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Coconut · a retrofit for old industrial plants

Old machines can’t ask for help.
Coconut asks for them.

A small add-on that sits next to a water plant’s existing control system, notices when equipment starts to go wrong, remembers how it was fixed last time, and opens a ServiceNow ticket in plain English — weeks before anything breaks.

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The problem

Our water still runs on computers from the last century.

Water treatment works and pumping stations are controlled by systems installed 20–30 years ago. They still work, so nobody wants to touch them. But they were built to run the plant, not to warn anyone.

Ancient screens

Some control screens still run on Windows NT and Windows 2000.

Alarm overload

Every site set up its alarms differently. Operators learn to ignore the noise.

Islands of data

Each site is its own island. Vibration and power data sit in yet another system.

Pen and paper

One operator read a number off a screen once a day and wrote it in a notebook.

Examples from a large UK water utility’s public talks on its control systems (AVEVA World 2024).

Why it matters

When a pump fails, a city notices.

16 millionpeople served by one UK water company
2.6 billionlitres of drinking water delivered every day
2.2 millionsensor readings to keep an eye on
10 secondsthe longest a control screen may be down before it’s a problem
Week 1

A pump bearing starts to wear. The pump shakes a little more than usual. Nobody can see it in the old system.

Week 3

It runs hotter. An alarm fires — one of hundreds that day. It gets cleared.

Week 5

The pump seizes. Pressure drops, homes lose water, crews are called out at night. Cost: far more than a planned repair.

Figures: Thames Water 2025–26 annual results and AVEVA World 2024. Used as a public reference scenario only.

The missing link

The office already has a great “fix-it” system. The plant floor isn’t plugged into it.

The office (IT)
  • Tickets, owners and deadlines
  • Approvals and audit trail
  • Knows every laptop and server
The plant floor (OT)
  • Pumps, valves, sensors
  • Old control screens
  • Problems found by walking round

Many utilities already use ServiceNow to run IT. Almost none connect it to the machines that actually move the water.

The solution

Meet Coconut: a smart add-on, not a replacement.

Think of fitting a smart smoke detector to an old house. You don’t rewire the house. You add one small device that listens, and tells you — on your phone — when something is wrong. Coconut does that for a water plant.

1Listens

Reads the plant’s sensor data. Read-only — it never touches the controls.

2Spots

Proven maths notices early warning signs: extra shaking, rising heat, odd pressure.

3Remembers

Keeps a memory of every past alarm and fix: “last time this happened, we replaced the bearing.”

4Explains

A small on-site AI writes a clear note a person can act on — and opens the ServiceNow ticket.

Why “retrofit”?

Replacing the old system takes years. Coconut takes weeks.

Rip and replace

  • Multi-year, multi-million project
  • Plants must be re-tested and re-certified
  • Risk of outages while switching over
  • Operators learn new screens

Coconut retrofit

  • Old system stays exactly as it is
  • Only reads data — can’t break the plant
  • Runs on one small box on site; data stays on site
  • Works through the ServiceNow the company already has

How it fits together

Five layers. Only one of them is new.

PeopleControl room & maintenance crews

Get a clear ticket and, when needed, a one-click “approve” button.

↑ tickets & approvals↓ “yes, go ahead”
ServiceNow — the company’s fix-it system

Turns warnings into tickets, sends them to the right team, asks for sign-off, keeps the record.

↑ warnings with evidence↓ approved requests only
New · CoconutCoconut, in a safe zone between the office and the plant
👂 Watch readings📈 Spot warning signs🧠 Memory of past fixes✍️ Small AI writes the note
↑ a read-only copy of the readings↓ a polite request the plant may refuse
UnchangedExisting control systems (SCADA)

The same old screens and controllers. Their built-in safety rules always have the final say.

↑ sensor readings
UnchangedThe plant: pumps, valves, sensors

Pressure, flow, vibration, temperature, water quality.

The secret ingredient

Coconut remembers, so knowledge doesn’t retire with your best engineer.

Most alarm systems only know right now. Coconut keeps a connected memory of every machine, every past warning and every fix — and pulls the relevant ones out when something looks familiar.

  • What happened before — past tickets and how they were closed
  • What the machine is — its manual, its normal behaviour
  • What’s happening now — the last few hours of readings

It also tells the difference between a broken machine and a broken cable, so crews aren’t sent out for nothing.

ServiceNowINC0012345 · Priority 2
Pump 2 at Kempton: bearing wearing out — about 18 days left

Pump 2 is shaking more than normal (4.7 mm/s, up from 2.0 last month) and its bearing is 12°C warmer.

🧠 Last time this pattern appeared on this pump (2024), the drive-end bearing was replaced. The fix took 4 hours.

Suggested: book a bearing change this fortnight. Switch to the standby pump now? Needs approval

Illustrative example ticket

Safety first

Coconut advises. People decide. The plant’s own safety rules always win.

Just do it

Open a ticket, attach the evidence, book the maintenance.

Automatic
Do it and tell someone

Clear a known nuisance alarm, check a sensor more often.

Automatic + notify
Ask first

Switch to the standby pump, slow a pump down slightly.

One-click human approval, auto-undo
Never

Anything touching water quality, isolating mains, or overriding safety locks.

Advice only — always

Follows the industry’s own security rules for plant networks (IEC 62443). Every suggestion and action is logged on the ticket.

What you get

From “it broke last night” to “we fixed it before it broke.”

Weeks of warning

Wear and overheating are spotted early, so repairs are planned, not emergencies.

Fewer false alarms

Duplicate alarms are merged and comms glitches are filtered out.

Tickets that write themselves

Clear English, with evidence and history attached, sent to the right team.

Knowledge that stays

Every fix becomes memory for the next time.

No risk to the plant

Read-only by design. Nothing changes without a person saying yes.

Uses what you own

No new control system. It plugs into the ServiceNow you already pay for.

×

Wexa builds the brain. ServiceNow runs the workflow.

Wexa provides Coconut — the on-site watcher, memory and small AI. ServiceNow turns what it finds into tickets, approvals and a full audit trail. Together they bring the plant floor into the same system the rest of the company already trusts.

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The demo is a simulation modelled on a UK water works (“Kempton”) using public information. It does not imply that any named utility uses this product.