Tube Watch

Make no mistake – digital twin technology is real. GE Healthcare is already using it to predict CT tube failures before disruption occurs through a new service offering called Tube Watch.

Research indicates one tube failure may result in 40 scans lost per year. Predictive insight from Tube Watch enables our service team to replace a tube, before it fails, at a more convenient time for the customer and in a more efficient manner, minimizing operational disruption.

Introduced at RSNA 2017, Tube Watch is an exciting addition to GE Healthcare’s Asset Performance Management (APM) ecosystem of predicting, maintaining, locating and analyzing a customer’s asset fleet and related operations. Our APM Predict solutions aim to convert unplanned downtime to planned service events, which can help mitigate operational and financial disruptions.

For years, GE Healthcare has been working to minimize customers’ unplanned downtime with help from OnWatch technology. Through a remote connection, this APM predict solution monitors system errors and alerts our service team to conduct proactive repairs. OnWatch can help reduce CT system related downtime by up to 32 percent. Now a new APM Predict solution is here, thanks to digital twin technology. 

A digital twin provides a digitized and virtual software representation of a real asset, becoming the single source of truth for all information related to an asset’s past and present condition and performance. With Tube Watch, artificial intelligence and machine data create a virtual model that simulates real world situations to obtain insights into what might happen in the future. If the algorithms identify a potential failure, GE is well positioned to provide proactive part delivery and service scheduling, which can reduce tube related downtime by up to 75 percent.