March 2023Maintenance, Test & Measurement, Calibration
Reinard van Antwerpen.
Asset management is an ongoing concern for global industry, particularly in a time when most organisations are working towards establishing operations and profits to pre-pandemic standards, at the very least. Maintenance plays a fundamental role in reducing unplanned outages. An important differentiator of any field services offering, is the ability to offer end-to-end monitoring, maintenance and repair.
Unplanned downtime is one of the foremost reasons for productivity loss in manufacturing, resulting in output delays and seriously unsatisfied customers. In fact, according to Deloitte’s Predictive Maintenance and the Smart Factory report, it is estimated that unplanned downtime costs industrial manufacturing companies an estimated $50 billion each year.
This makes maintenance a compelling case for partnering with organisations that offer field services teams and a robust support infrastructure, fed by experts across the world, that speeds problem solving and lessens potential losses.
“An important differentiator of any field services offering, is the ability to offer end-to-end monitoring, maintenance and repair. In the case of Schneider Electric’s Secure Power offerings, our field services teams focus on the entire ecosystem of products that include UPSs, power distribution, security/environmental monitoring, cooling and software,” comments, secure power expert consultant at Schneider Electric. “Organisations can rest assured when our teams provide support. We can offer services that are based on the wealth of experience of our global teams, and advanced cloud-based tools that accelerate problem solving, benefiting both operations and business.”
Maintenance and support have certainly come a long way. In the past, faults or downtime would be reported as they materialised, and engineers would only then be dispatched to repair it. “Unfortunately, often the damage is already done, and crisis mode ensues, which is highly unsettling to organisations and support teams, leading to human error and diminished asset lifecycles,” comments van Antwerpen.
Today’s predictive and prescriptive service maintenance uses IoT sensors to constantly report back on the condition and performance of assets. Right down to the level of individual components, service can be provided based on the actual health of the equipment rather than a fixed schedule.
“With this level of field service provision, we are constantly analysing data in parallel with AI software and our team of experts. For example, if a component shows early signs of failure, an engineer can be immediately dispatched to repair or replace it, before a shutdown even occurs,” he explains. “An engineer can also arrive on site armed with all the information and parts he or she requires to complete the job, significantly increasing the rate of first-time fixes and improving customer satisfaction.”
Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Augmented Operator Advisor technology ensures support teams have access to digital field service manuals, schematics and blueprints. Thanks to AR, the custom application improves operational efficiency, enabling operators to superimpose data and virtual objects onto a cabinet, a machine or a plant.
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