Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is a proven management philosophy aimed at maximizing equipment effectiveness through the involvement of the entire organization — from operators to maintenance teams. A key aspect of TPM is preventing failures, standardizing activities, and continuously improving maintenance processes.
In the era of Industry 4.0, the traditional TPM approach is gaining a new dimension through digital tools. One of them is WebPano Visual Plant — a platform acting as a digital twin of the facility, integrating 3D views, 360° panoramas, P&ID diagrams, 3D models, and data from external systems. For Maintenance teams, this means moving from reactive maintenance to data-driven, spatially contextualized decision-making.
TPM Pillar 1: Autonomous Maintenance
Visual support for operators
WebPano Visual Plant provides operators with clear, visual work instructions. Instead of relying on paper documentation, operators can virtually walk through the installation, locate specific equipment, and see how to perform basic inspections, cleaning, or lubrication tasks.
This approach:
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increases operator competence,
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standardizes maintenance activities,
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strengthens the culture of autonomous maintenance.
Standardization of procedures
Information points (Notes) can be placed directly on the 3D model or panorama, containing:
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checklists,
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instructions,
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reference images,
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video materials.
This ensures that all employees follow the same procedures, directly improving the quality and consistency of autonomous maintenance activities.
Image 1 – Video instruction linked to equipment in WebPano Visual Plant
TPM Pillar 2: Planned Maintenance
Virtual asset inventory
WebPano allows Maintenance teams to virtually explore the entire facility, locate assets, and tag and categorize them. Equipment can be filtered by:
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name,
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type,
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location,
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assigned tags.
Such an inventory can be easily integrated with CMMS systems.
Image 2 – Asset location within the facility using tag and asset name filtering in WebPano Visual Plant
Centralized equipment data
Each installation component (e.g., pump, valve, motor) can be linked to databases or CMMS/ERP systems via an open API (Application Programming Interface). In this way, WebPano Visual Plant acts as a digital twin interface, integrating data from multiple sources, including:
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failure history,
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technical specifications,
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manuals,
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maintenance history.
Access to this information directly from the 3D view significantly shortens maintenance decision-making time.
Image 3 – Equipment location within the facility using tag and asset name filtering in WebPano Visual Plant
Route and work time optimization
With an accurate digital representation of the facility, Maintenance planners can:
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optimize inspection routes,
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reduce travel time,
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improve preventive maintenance planning.
Maintenance becomes less reactive and more predictive.
TPM Pillar 3: Quality Maintenance
Fault localization in spatial context
WebPano Visual Plant enables visualization of data from IoT sensors, monitoring systems, or CML directly at their physical locations. Parameters such as:
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temperature,
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pressure,
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vibration,
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wall thickness
are displayed exactly where they are measured. This makes it easier to identify correlations between failures and specific areas of the installation.
Image 4 – Identification of equipment location with a potential fault to be checked in WebPano Visual Plant. Information routed to the appropriate teams using tags.
Virtual inspections and data integration
Instead of relying solely on tabular data, engineers can perform remote virtual inspections by viewing sensor readings directly on the digital representation of the facility, in the context of their actual geolocation. The open WebPano API enables integration with various external monitoring systems, allowing the platform to serve as a unified interface for spatial data visualization. This significantly improves the effectiveness of TPM management.
For example, data from pipeline corrosion monitoring systems can be transmitted to WebPano Visual Plant to indicate locations where degradation progresses most rapidly. An external Corrosion Monitoring system updates information such as pipe wall thickness, enabling precise infrastructure condition monitoring. The WebPano graphical interface clearly highlights specific locations requiring preventive action, facilitating accurate task assignment before issues occur.
Image 5 – Identification of a corrosion-affected area with precise location on an overview map for the appropriate teams.
Visualization of equipment and pipeline condition
Thanks to the open API, condition data from external monitoring systems (e.g., CML, IoT) can be transmitted and visualized directly on the 3D installation view. Maintenance teams can use: status colors (green / yellow / red), heatmaps, to quickly identify problem areas.
WebPano can visualize, among others:
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Technical condition (CML): location and severity of degradation, such as corrosion, enabling preventive action before failures occur.
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Energy losses: identification of areas with high energy loss (e.g., damaged insulation) using heatmaps based on sensor or inspection data.
Routing and preparation for modernization
WebPano enables marking pipeline routes on point clouds and panoramas, supporting:
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replacement planning,
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preparation for 3D modeling,
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modernization projects.
Image 6 – Pipeline routing on a point cloud using CML descriptions for subsequent 3D modeling.
Data-driven predictive maintenance
Maintenance teams do not wait for failures to occur. By analyzing trends such as wall thickness loss, increasing vibration levels, or other sensor data tied to specific locations, they can plan preventive replacements or repairs. With proper configuration, WebPano Visual Plant enables spatial identification and visualization of areas where undesirable events occur most frequently.
Integration with asset management systems allows data from WebPano Visual Plant to be exported to existing CMMS or ERP systems via API.
Summary
Applying WebPano Visual Plant within a TPM framework offers more than visualization alone. It becomes a key decision-support tool for Maintenance teams, providing comprehensive capabilities for asset visualization, maintenance planning, and fault localization. Integration with CMMS systems, historical data, and sensor data enables advanced strategies such as Condition-Based Maintenance, reducing costs and increasing equipment availability.
Through its API capabilities and integration with monitoring systems such as CML, WebPano Visual Plant plays a crucial role in preventive maintenance by visualizing data in spatial context, significantly enhancing safety and infrastructure reliability.
