Introducing the Age of Asset Performance Management

For most modern manufacturers, assets are the foundation of the business. Every machine in your production line that contributes to a finished product is essential. In the age of digital manufacturing, the number of such assets is expanding. Now, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) sensors that monitor these assets have, themselves, become assets. The reason? They contribute to the value stream by enabling enterprise asset management (EAM).

The one-two punch of EAM and APM

While EAM focuses on the long-term life cycle of an asset, asset performance management (APM) leverages the wealth of data created by digital resources to optimize the productivity, reliability, availability, cost, and overall function of an asset on a day-to-day (even run-to-run) basis. As a result, APM feeds into better EAM. It is a standalone focus for many manufacturers as well.

To break down what this looks like in practice, consider the impact of both EAM and APM on a piece of equipment. From an EAM standpoint, you might be able to say that a piece of equipment performs 1,000 runs per year, with maintenance intervals scheduled every 250 runs, totaling four scheduled downtimes (quarterly). Now, through APM, you can see that this machine has done six runs today — a significantly higher pace than its 1,000-year average — and that it’s now due for service 22 days earlier than originally scheduled.

The powerful combination of EAM for broad asset management and APM for real-time analysis against those broad benchmarks is ushering in a new era of equipment maintenance.

What APM brings to the table

APM brings a whole new world of possibilities. Thanks to the real-time influx of big data that powers APM, manufacturers can adjust and accommodate changes to their manufacturing maintenance schedules in more practiced ways. According to Kevin Price of Manufacturing.net, “APM helps set a course for maintenance maturity through:”

  • Predictive and risk modeling
  • Automated workflows for prescriptive maintenance
  • Capture, consolidation, and analysis of large amounts of asset data over time
  • Performance failure analysis and model under varied condition

Leveraged correctly, APM can account for the gaps found in broader EAM, which isn’t flexible enough on a day-to-day basis to accommodate the real-time changes that accompany the manufacturing environment.

Digitization drives APM

The prospects of APM are many and growing broader by the day … but only for manufacturers embracing digitization. Digital assets are what drive APM for traditional assets: the IIoT sensors keeping track of mechanical functions. Because data is the key driver of APM, manufacturers need IIoT assets feeding data into sophisticated processes and programs that can aggregate that raw data into patterns and meaningful insights.

It’s one thing to know the average annual productivity of a machine. It’s another to know if the daily rate exceeds that. It’s still another thing to understand how that real-time average compares to the annual and how that affects maintenance in context. That’s the power of APM. That’s the power of digitization.

APM also can help you collaborate with vendors more effectively. When your APM metrics tell you it’s time for essential maintenance, you can always count on the professionals at Global Electronic Services. Contact us for all your industrial electronic, servo motor, AC and DC motor, hydraulic, and pneumatic needs — and don’t forget to like and follow us on Facebook!
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