"Digital transformation is really just process improvement with better tools and information”

PS: What is the most effective strategy for monitoring and coordinating all the sensor data to drive an action? Do you use a call center for this or something similar?

CL: The commonality of how we collect the data is really the key part. We try to establish a framework that we can feed data into. When you're working with a new solution or potentially integrating with somebody else's sensor solution, there's a little bit of work to do there. But getting all the data into one consistent format allows our centralized resources.

We have a 24/7 monitoring center, called Reliability 360, and there's a variety of different types of expertise that operate in that center on behalf of our customers. But giving them one view across all of those plants significant advantage, right? Where there's machinery, they can begin to do correlations and understand different types of breakdowns or commonalize repair parts and, you know, minimize inventory.

The key thing is that they see all the sites the same way, at least in terms of that incident model that I outlined. What conditions equal an incident that somebody needs to react to? The first use of the data is obviously for somebody local, if something's hot or going to fail, somebody locally needs to be notified because they're physically the ones that can do something about it. But what assistance might they need? If we know that part likely has failed, can somebody initiate a part order on their behalf? Can they initiate OEM support? Can they do a variety of other different things to assist the person as they deal with that issue? That's really the role of the Reliability 360 Center, and the resources that are there are designed to be helpful to the people on-site and to coordinate on their behalf to make whatever it is that they're doing easier and more efficient.

PS: How does increasing product life by manufacturers differ from that of maintenance? What’s the difference between having someone from the OEM side come in and conduct maintenance based on data they're receiving remotely versus your normal plant-based PMs?

PM: There's a place for both, frankly. A lot of it will come down to the complexity of the asset, the way in which the asset was sold. For example, Chris talked about GE and the jet engines. It may be that actually the product is delivered to the customer and the customer is not allowed to maintain it because it will void warranties, or it will induce penalties if the manufacturer or their agent aren't doing that maintenance on their behalf. There's contractual material to think through, absolutely. Once you get past that, there's a place for both and real value in both. And a lot of it will come down to exactly what the relationship between you and your manufacturer and you and your service teams looks like.

Watch the on-demand webinar to learn more