Improving Asset Efficiency with Real-Time Data

May 13, 2015 – Companies in even their very early stages are now using real-time data to improve their manufacturing efficiency according to “Industry 4.0: The State of the Nations,” a report released today on a global asset efficiency study jointly conducted by the Institute for Industrial Management (FIR) at RWTH Aachen University and Infosys, Ltd., a provider of consulting, technology, outsourcing and next-generation services.

(Infosys is also a Gold sponsor and exhibitor at Internet of Things World 2015 taking place this week at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. #IoTWorld2015 is the world’s largest, independent IoT event focusing on monetizing the IoT revolution by bringing together ecosystem-wide attendees, stakeholders and investors. At the event, Infosys is showcasing some of its capabilities in real-time analytics at Booth 220.)

During the global asset efficiency study, Infosys and FIR set out to learn how well today’s industrial organizations are taking advantage of real-time technologies to leverage value from their assets. The study observed how organizations plan to undertake this real-time technology journey in the years leading up to 2020. The study provides insights that industrial enterprises can use to help develop their road map for improving asset efficiency.

“With equipment and systems processes becoming intelligent, virtually every process and activity in the manufacturing enterprises involves data,” said Sudip Singh, Vice President and Global Head of Engineering at Infosys, in a statement. “If machine data can be transformed into meaningful insights, it can provide maintenance engineers with powerful tools to accurately predict failures and make better informed-decisions.”

Asset Efficiency Study’s Research Methodology

The study provides a comparison among types of industries and nations by looking at the leading organizations in five advanced manufacturing regions. The study polled 433 industrial manufacturing executives in five regions–China, France, German-speaking countries, the UK and the U.S. The results provide a glimpse into the understanding of industry preparedness for Industry 4.0 and, specifically, into asset efficiency.

Infosys and FIR focused on the four most important asset efficiency levers: maintenance management, operational management, information management and energy management.

Findings of the Asset Efficiency Study

The global study’s findings include the following four:

1. The vast majority (85 percent) of global manufacturing companies are aware of the potential of technologies to increase asset efficiency. However, only 15 percent of enterprises surveyed have already implemented dedicated strategies to better improve the efficiency of assets by analyzing machine data.

2. Even if manufacturers today measure the operational efficiency of production machinery, they rarely use available technologies to achieve real-time visibility, and therefore miss the tremendous potential to gain vital information needed to optimize performance and enhance profitability.

3. The operating efficiency of production systems is being measured with indicators but these figures are not systematically based on real-time data at 87 percent of the companies surveyed.

4. Germany and France are at the bottom of the table (with just nine and six percent, respectively) when it comes to using real-time data for maintenance. In contrast, the equivalent number for the U.S. is 21 percent while China and the UK are at 10 percent.

Improving Asset Efficiency with Real-Time Insights

As the study’s report shows, manufacturing companies in even very early stages are using real-time data to improve their manufacturing efficiency. RTInsights.com aims to help these manufacturing companies understand the possible outcomes of harnessing this real-time data and the associated insights for real improvement.