Manufacturing eased last year from a 13-year high.1 In light of this, manufacturers are faced with the pressures of producing more high-quality goods, with less money, time and resource. Regulations are becoming more stringent and competition is growing in the market. Due to these increased business pressures, there’s a greater emphasis on alternative ways of being competitive. These include improving speed to market with new innovations, operating more efficiently and being more environmentally conscious.
To achieve the goals of lean operation, industrial manufacturers need to constantly monitor, benchmark and improve. KPIs can prove a valuable gauge of progress, helping manufacturers to set and achieve their business goals and maintain critical business resiliency.
1. Optimize maintenance schedules
Many manufacturers still operate preventative maintenance schedules. Preventative maintenance is costly because only 15% to 20% of all components fail after a predictable time.2 Reducing operational costs means approaching maintenance in a new way.
A predictive maintenance program – servicing machines based on need-based early stage notifications – is much more efficient than a Fixed Time Maintenance (FTM) Preventative Program. This allows manufacturers to be proactive, rather than reactive when it comes to equipment repairs and operational downtime. They can make informed decisions, based on transparency and a pattern that is most suitable to their business.
81% of manufacturers are aware of the potential for machine learning to enhance maintenance.3 With the visibility provided by modern sensor technology and machine learning, maintenance schedules can be updated in real-time and processed on the spot for actionable takeaways. Reduced costs and eliminated outages should be demonstrable when manufacturers transition to a predictive maintenance mode and track overall downtime.
