Published date: 11 April 2016
We’re ready for the next industrial revolution
Asset performance, throughout its lifecycle, is key to every organisation. Since 1983, we’ve helped our customers manage millions of assets – in various facilities around the world. One thing is certain in this world: change. We understand that businesses change, they acquire other businesses, sites are extended, new buildings and production lines are created as obsolete ones are closed. Managing your asset base with future flexibility, scalability and control is key.
Having an understanding of the connections between assets, knowing their dependencies and relationships will give visibility of the impact of downtime, delays on spares and power outages. This will mean that plans and contingencies can be made with full knowledge of their consequences.
And this is where current technology makes things very exciting. With the advent of the Internet of Things, also known as Industry 4.0, you’ll be able to do much more than understand your asset structure and relationships. Because your assets will, in essence, be able to talk to each other and communicate data. This means that you can understand cause, effects, faults and performance on a much wider and more detailed scale.
It sounds very futuristic. But it’s available right now. So why isn’t every company embracing this technology and running forward into this new digital age? Well there are some very real considerations that need to be weighed up. The first is, the perception that it comes with ‘big data’, the mind blowing amount of data that will need to be transmitted to make this happen and the second that brand new equipment with sensors is needed.
It’s true that big data brings some powerful insight, and we all get excited about new equipment, but your journey can start very simply with minimum investment. Identifying your key pieces of equipment and fitting them with smart sensors, connected to a cloud based IoT platform will enable you to understand temperature, movement, pressure and performance like never before. You can even get started with simple home automation kits and very affordable technology.
The one thing all our customers have in common is the requirement to manage their assets through their lifecycles as the organisation grows and changes. So the best return on the investment is generated.
No matter where you are on the 4.0 journey we can give you the visibility and flexibility to understand your asset performance now and into the future; watch our latest Agility IoT demonstration here or contact us to find out more.