The evolution of enterprise asset management

A look at advancements with asset performance management.

by Marty Osborn

The manufacturing industry has been expanding and improving capabilities in enterprise asset management (EAM) for many years. Advancements in technology have allowed for significant achievements in cost saving and increased productivity. EAM has saved the industry billions of dollars by automating and optimizing the way companies track, manage and maintain capital assets.

While it is widely accepted that EAM technologies have had a significant impact on streamlining manufacturing processes, first generation EAM was client/server-based and often posed its own set of problems such as lengthy implementations, extensive training, lack of internal integration and complicated user interfaces which hampered the potential benefits of the system. It was a dramatic improvement over existing paper-based processes, but required ongoing improvements to reap the potential benefits it offered.

Over the years, next generation EAM has developed into a more efficient means of technology with the Web-based EAM systems. In addition to improving equipment uptime and reducing maintenance costs, Web-architected EAM allows companies to standardize work processes across multiple plants. With all plants working off a common EAM application as opposed to old client/server systems, it became easier to track and compare plant efficiencies and discrepancies.  

Recently, the evolution of EAM has taken a step toward even greater advancements with asset performance management. The strategy behind asset performance management is based on a foundation of asset transaction and operations data, best practices and key performance indicators and advanced user-defined analytics. Building off of existing EAM solutions, asset performance management makes it possible to compare plant and asset performance, and through the application of analytics, to derive valuable business information from existing asset data.

Integrating asset information into business infrastructure
In order to make these types of comparisons and reap the benefits of asset data, that data must be accessible to the decision-makers. Most information systems are designed to operate as standalone entities. However, real-world business processes are composed of interdependent functions, not standalone acts. For example, manufacturing equipment uptime is critical to meeting production schedules, which are critical to fulfilling customer orders on time, which is critical to determining inbound volume in the call center.

In this example alone we see how a business process —bringing a product to market—relies on three separate systems: enterprise asset management (EAM), enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM). We can also see how each system produces information that is incredibly useful to the others. Therefore, the only way to truly support a business process is to integrate the various systems used to support that process.

Data integration has traditionally required painstaking effort and enormous costs, due to the work and equipment required to standardize data in a format that all systems can understand. Companies like Datastream have solved this problem for customers with the Web-architected Datastream 7i asset performance management solution.

This solution uses XML data integration to give companies the ability to fully support their business processes by integrating their EAM systems and practices with those of other systems and organizations. This offers a simplified, cost-effective solution to the integration challenge – one that will spare companies the time, effort and expense typically associated with custom integration projects.

Seamless XML-based data integration in both client/server and Web environments, whether it is PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, SAP, Oracle, or any other enterprise system, is a faster and reliable method toward enterprise integration.

Applying analytics to asset performance management
One of the most powerful assets a company holds is its data – whether it is data about inventory, purchase orders, warranties or employees. But a company needs to be able to do more than just collect and manage data. To maximize the data’s true value, companies need to use that information to gain a real-time perspective of what is going on within the business, to recognize trends, and to make better-informed decisions regarding future business initiatives.

Taking asset performance management one step further requires the ability to know how well a company’s assets are performing compared to overall business or departmental objectives. It also means understanding how reliable those assets are and how well they can be expected to perform in the future. Companies today are gaining this understanding by using analytics for better insight into their asset data. 

For example, analytics enable companies to:
• deploy maintenance resources for the greatest degree of efficiency and effectiveness;
• better manage the work order process to save time and money across various procedures;
• control purchase order processes and ensure that just the right amount of inventory is in place at any given time;
• track and use warranty information to improve customer service and ensure the best quality product;
• forecast possible points of failure and identify the factors that are contributing to them; and,
• pinpoint unreliable assets, suppliers and processes

Analytics enable companies to move from simply managing their assets to managing the performance of those assets. The technology provides companies powerful tools that allows them to analyze trends, forecast performance issues, anticipate possible scenarios, make better-educated decisions, and most importantly, take the right action every time.

The future for asset performance management
Asset management has evolved over time in response to companies seeking new avenues to achieve their business goals more efficiently. Today, pressure to improve financial performance in a difficult economic climate continues to be a challenge for the manufacturing industry. Companies must look for innovative solutions in all aspects of the business cycle to increase revenue, reduce costs and decrease risks.

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