IoT and CMMS: The New Competitive Advantage
Lately it looks like the Internet of Things ( IoT ) is everywhere around us. From fashionable wearables to connected household appliances, the new trend is creating a lot of buzz.
However, the Internet of Things possesses much greater potential for business and industrial usage. The rate of Industrial Internet of Things adoption is accelerating. Even though the implementation of the latest digital trends is not a compulsory, the one who dared to do so, will benefit from the huge competitive advantage that it brings. Today, companies can no longer ignore the Internet of Things’ capacity to increase productivity and cut costs. And even more: in a recent study, ATKearney entitled IOT as the “new path to European prosperity”.
The Rise of the Internet of Things
IoT was born out of natural needs to adapt to a fast-paced lifestyle. Very soon the industrial world couldn’t overlook anymore its potential to completely revolutionize business and production models.
Smart manufacturing and its powerful Internet of Things ecosystem of sensors, meters, connected gadgets, data analytics and cloud storage has been around the corner already for quite some time. But 2017 will be the year when lots of companies can see the real benefits of their IoT adoption. This is mainly due to the rise of cloud computing, next-gen SaaS maintenance management software, the availability of more and more various and affordable sensors, the ongoing innovation in computing and data analytics and of course the giant leap in mobile device use.
Business owners have yet realized that Internet of Things is limitless and that, combined with a smart maintenance application, it can be a very powerful data source. The only requirement is to collect relevant information and to know what exactly to do with it. Once you have understood this, you can entirely transform your production cycle through better spare parts inventory, enhanced internal communication and predictive analytics.
AT Kearney predicts that for Europe and its 28 member countries (EU28), Internet of Things means the opportunity to unlock 7 percentage points of GDP growth by 2025 through productivity improvement and value redistributed to end customers. McKinsey have already stated in their 2015 report that nearly $5 billion would be generated almost exclusively in B2B settings: factories in the extended sense.
Why Should You Consider Adopting IoT?
If until now you have been still thinking that IoT is just a buzzword with its 5 seconds of fame, it is obvious time to change your mind. Here are some of its most significant benefits for an organization.
Mobile CMMS and Internet of Things = Smart Maintenance
Mobility Work is accessible from any smart device. You can simply log in to use or edit data or scan the RFID code on a piece of equipment to get all related information. By adding integration with the Industrial Internet of Things to a continuously growing list of features, Mobility Work will grant maintenance technicians an access to all data collected by the sensors and meters in real-time and thus, make them able to react immediately.
Improved Spare Parts Management
CMMS and IoT provide all company’s departments with a dataflow on when and how physical assets are actually used. This enables the involved departments to track the use of available spare parts and to control the purchase of new ones.
The spare part’s stock is available on the equipment page.
Enhanced Production Cycle through Reactive Maintenance
The sensors mounted on physical assets capture and process data to the CMMS where the information is stored and analyzed in the context of the asset’s records. This process creates game-changing opportunities. First of all, technicians can schedule their interventions based on predictive maintenance analytics and basically fix a piece of equipment or a part before it breaks. Second, even if an unexpected break down occurs, maintenance team will be informed immediately through the CMMS.
Reduced Maintenance Costs
As already mentioned above, the constant flow of sensor data optimizes workflows. The analysis of this data is used to predict when equipment is wearing down or need repair. Consequently, the unplanned downtime can be cut in half and the maintenance costs are significantly reduced.
So far, so good! If everything was so easy, then why are there still such a significant number of organizations that haven’t adopted IoT yet? Even though there are a couple of stereotypes lingering in the maintenance community, there are as well some real obstacles that need to be overcome.
4 Stereotypes About IoT That Everyone Should Abandon
Maintenance Technicians Are not Tech-Savvy
In the era of digitalization, thinking that someone is not tech-savvy enough, especially if this someone works on/with machines is being misled. Furthermore, most of the products nowadays feature intuitive design and are especially thought in order to ease common tasks.
Internet of Things Is Too Expensive
It depends. Adopting the Industrial Internet of Things will definitely require a solid investment, but it is worth it to keep a few facts in mind: first, there are a lot of affordable and quality gadgets out there, then Mobility Work CMMS costs you only 30 €/ month / user. Then once established the competitive advantage that you gain from Internet of Things will far outweigh your investment concerns.
Internet of Things Is Too Complicated
Let’s take as an example from Mobility Work . There are still business owners who think that a next-gen high-quality CMMS is too complex, requires additional trainings and technical support and is very expensive. Mobility Work is none of this! You will most probably need to reorganize your business while adopting IoT but you will certainly find a possibility to opt for a solution that suits your needs and brings you considerable benefits.
Mobility Work application’s Big Data tool helps you make better decisions with customizable indicators.
Why do I Actually Need so Much Data?
Well, in fact the right question should rather be: “What should I do with so much data?”. If you find out how to use the sensor data and the analytics that the asset management software provides you with, you will be able to predict failures, reduce costs and improve production.
However, There Are Still a Couple of Challenges that Remain
Cyber Security Threats
This is by far the most important challenge associated with the adoption of Internet of Things. It is clear that each communication device, involved in the network is a potential entry point for attacks or data misuse. When using sensors and IoT tools in general, one will usually have to rely on the protection and skills of the vendors. A lot of them, especially next gen tools providers, today host their solutions on the cloud and provide SaaS in order to benefit from the skills of dedicated experts, which they could not match as regards to protection against security threat.
Organizational Hurdles
Adopting a new Internet of Things model brings many challenges. The company’s culture needs to enable new challenges and curiosity. New skilled staff needs to be found and recruited to train and support the existing one. Most probably new business models have to be imagined and applied. Working methods need to be adapted and communication must be smooth between the different actors of change.
How to Integrate Internet of Things with Mobility Work CMMS?
There are several possibilities to integrate sensor data with Mobility Work. All of them and the benefits of predictive maintenance and CMMS are explicitly described in the article:
Predictive Maintenance and Maintenance management software: How to Get the Best Out of It?
Adopting the Internet of Things and integrating it with a next-gen maintenance management software as Mobility Work provide maintenance teams and actually all services teams at a facility with insights into the physical assets that were previously unheard of. The challenging part of this process is that you have to ensure the availability of the right technical, human resources and organizational means to support this integration. And even if this seems though, once established, Internet of Things would give you far more benefits than obstacles.
Next-gen Mobility Work CMMS enormously supports and eases the integration of IoT at a facility. Sensor data can be rapidly integrated and analyzed. The flexibility of Mobility Work makes the product adaptable to any IoT solution.
