Continuous improvement is vital inside the heavy & industrial equipment and energy & natural resources industries. For sustaining their competitive edge, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), equipment operators and owners are always looking for ways to maximize production, reduce costs, enhance efficiency, and enhance safety.
For the last two years, and as a significant driver through 2019, managing research firm, Gartner has clarified the “Intelligent Digital Mesh” as a consistent industry theme. “Intelligent” describes how artificial intelligence (AI) has made its way into virtually every technology; “digital” combines the virtual.
The real worlds to build a digitally improved and connected environment; and “mesh” deliver digital results from the connections between individuals, companies, content, devices, and services.
For example, to produce profoundly integrated digital spaces, AI–in the kind of automatic things and augmented intelligence–has been used together with the Internet of Things (IoT), edge computing, and digital twins. This merging of multiple topics generates new opportunities and drives potential technology disruption, as underscored by the following three critical trends for the industrial equipment and energy & natural resources sectors.
Internet Of Things Will Provide The Connection
One competitive differentiator entails using detectors with the industrial IoT to extract information and using the resulting data to derive powerful insights. The purpose is to produce an information layer that combines multiple horizons of knowledge throughout the value chain for improved planning decision-making and control.
Many companies have already recognized the actual payoff of particular equipment data monitoring as they discover insights capable of notifying operational decisions.
IoT is a powerful tool to assist companies in improving productivity and driving prices down. In actuality, Mining Global says that 41 percent of mining operators have reported that they would use IoT to automate business processes further, and 44% say that it might help boost their competitive edge through enhanced identification of cost savings and efficiency opportunities.
Likewise, in the heavy equipment industry, companies that track machine data throughout the IoT are creating positive impacts on their bottom and top lines with added revenue streams. The continuous collection and analysis of information related to use, downtime, and maintenance needs are supported through embedded sensors and connectivity.
By way of instance, the health of off-road vehicles in rough terrains is always measured through sensors (i.e., load, pressure, fuel consumption, temperature, engine loading, etc.) that provide OEMs with insight into recommended and necessary maintenance actions, depending on the status of the machine. Likewise, these detectors help equipment operators and owners better control and manage operating costs.
By more precisely monitoring each machine’s contributions to a company’s bottom line, a much better return on equipment investment is accomplished.
Digitization
A useful answer to digital disruption is vital for a business’s competitiveness and improved equipment potency. As digital transformation becomes mainstream, equipment owners, OEMs, and operators need to adopt modifications to their business models that take benefit of innovative methods, such as digital analytics and digital twins.
Using advanced analytics to process enormous data into meaningful bites lets businesses move away from active strategies to more refined reactive maintenance strategies.
OEMs, owners, and operators may use these approaches to better meet the constant demands of reduced downtime, improved operational efficiency, optimized care expenses, robust forecasting, and improved production efficiency.
Nowadays, companies are already investing in digital twin capabilities to track real-world resources, drive significant savings in maintenance and repair, and improve operations. By giving an excellent testing ground for innovative new methods of working, digital twins encourage a “fail quickly, learn fast” culture. Additionally, the electronic replica-modeling tool offers real-time monitoring and adjustment capabilities with equipment and component connectivity.
A more popular augmentation to power generation is the energy industry’s usage of digital twins to replicate digital versions of turbines. Because turbines must have the ability to operate in some of the harshest environments over many decades, costly unexpected failures should be avoided if at all possible.
An electronic twin can use multiple operating situation simulations to discover signs of non-optimal performance beforehand –providing an indication of when an asset could fail and lowering the chance of unexpected downtime.
For the oil and gas industry, the electronic twin is the dominant technology, which provides opportunities for performance improvement (i.e., system updates, potential output growth, etc.) and optimization, reduction of nonproductive time, and hazard prevention.
With this technology, operators and owners can save money by planning and implementing corrective maintenance activities before equipment failure happens. With the center on decreasing operating costs and improving the security of deteriorating infrastructure, digitization (3D) is the solution.
Digital twins can also help oil and gas companies’ model, drilling and extraction activities to ascertain the feasibility of digital equipment designs, in addition to plant turnaround programs and maintenance priorities. Additionally, regardless of where an asset is located, its condition and state can be set by collecting real-time information feeds from its sensors.
A game-changer within the mining sector will be led by Rio Tinto, a major international mining group, together with the evolution of this Koodaideri iron ore mine, that is estimated to become the most technically excellent in the world.
The tunnel will be intelligently designed with increased amounts of digitization–helping to produce a safer and more prolific mine. By executing a digital twin, Rio Tinto will be creating a copy of the processing manufactory, which is available in real-time and possesses the capacity to gather all data, from the design and construct to commissioning and operations.
Automation
Automation is altering the labor market as firms look to increase equipment efficiency, predictability, and safety. Deloitte predicts that by 2035, nearly 35 percent of current jobs in the UK will be automated and similar trends are expected in different areas of the world.
