What concerns professionals managing large rotating equipment the most? 

At onepredict, we provide the ‘guardione® turbo’ solution that enables smarter and safer management of large rotating equipment such as turbines, compressors, and fans. We are constantly striving to identify our clients’ pain points. 

In particular, we sat down with Beomchan Jang, the Project Manager (PM) in charge of guardione® turbo at onepredict, who is more deeply immersed in these challenges than anyone else.

Q. Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your role at the company, as well as the path you've taken to get here? 

Hello, I'm Beomchan Jang, the Product Manager in charge of guardione® turbo at onepredict. 

During my master's program, I studied and conducted research on diagnostic technologies for rotating equipment and the integration of ICT/AI into monitoring systems for such equipment. 

That experience led me to onepredict, where I now manage guardione® turbo from A to Z. To be more specific, I’m involved in everything from algorithm development and database schema structuring to deployment. 

Q. As the planner and manager of guardione® turbo, you probably spend a lot of time thinking about your customers. What are the main concerns of your (potential) clients, and what problems are they trying to solve? 

The biggest concern for customers managing equipment in factories is “downtime due to equipment failure.” Minimizing this downtime is a critical challenge. 

When equipment issues arise, downtime inevitably follows. This leads to a halt in operations, causing production delays, increased repair and maintenance costs, wasted resources, and employee overtime — all of which result in significant losses. 

guardione® turbo addresses these problems by supporting root cause identification and recommended actions to help customers make quick decisions. 

A major issue many operators face is that operational data and vibration data are collected using different software, making integrated monitoring difficult. guardione® turbo enables integrated monitoring of both types of data, and even analyzes the root cause of vibrations. This allows for faster decision-making and ultimately helps minimize downtime. 

Q. Then it seems like diagnostic accuracy is the most important factor for guardione® turbo. Do you have any figures or evidence to support this?

In 2018, we conducted a technical validation before implementing the solution at a company referred to as P. We received 100 sets of vibration data from P and ran an algorithm accuracy test — the results showed a 92% accuracy rate, which convinced the company to adopt guardione® turbo. 

Q. A 92% accuracy rate is very impressive. Could you tell us about other companies currently using guardione® turbo besides POSCO? 

GS Power, which operates in HVAC and power generation, is one of our major clients using the guardione® solution extensively. guardione® turbo is currently installed at the GS Power Anyang Combined Heat and Power Plant, and will soon be installed in Bucheon as well. Additionally, 24 units are in use at GS Caltex’s Yeosu plant, with 13 more scheduled to be added by 2025. guardione® turbo is also used by public power generation companies like Korea Midland Power. 

In one case, GS Power experienced a gas turbine trip and needed to urgently identify the cause. guardione® turbo analyzed the data collected up to the moment before the trip and diagnosed “rubbing near Bearing No. 2,” enabling swift corrective action based on the diagnosis report. 

You can find more customer use cases below.

Q. Some readers might be interested in trying out guardione® turbo. What’s required to run a demo, and how long does it usually take to implement? 

To run a demo of guardione® turbo, we need key vibration data such as waveform, shaft centerline, 1x amplitude/phase, and other operational data that could affect the equipment. Once we receive that data, we can provide a demo system built using your own data. 

Through the demo, you'll be able to experience vibration characteristic comparisons, trend analysis, and receive a diagnosis report. The demo process typically takes 2–3 weeks depending on the quality of the data, and once you decide to proceed with full implementation, delivery takes around 1–2 weeks.

Q. Lastly, what kind of companies would benefit the most from using guardione® turbo? 

guardione® turbo is especially valuable for power plants and petrochemical plants. In private power plants, specialists aren't always on standby, which means identifying the cause of a trip can take a long time. 

guardione® turbo provides easy-to-understand diagnostic reports with visualized data. These reports include failure mode risk levels, diagnostic model reasoning, related tag lists, and recommended actions, helping with fast decision-making. 

Even in facilities where specialists are available, features like 15 fault-mode diagnoses, detailed equipment reports, and 3D orbit analysis make guardione® turbo a powerful tool for equipment management. Ultimately, it minimizes downtime and enhances both productivity and safety across the entire plant.