Asset Performance Management Unlocks Your Machines’ Full Potential
In a manufacturing plant, many components must come together before profitability and operational excellence can be realized. While key performance indicators (KPIs) like output rate and cycle time might look good and imply strong performance, they don’t always tell the full story. For example, they may not uncover things like equipment inefficiencies or process bottlenecks that impact manufacturing results.
To maximize your plant’s potential, you need to be sure that every component in your production process is performing at its very best. This includes:
- A supply chain that runs smoothly to ensure a steady flow of raw materials and finished goods
- Raw materials that are high in quality and offer certain specifications to support excellent production
- Machines/assets that operate efficiently and reliably—with no unplanned downtime—to produce finished goods
- People who understand their roles and are focused on the right tasks to create consistent outcomes
- Processes and workflows that are streamlined, efficient and flexible to drive operations
When each of these pieces is fine-tuned, the result is finished goods that meet or exceed your standards and are ready to sell to customers.
Why equipment performance matters in manufacturing
Machines are the cornerstone of your production. Their performance has a ripple effect, impacting quality, employee productivity, operating costs, production targets, waste, raw material utilization, lead times, customer satisfaction and so much more.
In optimizing production, many plants fall short when it comes to monitoring machine and asset performance. When machines—which are integral to producing finished goods—don’t perform as expected, the result is plant downtime or a poor-quality product.
Leaders often lack the ability to capture real-time asset data, so they can’t tell for sure whether their machines are under- or over-performing. While their yield may look good, the equipment may be operating below peak efficiency. This means missed opportunities to:
- Reduce unplanned downtime
- Prolong equipment lifecycle
- Decrease maintenance costs
- Increase throughput
- Ensure quality
- More efficiently distribute resources
If machines operate below optimal capacity, then production targets and costs can be impacted. If machines operate above optimal capacity, then wear and tear can ensue, leading to unplanned breakdowns and higher maintenance costs. Without performance tracking, it’s difficult to identify which machines create production problems or have room for improvement.
It’s also difficult to maintain equipment when it isn’t monitored. Early warning signs can be missed, and there’s no sure way to tell when an asset needs attention or is approaching a breakdown.
How asset performance management enables proactive operations
Asset performance management (APM) optimizes the performance and efficiency of your assets (your machines) throughout their lifecycle, allowing you to take a proactive approach instead of a reactive one.
Taking preemptive steps to optimize machine performance can connect your plant to what’s possible by maximizing equipment utilization, reducing costs, improving efficiency and delivering more consistent results.
How is this done? With data. And more specifically, by leveraging advanced predictive analytics that allow you to pinpoint possible issues early to reduce downtime and maintenance costs that impact machine efficiency.
Here’s a simple example of how asset performance management might work …
Say a machine equipped with sensors begins to show a slight increase in vibration levels. Through predictive analytics powered by artificial intelligence, this trend is detected and then flagged as a possible warning sign of a bearing issue.
In addition to alerting you to the problem, the system can also tell you when the machine will require maintenance to fix the issue before it becomes worse. The maintenance team receives a notification when the time is right, and a repair is scheduled to complete the work without causing disruption.
Without this insight, the vibration issue would likely worsen and lead to unplanned downtime that impacts production schedules.
This data-driven approach to predictive maintenance ensures continuous, reliable performance of your assets to enhance productivity and maximize return on investment (ROI) and total cost of ownership (TCO).
Gain insights into asset health and performance
With asset performance management solutions, Belden can help discrete manufacturers reduce unpredictable equipment failure and their associated high maintenance costs.
By integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning data analysis into your solution, you’ll have access to deep insights about asset health and performance. Our complete connection solutions transform field-level data into real-time insights so you can better manage your assets. It’s like having a window into the inner workings of your machines so you can make smarter decisions to keep everything running and generate the profit you need.
Belden can also help you build network resilience to ensure uptime and keep your people and systems connected, even in the midst of unexpected and disruptive events. While a traffic surge, hardware failure or cyberattack might take down a typical network, a resilient network built by Belden continues to deliver consistent connections. We can help you design a secure, redundant, reliable and high-performance network to ensure availability in any conditions.
Learn more about asset performance management.