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Industrial assets, from the smallest valve to the largest locomotive engine, each play a critical part in powering the world. To ensure these assets are reliable, industrial organizations need more than data analytics. The industrial approach to monitoring requires examination not as a collection of critical equipment, but as an entire ecosystem.
Industrial machines operate in some of the harshest environments on the planet. Whether in the middle of the ocean on an offshore platform or 35,000 feet in the air on a commercial airplane, assets must maintain mission-critical operations without relying on constant connectivity to troubleshoot issues.
When it comes to managing asset performance and measuring risk, “what if?” is difficult to quantify and terrifying to ponder for any business executive. This challenge is magnified in industrial environments where machines often need to run 24/7, every second of downtime impacts the bottom line, and equipment-related incidents can mean lives lost and serious environmental consequences. As a result, every asset counts.
In a gas turbine, a single blade can generate 500 gigabytes of data each day from sensors, and there are thousands of gas turbines worldwide, each with dozens of blades. While some common information technology (IT) software could run analytics on a turbine’s data and generate basic performance metrics, what good is the knowledge that a well-protected, $10 million turbine is 98% reliable when it’s a small valve that fails and shuts the entire plant down?
Industrial companies are entering a new period of change marked by unlimited opportunities, but not every company is suited to take advantage of these opportunities. As the technology market becomes crowded by purported industrial internet of things (IIoT) providers, we must remember that the industrial environment is not a playground for lessons in trial-and-error. In Iceland, a country powered by hydropower and geothermal energy, asset data and advanced software keep the entire population’s lights on by adjusting for increases in demand and changes in energy capacity. The stakes are extremely high for industrial asset failure and asset data must be analyzed as such. Keeping the lights on and assets running requires operational technology (OT) expertise married to IT excellence – the true definition of being an IIoT provider.
To be a true IIoT “player” – or partner – companies must embrace, participate with, and have experience in every stage of the industrial lifecycle:
Fundamentally, IT and OT play different roles in the industrial world. As data loops accelerate and the time between data collection and meaningful action gets shorter for industry, machines and infrastructure systems are becoming engines of innovation. Adopting digital technology in the industrial world will change how we run our businesses, and we need the right tools for the job. The companies that design, build, operate, maintain, and service industrial assets have the knowledge, expertise, and skill sets to support the lifecycle of the asset, and as a result, are best suited to help others with the IIoT on their digital industrial transformation journey.
See how Predix APM optimizes the performance of assets to increase reliability and availability, minimize costs, and reduce operational risks.
Optimizing the performance of assets to increase reliability and availability, minimize costs, and reduce operational risks.
Reach manufacturing excellence through Industrial IoT insights and intelligence.