Representative End User Clients
Representative Automation Clients
Representative Software Clients
Is the promise of “Zero Downtime” realistic? When talking with clients about Industrial IoT and predictive maintenance (PdM), they have been very skeptical (with a look like I’m an ivory tower type consultant). I’m not naïve having worked in factories managing both automation engineering and maintenance groups. But, a couple of recent announcements caught my eye.
Fanuc
One is the “FANUC and Cisco Collaborate to Increase Uptime for Connected Machines” which announces their “Zero Downtime” (ZDT) pilot project with a major automotive manufacturer that decreased related equipment downtime. The manufacturing of the automotive drive train (engine and transmission) involves huge number of expensive (around a million $ each) CNC machining centers for the multitude of associated machined parts. In the past, issues were discovered only after production downtime had occurred, and involved a direct physical connection to the machine for diagnosis. With the FANUC ZDT Solution, the system proactively detects a problem and alerts well before unexpected downtime occurs. Equipment health monitoring occurs autonomously at the machine using Cisco’s Connected Machines offering. Now, maintenance can address the issue during a planned outage without impacting production.
Caterpillar
Another was a blog post by Douglas Bellin where he writes about Caterpillar with the hundreds of sensors on the equipment that provide “key data for equipment predictive maintenance so that everything can be repaired before a breakdown to maximize uptime.” The solution uses Cisco’s wireless access and mesh networking products. In mining, the Caterpillar equipment can range into $1 million dollars each. They move a lot of ore, and downtime with the associated lost production significantly impacts revenue.
IIoT Technology Adoption
Industrial IoT, analytics, edge-computing (for autonomous health monitoring), cloud (for analytics, alerts and business process management) are driving a major change in the maintenance of equipment from reactive to proactive. Recently, the application of these technologies has moved from $1 million plus machines to under $100 thousand – my post in March about Cummins diesel engines is an example. Thought-leading OEMs with equipment approaching $10 thousand each have started to include these types of technologies in their product development plans. The goal is to grow revenue and margin by selling predictive maintenance services to their end user customers.
Business Impact
The business impact of near zero unplanned downtime has immediate benefits like lower maintenance costs, and increased capacity and revenue. In addition, a multitude of secondary benefits occur like lower inventory (less safety stock for unplanned events), improved customer satisfaction (with more on-time shipments), and many others that are more vertical industry dependent.
Conclusion
This confluence of technology trends and impactful business benefits will drive equipment suppliers to deliver solutions that provide “zero downtime” – or very close to it.
Fanuc
One is the “FANUC and Cisco Collaborate to Increase Uptime for Connected Machines” which announces their “Zero Downtime” (ZDT) pilot project with a major automotive manufacturer that decreased related equipment downtime. The manufacturing of the automotive drive train (engine and transmission) involves huge number of expensive (around a million $ each) CNC machining centers for the multitude of associated machined parts. In the past, issues were discovered only after production downtime had occurred, and involved a direct physical connection to the machine for diagnosis. With the FANUC ZDT Solution, the system proactively detects a problem and alerts well before unexpected downtime occurs. Equipment health monitoring occurs autonomously at the machine using Cisco’s Connected Machines offering. Now, maintenance can address the issue during a planned outage without impacting production.
Caterpillar
Another was a blog post by Douglas Bellin where he writes about Caterpillar with the hundreds of sensors on the equipment that provide “key data for equipment predictive maintenance so that everything can be repaired before a breakdown to maximize uptime.” The solution uses Cisco’s wireless access and mesh networking products. In mining, the Caterpillar equipment can range into $1 million dollars each. They move a lot of ore, and downtime with the associated lost production significantly impacts revenue.
IIoT Technology Adoption
Industrial IoT, analytics, edge-computing (for autonomous health monitoring), cloud (for analytics, alerts and business process management) are driving a major change in the maintenance of equipment from reactive to proactive. Recently, the application of these technologies has moved from $1 million plus machines to under $100 thousand – my post in March about Cummins diesel engines is an example. Thought-leading OEMs with equipment approaching $10 thousand each have started to include these types of technologies in their product development plans. The goal is to grow revenue and margin by selling predictive maintenance services to their end user customers.
Business Impact
The business impact of near zero unplanned downtime has immediate benefits like lower maintenance costs, and increased capacity and revenue. In addition, a multitude of secondary benefits occur like lower inventory (less safety stock for unplanned events), improved customer satisfaction (with more on-time shipments), and many others that are more vertical industry dependent.
Conclusion
This confluence of technology trends and impactful business benefits will drive equipment suppliers to deliver solutions that provide “zero downtime” – or very close to it.