planners quickly identify the exact locations of high-priority tasks and optimise daily maintenance schedules. Furthermore, PlantQuest’s intelligent routing engine takes these filtered tasks and automatically calculates the most efficient routes for technicians, significantly reducing transit times and enhancing overall productivity.

Due to the ever changing nature of the clients facility, the client is able to maintain complete control over asset and room data through PlantQuest’s centralised management portal. With admins being able to easily update asset locations, maintenance teams have access to intuitive field verification tools that allow them to amend, add, or update asset information in real-time during inspections.

To ensure ongoing accuracy, PlantQuest has been integrated seamlessly with the client’s Meridian Drawing Management system. Therefore, whenever layout or drawing updates occur, admins and system owners receive instant notifications informing them of these changes. These alerts prompt review changes, allowing for the system to be proactively updated and maintained at a low cost to the client. This integration ensures that the asset mapping remains accurate, current, and consistently reliable as a centralised source of truth across the facility.

‍

Implementing PlantQuest’s integrated mapping solution has revolutionised maintenance and facility operations at the biopharmaceutical site. The measurable improvements and qualitative benefits include:

• 80% reduction in time spent searching for assets: The most immediate win was the elimination of time spent searching for assets or information. Technicians now go straight to where work is needed with confidence. By simply removing the “search effort” and optimising travel paths, users can now locate equipment 80% quicker. In practice, what at times consumed an entire shift (finding valves, checking multiple rooms for a piece of equipment) can now be done in a couple of minutes. This recovered time is redirected to actual maintenance work, allowing the team to clear more work orders per week than before.
• 70% Faster Alarm Response: Emergency and alarm situations are handled far more efficiently. With real-time location mapping of alarms, the response team arrives 70% faster on average to the source of alarms compared to the old process. For example, if an HVAC alarm goes off, all relevant personnel are immediately notified with the location and quickest path—no more scrambling with building layouts or radioing back and forth for directions. This improvement in response times has minimised production interruptions and has even prevented full evacuations.
• Productivity & Efficiency Gains: By streamlining navigation and information access, the maintenance department has significantly increased its productivity. More jobs are completed per day now, helping to whittle down the maintenance backlog that once plagued the facility. Planners can schedule tasks more tightly because they know exactly how long it takes to move between jobs with the optimal routes. Overall, workforce efficiency has improved as teams spend more time fixing issues and less time finding them.
• Consistent GEMBA Walks & Inspections: The multi-asset navigation feature has made routine inspections like GEMBA walks and safety rounds highly consistent and repeatable. The standardized digital route for the GEMBA walk means every weekly walk-through covers all key areas in the same order, fostering a thorough examination of processes every time. This consistency has led to better trend identification and follow-up, as issues observed on these walks can be tracked in the same locations over time. Moreover, the optimised path shaves off wasted walking time—the team can complete the tour of the facility faster without skipping any critical stops.
• Enhanced Spatial Awareness & Remote Inspection: The integration of 360° imagery and LiDAR data has given the team an unprecedented level of visibility into the facility. Even when not physically present in a room, engineers can virtually “walk through” and examine equipment layouts, access points, and surroundings. This has proven invaluable for planning complex jobs and performing remote audits. For instance, before shutting down a line for maintenance, the team can do a virtual walkthrough to verify they have the right ladders or tools to reach a component—all without an extra site visit.

‍

The success of PlantQuest at the biopharma site did not go unnoticed. Following the pilot’s outstanding results, the organisation approved PlantQuest for global rollout. PlantQuest has now been deployed at five sites worldwide within the company’s network, each of which faced similar asset management challenges. These sites, ranging from a large vaccine production facility in Belgium to a multiproduct pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in North Carolina, have been able to replicate the efficiency gains seen in Ireland by leveraging PlantQuest’s scalable platform. The implementation approach (using existing drawings, importing SAP data, conducting asset surveys, and utilizing layout drawings, etc.) proved repeatable, allowing new facilities to come online with an interactive asset map in a matter of months. With PlantQuest becoming a standard tool across its global operations, the company is now exploring ways to deepen the integration of this digital twin with other enterprise systems.