How industrial assets and infrastructure are managed can make or break business goals. Uptime, performance, safety, compliance, and costs are just some of the factors impacted by maintenance processes. It is why enterprise asset management (EAM) and computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) are continually undergoing improvement. Advanced technologies, strategic integrations, and enhanced user experiences are represented in some of the latest enhancements.
Advanced intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is fueling significant gains in equipment reliability and uptime. Asset Risk Predictor, an AI-powered predictive maintenance software solution from Fiix by Rockwell Automation, now also has generative AI (GenAI) capabilities for prescriptive work orders. Fiix Prescriptive Maintenance turns failure predictions into actionable work orders that can be integrated with a Fiix CMMS or any other CMMS or EAM solution.
“Fiix GenAI utilizes unique datasets for maintenance, including maintenance manuals, historical work orders, other AI analysis results, and human-generated data, each uniquely created and managed by automated algorithms and customers for their assets,” says Mohammad Esmalifalak, lead data scientist for Fiix by Rockwell Automation. “It integrates a robust knowledge base for access to best practices and expert recommendations, with results monitored automatically by unique algorithms and test datasets specific to each customer.”
The newly announced HxGN SDx2 by Hexagon supports the company’s Smart Digital Reality vision with a platform that integrates project and asset operational data, creating a digital twin that improves the comprehensive management of industrial facilities and infrastructure. The scalable, data-agnostic solution also incorporates advanced visualization, AI, and machine learning capabilities.
“This cloud-native SaaS solution connects and contextualizes industrial asset data from both Hexagon and third-party sources to enrich and optimize engineering, operations, and maintenance work processes and drive innovation,” observes Simon Jones, principal strategy and enablement consulting lead at Hexagon's Asset Lifecycle Intelligence division.
The Maintenance Technician Workbench, a new AI-powered Smart Operations capability within Oracle Fusion Cloud Maintenance, provides a single mobile user interface for all technician work execution. Customers can combine maintenance, asset, workforce, and supply chain data to enable continuous monitoring and predictive maintenance. Based on their assignment or skill, technicians can quickly access relevant work and service histories, document their work, and collaborate with other workers through the workbench.
Oracle also offers Smart Operations capabilities for manufacturing. “The new smart manufacturing and maintenance capabilities can help our customers reduce inefficient manual recording and monitoring processes, increase safety, improve quality, and optimize operations,” notes Chris Leone, executive vice president of applications development at Oracle.
Beneficial integrations
A partnership integrating the industrial AI-based Machine Health platform from Augury with IFS Ultimo, a cloud-based EAM solution that is part of IFS, is designed to improve the connection between machine health and asset management.
With the integration, Augury and IFS Ultimo “catalyze a shift from manual, time-consuming machine maintenance to data-driven, real-time machine optimization. Now, Augury not only predicts manufacturers’ machine failures long before they turn catastrophic, but also its AI-based alerts and notifications flow seamlessly into the IFS Ultimo platform, which then automates a manufacturer’s maintenance scheduling and planning,” explains Chris Dobbrow, VP of partner development at Augury.
Three solutions from Accurent, including its Maintenance Connection CMMS, Meridian engineering document management system (EDMS), and Observe IoT platform, are now integrated to improve efficiency, safety, and regulatory compliance. Rather than toggling between systems to access pertinent information, maintenance teams now have big-picture insights from a centralized, comprehensive solution that streamlines asset management, document access, and real-time IoT remote monitoring and energy management. With automated alerts, simplified audit trails, and improved collaboration between the maintenance, operations, and engineering teams, users can act more predictively and safely.
Portable functionality
Technicians on the go need solutions like the new Fluke Mobile release for eMaint. The mobile app from Fluke Reliability extends the capabilities of eMaint CMMS to your mobile device. Designed for efficiency and connectivity, it empowers teams to manage work orders, access asset details, and even operate offline while in the field.
“Users of eMaint Mobile benefit from a powerful combination: leveraging native mobile app capabilities (offline access, camera integration, quick access icons, and links) and the flexibility to configure, extend, and administer the CMMS centrally via the web application,” says Navin Kulkarni, director of product management at Fluke Reliability. “By enabling teams to connect and share crucial industrial data, the app plays a pivotal role in maximizing uptime and reliability.”
