Only 13 pc of manufacturing companies use real-time data for maintenance

BANGALORE: Infosys, together with the Institute for Industrial Management (FIR) at the University of Aachen, Germany (RWTH) published the results of a global study on asset efficiency. The study’s objective was to measure the maturity of asset efficiency strategies in industrial manufacturing worldwide. The study polled more than 400 industrial, manufacturing and process industry executives in China, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States across several sectors including aerospace, automotive, electronics and machinery.

Key findings of the study:

• 85 percent of manufacturing companies globally are aware of the potential of technologies in increasing asset efficiency. However, only 15 percent of enterprises surveyed have already implemented dedicated strategies to this end by analyzing machine data
• 57 percent of companies measure the operational efficiency of production machinery and production systems  with indicators, but only 13 percent do this in real-time
• 13 percent of companies use real-time data for maintenance. This varies by country with Germany and France reporting lower levels, nine and six percent respectively, and the United States at 21 percent
• While 81 percent of respondents are aware of the potential of machine condition surveillance for enhancing maintenance, only 17 percent have put such principles into practice
• 89 percent are aware of the high potential of information efficiency, yet only 11 percent have systematically implemented this

The research revealed that the largest improvements planned over the next five years are in the areas of information interoperability, data standardization and advanced analytics. Manufacturing being energy intensive, the majority (88 percent) of the companies surveyed have identified energy management as a critical factor for achieving asset efficiency. However, only 15 percent have systematic and integrated implementation of energy efficiency throughout the lifecycle of assets in place.

China has highest percentage of early adopters

Across the five regions surveyed, the level of maturity with regard to machine data technologies varies significantly. While no country can claim to be the global early adopter, the percentage of companies in China (57 percent) that were identified as early adopters is significantly higher than anywhere else. The United States is at 32 percent, United Kingdom at 26 percent, Germany at 21 percent and France at 14 percent.

The rate of implementation of asset efficiency strategies in each country over the next five years is expected to be broadly the same. Nearly half of the respondents surveyed (48 percent) want to use machine data technologies by 2020 to systematically implement solutions to enhance asset efficiency. One fifth (20 percent) believe that by 2020 they will not achieve anything beyond recognizing the potential of the Industrial Internet of Things (or Industry 4.0 as Germany refers to this) concept.