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For manufacturers, processes have undergone a number of revolutions in the past few decades, characterised by ever-greater automation and, more recently, machine learning and the Internet of Things (IoT). Maintenance has seen comparative levels of change in recent years, with maintenance 4.0 digitalising previously manual processes and EAM delivering the ability to harness the power of data to predict asset failure and automatically direct a remediation process. In recent years, many organisations have adopted varying iterations of EAM in their quest to reduce downtime and increase the lifespan of equipment. However, as we embark upon a new digital era, accelerated by Covid-19 and underpinned by initiatives such as Industry 4.0, many industry experts are questioning whether EAM goes far enough. Beyond fabrication While the principles of EAM are absolutely valid, maintenance is typically a discipline confined to the factory floor, designed to monitor and optimise the management of equipment, reduce downtime and maximise productivity. However, with collaboration and connectivity across the enterprise representing some of the critical shifts in 2021, strong asset performance should – and, indeed, must – be an enterprise-wise goal. In response to this shift, asset performance management has been heralded
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PRECAST | ISSUE FOUR | 2021
THE FUTURE OF MAINTENANCE? ENTER NEXT-GEN ASSET PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Infor’s Phil Lewis explains why enterprise asset management (EAM) is no longer enough for manufacturers to drive performance in an era dominated by digital as the next big thing in optimising assetorientated performance, marking an end to reactive maintenance management once and for all.
Managing labour and material costs Some businesses have been making do and getting by with asset management strategies that sell them short. These drive up the cost of maintenance labour and materials and increase the risk that critical assets will be offline when they are most urgently needed. The scene has been shifting over the past several years, with EAM offering greater visibility and sophistication for maintenance operations. Yet business rarely sits still for very long. With the rapid rise of Industry 4.0, it is essential for asset management to keep up. Maintenance 4.0 is the set of tools and strategies which is helping companies optimise operations by deploying the mountains of data now available to keep equipment and production lines in peak operating condition. (Left): Phil Lewis of Infor.
