LAS VEGAS–IBM announced that it is working with the Louvre Museum to deliver an intelligent management system based on Big Blue’s Maximo technology.
The new systems at the Louvre Museum in Paris will preserve and protect the landmark institution’s artwork and facilities, which cover more than 650,000 square feet, making it one of the largest museums in the world, said David Bartlett, vice president of industry solutions at IBM. IBM announced its work with the Louvre at its IBM Pulse 2012 conference here.
Established in the 18th century, the Louvre is home to thousands of objects and artifacts ranging from prehistory to 1848, including perhaps the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa. To preserve and protect its facilities and world-famous artwork, the museum staff handles more than 65,000 repairs and maintenance visits per year. Through the use of IBM Maximo Asset Management software, the museum’s staff has been able to streamline its maintenance processes to improve customer service, as well as improve the efficiency, real-time operation and management of the museum.
As one of Europe’s most visited museums, with 8.8 million visitors in 2011, one of the Louvre’s goals is to keep the majority of its galleries open daily, IBM said. To meet that goal while managing more than 65,000 repairs and maintenance visits, the museum needed to make its corrective and preventative maintenance more streamlined and efficient. Prior to working with IBM, the staff managed its facility-related repairs and maintenance work by paper, involving hundreds of vendors. However, the museum recognized that it needed a computerized maintenance management tool to make its corrective and preventative maintenance more streamlined and efficient.
Thus the museum engaged IBM Business Partner SQLI to upgrade IBM Maximo software to create a single information database and shared repository for the museum staff. The software solution’s integrated database helps the museum visualize processes including the initial planning, cleaning, maintenance and disposal of the rooms and facilities systems such as the air-conditioning system, heating system, elevators, lights for each room or gallery, and the locking system for more than 2,500 doors.
"The Louvre has more than 2,500 doors they have to monitor for energy efficiency," Bartlett said.
"Managing thousands of repairs, cleaning and maintenance visits per year to preserve the facilities and artwork while keeping the galleries available and accessible to visitors is a daunting undertaking," said Metin Pelit, department manager of computerized maintenance management system at The Louvre Museum, in a statement. "Thanks to IBM software, we’re able to visualize our entire infrastructure and make better, more informed decisions about when and how to respond to problems and about when to proactively address a potential problem that we otherwise wouldn’t have seen coming."
The Louvre’s management system can now aggregate data from individual systems within the museum, providing the museum staff and its vendors with real-time information on each asset. Additionally, the software provides a predictive view into the performance and reliability of the facility equipment and systems, allowing museum staff to better determine which assets need to be repaired or replaced, IBM said.
"Buildings are massive systems of systems, and these systems need to talk to each other for a building to become smarter," Pelit said. "In the Louvre’s case, there’s the added challenge of being home to thousands of irreplaceable pieces of art which must be carefully preserved while trying to accommodate millions of visitors annually. By using Maximo software to monitor the condition of assets across the museum’s facilities in one single database, these systems begin to talk to one another, allowing staff to preserve artwork and facilities with more ease and efficiency. As a result, the Louvre is now able to keep the majority of their galleries open to customers on a daily basis while simultaneously reducing costs and energy consumption.
The IBM software enables the museum to gain better insight on how many assets it owns, their location and the maintenance history log. Moreover, the software helps the Louvre Museum staff manage both planned and unplanned maintenance activities, from initial work request and work order generation through completion and recording of the actual work performed.
For instance, the IBM software matched job tasks to available contractors, estimated and obtained approval of costs, established priorities, and initiated maintenance activities throughout the museum and its individual galleries, IBM said. It enables the museum to better follow up on the maintenance staff especially contractors, who also work with Maximo. Based on this knowledge, the museum can tailor its tender offer, and consequently contractors can better align their offer to the customer needs, the company said.
"Technology today can make it possible to ‘listen’ to the abundance of information from buildings," Bartlett said in a statement. "The Louvre Museum has created a fabric of intelligence to better manage and preserve their art and infrastructure for the world to enjoy."
To read the original eWeek article, click here: IBM Building Smarter System for Louvre Museum
