Low-quality process materials can significantly impact manufacturers by causing production delays, increased defects, higher maintenance costs, and a decrease in the overall quality of the final products. It can lead to waste, higher rejection rates, and damage to machinery, affecting both the efficiency and reputation of the manufacturing process.

If the business metrics that you are putting your focus, time, and energy into are not driving your business then you must ask if those metrics are failing your business. A successful metric should be growing your business; that means improving your equipment reliability, increasing your customer base and improving customer experience, maximizing your output margin and profitability, and optimizing your workforce.

In today’s fast-paced and consumer-centric world, ensuring the extended lifespan of machines is of paramount importance for both manufacturers and consumers. Not only does a longer machine lifespan contribute to customer satisfaction, but it also plays a pivotal role in reducing waste and fostering sustainability. One exceptionally potent tool that has emerged to address this critical objective is predictive maintenance in the aftermarket.

Asset Managers are expected to provide an annual budget and periodic cost reporting against that budget. Traditionally creating a budget has been mostly guesswork and is justified by previous year’s budgets with an inflation adjustment. There is no opportunity for improvement, and often senior management will request cost cutting due to economic conditions, making it difficult for the maintenance manager to argue a case for maintaining their budget. A better approach that supports continuous improvement and enables the maintenance manager to control and justify costs is to use zero-based budgeting in SAP.

The way your asset management system is set up and used, particularly the asset register, will play a major role in determining the ability of your maintenance organization to effectively operate. Data must be gathered at the appropriate level to allow it to be used, then summarized and reported on if necessary.

We have all seen it or done it before. Very busy people trying to do their jobs yet having to fuss with a grumpy piece of equipment. Banging and flailing about to bring the expensive tool back to an operational state. Our exceptional people are usually successful. Equipment is back in service for the moment then we all move on to the next task. Often “downtime,” is looked upon as a big negative and source of cost to the business. But allow us to posit that it’s the time fussing around with cantankerous… aka non-healthy… equipment that is the real source of business inefficiency and staff frustration.