To track asset production, mining corporations are providing their fleets with diagnostic sensors and leveraging the accumulated data for events to do things better, quicker, smarter, and safer with automatic equipment. By way of instance, a global mining organization has many independent dump trucks, each employing GPS to run high-grade ore with a driver.
Powered by remote operators, driverless vehicles provide loads more efficiently and with higher operational security.
Heavy equipment manufacturers are also using automation to build better job sites. Some begin with semi-autonomous versions but finally evolve toward complete, driverless automation. Some bulldozers already sport completely automatic blade control and automatic excavators.
For the farming sector, automation is an increasing trend. The particularly labor-intensive jobs in agriculture make it an ideal market for robotics and self-regulation. To improve production efficiency and the quality of agricultural products, smart agriculture and precision agriculture requires the integration of innovative technologies into existing farming practices.
Over the last few years, rapid growth in the use of robotic procedures to automate repetitive human activities has led to reduced labor intensity and improved safety.
As the automation of physical methods and the digitization of assets keeps growing, we probably will see additional adoption of self-governing vehicles, drones, 3D printing, automatic drilling/tunnel dull systems, smart sensors, and wearable technologies.
Digitally empowered hardware tools are being set up to execute or enhance activities that have traditionally been carried out manually or using human-controlled machinery. The expansion of automation allows companies to manage critical business problems better faster and more intelligently.
These three business trends can help companies optimize their production methods while decreasing costs and enhancing security. By favorably strategizing throughout these trends, corporations might have the ability to maintain or gain a substantial advantage over the competition.
Defining a Connected Equipment Strategy
In this innovative Industry 4.0 era, industry leaders in the manufacturing, heavy equipment, mining, and oil & gas sectors understand that producing and integrating a strategy for equipment connectivity which addresses problems within specific machines and the comprehensive operating environment is a vital part of staying consistent in their industry.
A connected equipment strategy that includes advanced analytics to deliver actionable insights may considerably increase operational productivity, security, and reliability while improving customer experiences.
What Drives the Demand for Connected Equipment?
For OEMs, and equipment operators and owners, critical areas of concern often consist of unplanned downtime, functional and security dangers, corrective maintenance expenses and obtaining or keeping market share.
Implementing a robust connected machine strategy with excellent analytics abilities provides a valuable solution, helping organizations replace expensive, reactionary maintenance efforts with proven insights which enable predictive and preventative support and determined actions.
In addition to decreasing overall spend (both OpEx and CapEx), organizations also reduce unexpected downtime, enhance operational performances and staff protection, and enhance product functionality, thereby building competitiveness in the market.
Moreover, connected equipment can influence the way to new electronic product and service offerings or sales models which weren’t previously possible.
Creating the Right Strategy for Your Organization
A connected equipment plan needs to be aligned with an organization’s overall business goals in addition to the particular requirements of every group and must include a well-paved roadmap that contributes to fulfilling those goals.
Failure to adhere to a unified strategy may cause various groups throughout the business executing equipment connectivity individually with varying end results and unnecessary spending scattered throughout different platforms.
The ideal base for any connected equipment strategy begins with clearly identifying the business conditions which are solved with a connectivity solution and then putting out cohesive short- and long-term organizational targets.
Building this base starts with a clear definition of the roles and responsibilities throughout the business as they relate to the connectivity option, in addition to a plan for implementation that requires every business function into consideration.
Every job, from maintenance staff to technology, finance, and management has to be briefed on the value of including a connectivity strategy to the organization’s portfolio, in addition to the part they’ll play in a successful implementation.
Breaking down possible barriers to a new business model the fear of moving away from traditional organizational structures and the timeworn path of “how we have always done business” is a significant barrier for organizations who may benefit from introducing connectivity in their operations. Known as social inactivity, many companies feel it can be easier to adhere to the status quo as opposed to switching to what could be viewed as a complicated and time-consuming task. Further reasons companies are reluctant to adopt the connected equipment business model include:
- Security concerns
- Inability to specify return on investment
- Lack of technological knowledge
- The hassle of migrating an older infrastructure into a modern one
Defeating these obstacles can seem challenging, but recognizing the many advantages of performing a connected equipment procedure, including the transformational effect it can have on a company, makes the job more than worth the effort.
Leveraging a partner with expertise in the configuration, implementation, and maintenance of the connected equipment solution can provide the confidence to proceed in addition to help achieve business results more quickly.
Connecting Equipment Adds Company And Client Value
Developing intelligence into industrial machinery assets and processes helps resolve specific challenges for OEMs, and equipment operators and owners.
OEMs gain new insights on product functionality, identify possible equipment failures before they happen using predictive analytics, enhance layout with direct feedback from field use, provide better maintenance support to customers, and deliver improved products with superior market performance.
Similarly, machine owners and executives can improve asset management applications, reduce unplanned downtime, increase process efficiencies and security, and reduce operating expenses. Additionally, both groups may use equipment to set up innovative revenue models that match the business needs of the end-users that are rapidly adopting new technology.
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