Breakthroughs in technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) are changing how we take into consideration operations management. As organizations move from a reactive approach to a proactive one, they’ll use technologies just like the Industrial Web of Things (IIoT), cloud, AI, and analytics to realize real-time data, actionable insight, etc., enhancing performance management to propel business growth.
That is where Asset Performance Management (APM) is available in. It provides a strategic approach to extend the efficient use of commercial assets. Furthermore, with the growing have to optimize APM strategy, this market is projected to hit USD 4.7 billion by 2028.
In this text, we discuss what APM is, its role in asset management, implementation challenges, and future trends in asset management.
What’s Asset Performance Management (APM)?
Asset Performance Management is a strategic framework to administer an organization’s assets, i.e., infrastructure, equipment, human labor, etc. This strategy goals to maximise the worth derived from available assets by optimizing performance during operations.
For instance, an industrial manufacturer might develop and apply an APM strategy after noticing that the manufacturing equipment shouldn’t be being utilized to its maximum potential. This will result in lower production and, because of this, lower revenue.
Firms today depend on software-based APM solutions to observe the health and performance of critical assets. In addition they inform firms whether their APM strategy is being executed as originally planned. These solutions use technologies resembling IoT, AI, predictive maintenance, distant monitoring, etc, to measure the effectiveness of the APM strategy applied.
Firms can employ the next APM strategies:
- Asset Criticality Evaluation (ACA): Used to critically assess an asset’s likely consequence of failure and the very best risk posed to operations as a sa result.
- Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM): Used to evaluate a system’s risk and help develop strategies to cut back operational failures.
- Asset Strategy Optimization (ASO): Used to extend asset reliability and reduce maintenance costs using advanced quantitive strategy modeling techniques.
Extending Asset Life and Maximizing Labor Productivity
One among the most important goals of applying and executing an Asset Performance Management strategy is to increase asset life to its maximum operational potential. The advantages include cost savings on latest assets, increased operational efficiency, reduced maintenance costs, and higher safety and compliance.
But most significantly, successfully extending the lifetime of assets has a deeper impact on labor productivity. It is because APM strategies compel industries to have higher maintenance practices, lower downtime, improved resource allocation, enhanced employee safety, etc.
A few of the strategies used to increase asset life using APM include:
- Asset Lifecycle Management: A technique used to grasp an asset’s complete lifecycle, from acquisition to disposal, to strategically plan every thing from maintenance to optimal usage.
- Real-time Monitoring: Using technologies just like the Industrial Web of Things (IIoT), real-time monitoring and evaluation may help measure the actual performance of assets to avoid downtime and asset failure.
Reducing Maintenance Costs and Time
Unplanned downtime, the resulting maintenance costs, and time spent to make the asset operational again are among the leading problems industries face today. As an example, WSJ’s report estimates almost $50 billion lost annually by industrial manufacturers due to unplanned downtime resulting mainly from equipment failure.
One among the first goals of incorporating Asset Performance Management strategies is to cut back unplanned downtime to, ideally, zero. This reduces unnecessary maintenance costs, prevents costly equipment breakdowns, and makes it easier to predict and sustain industrial operations.
A few of the APM strategies employed for this include:
- Predictive Maintenance: By utilizing modern AI/ML capabilities to investigate big data, this strategy can monitor an asset’s health and forecast maintenance.
- Root Cause Evaluation (RCA): This strategy emphasizes understanding the foundation causes of asset failures in a structured manner. Using this strategy, firms can avoid future unplanned failures as a substitute of just temporary firefighting.
- Maintenance Optimization: By utilizing advanced analytics, industries can optimize maintenance schedules and resources in a way that doesn’t over- or under-optimize for the upkeep of assets.
Challenges in Implementing Asset Performance Management
While organizations do understand the importance of APM strategies, roadblocks can arise during execution. Modern challenges of implementing APM strategies include:
1. Maintaining Data Quality: The execution of any APM strategy can only be pretty much as good because the source data used to make conclusions about what must be done. If the information quality fails to accurately reflect the condition of assets, it can defeat objectives resembling reducing downtime and maintenance costs, improving labor productivity, etc.
2. Growing Technological Complexity: With the emergence of Industry 4.0 and technologies like AI and IIoT, industries can increase operational efficiency. But at the identical time, these systems also create adoption challenges. Especially, training the workforce in order that APM strategies may be executed properly is a big challenge.
This implies you would possibly have to train or hire resources to implement modern APM strategies, resembling predictive maintenance, where the knowledge of AI and data analytics is significant.
3. Measuring Performance: One key challenge of implementing an APM strategy is ensuring that performance is being measured accurately and that you will have the appropriate performance metrics in place to reflect the progress.
For instance, it can be a challenge to grasp how your APM strategy has helped reduce downtime. And whether this reduction correlates with the implemented strategy.
Concluding Note
Advanced AI systems, real-time data, and predictive analytics enable industries to create more reliable APM strategies. The top goal stays the identical:
- Increase the effectiveness of operations
- Maximize return on investment (ROI)
- Enhance asset performance
- Improve safety and risk mitigation
To read more in regards to the technological advances, visit Unite AI.