Industry 4.0 starts with Asset Performance Management 4.0

Industry 4.0 starts with Asset Performance Management 4.0

Whether you call it Smart Manufacturing or Industry 4.0, digital disruption is real, it’s happening, and it is impacting all industrial and infrastructure-centric companies. The enthusiasm around topics like the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 is justified. They have the potential to redefine production and optimize every bottom-line metric from resource utilization to production cost.

Producing an optimal outcome from this approach depends on a number of factors though, including technology, people, and access to trusted data.

The evolution of APM

Since 2011, when the German government coined the term Industry 4.0, the focal point has been around the smart connected supply chain, highlighting Engineering and Design opportunities. However, another aspect of Industry 4.0 is now becoming critical to the discussion – the transformative impact of APM 4.0 on asset performance.

The fourth generation of APM leverages Industry 4.0 and IIoT principles to redefine Asset Performance Management. By adopting technologies such as predictive analytics, prescriptive guidance, digital twins, augmented reality, cloud and mobility solutions, organizations are able to access, leverage and optimize their assets.

How APM 4.0 supports Industry 4.0?

Industry 4.0 is all about transforming the way companies produce goods to achieve the maximum level of production efficiency while also increasing sustainability.

The starting point of this transformation, for any business, is to have a clear understanding of their current operational models, assessing possibilities for operational enhancement that produce the quickest and most substantial financial gains.

From here, a comprehensive action plan can then be formed to execute strategies, and assign roles and roadmaps to people, processes, and systems within the organization. A number of initiatives must be considered during this phase:

• Risk management strategies – to deliver optimal balance between risk, cost, and performance of assets, in order to maximize return on asset investment.
• Workforce digitization – to enhance situational awareness, operational utilization, safety, and efficiency of assets, while reducing downtime and maintenance costs.
• Industrial Big Data – collected and used in context to deliver increased productivity, efficiency, and reliability through advanced data analysis and visualization.
• Enhanced connectivity – optimizes companies’ investments through improved data availability across the entire enterprise.
• Cloud, Mobility, Predictive Analytics, and Extended Reality (XR) – empowers workforces with anytime-anywhere access to actionable insights.

A new way of managing asset performance

Imagine this scenario: an engineer needs to quickly compare the health of two adjacent pumps. Whereas a non-visual system would identify these pumps separately (and their proximity and location would not be immediately apparent), with APM 4.0 and a digital twin, engineers can immediately see that the pumps are adjacent. The color-coding on the 3D model of the pumps also immediately indicates the relative health status of the pumps.

Reference to the relevant P&ID reveals the roles of both pumps in the plant’s operation, and a drill-down to real-time operational data shows the underlying problems: one has a leak, whereas the other shows excess vibration.

The engineer can now make an informed decision, applying best practices and scheduling repairs to both pumps to maximize asset reliability.

To make this APM 4.0 a reality, digital twins and Extended Reality technologies should be adopted. But it is ultimately the combination of visualization tools, simulation, modeling, and real-time data acquisition that become the game-changer in the APM 4.0 world. Using these tools in the cloud means data can be shared across the global community of suppliers, sales, operations, and customers, so decisions can be made collaboratively and efficiently.

More than just hype

Industry 4.0 is more than just hype – it is already providing real benefits to companies today. For example, after implementing APM 4.0 strategies, companies AVEVA work with have seen the following improvements:

• 30% improvement in asset utilization.
• 25% reduction in unplanned downtime.
• 20% increase in asset availability.
• $17M+ saved in single predictive analytics catch.

So how could your organization benefit from smarter Asset Performance Management? Find out more by downloading our free Asset Performance Management 4.0 eBook by LNS Research.