What is asset reliability? – IBM Blog

When a important asset like an costly piece of equipment or infrastructure breaks unexpectedly, it impacts prospects and may value corporations hundreds of thousands. To achieve success, companies have to have clear, real-time visibility into the situation of their property and a plan to maintain them working easily and make repairs shortly when issues break. Enterprises are always in search of new methods to optimize efficiency, improve reliability and lengthen asset lifespans—all with out including pointless prices.

That is why asset reliability is such a important element of enterprise technique. Earlier than we dive into it, let’s check out some related phrases.

What’s an asset?

The time period “asset” can check with each bodily and non-physical gadgets that corporations personal and use to create worth. Examples of bodily property embrace equipment, factories, workplace provides, manufacturing vegetation, meeting strains, automobile fleets, buildings and civil infrastructures. Examples of non-physical property embrace software program, mental property, logos and patents.

What’s asset reliability?

Asset reliability is the flexibility of an asset to carry out underneath sure situations over a specified interval with out breaking down. To be thought-about “dependable,” an asset asset should carry out at a sure degree and adjust to all regulatory necessities surrounding its operation.

The distinction between asset reliability and asset availability

The phrases asset reliability and asset availability are straightforward to confuse, however there are a number of key variations price noting. First, availability measures the operational capability of an asset over time. In different phrases, how lengthy can a chunk of kit carry out the duties related to its operation efficiently. Reliability, however, refers to an asset’s capability to operate with out downtime or disruption underneath sure situations. An asset is simply deemed “dependable” when it operates with out surprising shutdowns with a view to carry out obligatory repairs.

Whereas reliability and availability are each measured in percentages, it’s attainable—even doubtless—that these percentages will differ even when referring to the identical piece of kit. For instance, a chunk of kit working at 100% reliability may solely be 90% obtainable if 10% of the time was used to carry out important, deliberate upkeep essential to maintain it working.

How does asset reliability work?

With the intention to take a proactive strategy to asset reliability, upkeep managers depend on two extensively used metrics: mean time between failure, (MTBF) and mean time to repair (MTTR). Each KPIs assist predict how property will carry out and help managers in planning preventive and predictive maintenance. First, let’s take a look at MTBF and MTTR.

Imply time between failure (MTBF) and imply time to restore (MTTR)

Each MTBF and MTBR might be calculated utilizing easy mathematical formulation. Right here’s the method technicians use to calculate MTBF: 

MTBF = Complete working time / Variety of failures in a selected time interval

For instance, if a chunk of kit is used for 20,000 hours and fails 5 occasions throughout that interval, its MTBF could be 20,000 hours / 5 failures = 4,000 hours. In different phrases, this gear might be anticipated to fail each 4,000 hours. Armed with this info, operators can plan upkeep actions to make sure gear doesn’t break down unexpectedly, leading to expensive downtime.

Whereas understanding an asset’s MTBF is important to protecting it acting at peak ranges, it doesn’t assist operators decide how a lot time they might want to restore it. That is the place MTTR is available in. To calculate MTTR, operators first have to know the way a lot time it takes to carry out the next duties on an asset:

• Notify asset upkeep groups
• Let the damaged gear cool earlier than it may be labored on
• Carry out repairs and reassemble any obligatory gadgets
• Take a look at the gear completely earlier than restarting manufacturing

Right here’s the mathematical method operators use to calculate MTTR:

MTTR = Complete downtime / Complete variety of failures over a selected time

For instance, if over the course of a yr, a system failed 10 occasions, leading to 20 whole hours of downtime, its MTTR could be: 20 hours / 10 repairs = 2 hours. In different phrases, it takes, on common, 2 hours to restore this piece of kit every time it breaks.

Like MTBF, MTTR is used to find out asset reliability and, extra particularly, to permit operators to measure the effectivity of their upkeep applications and to make changes the place obligatory.

Preventive and predictive upkeep

Each preventive and predictive maintenance are upkeep methods utilized by enterprise leaders to extend asset reliability.

Preventive upkeep depends on situation monitoring to assist managers strategically plan for asset repairs and downtime in a approach that minimizes the affect to the general enterprise. Predictive upkeep takes the upkeep capability of preventive upkeep one step additional. Sensors gather information in real-time that’s then fed into an enterprise asset administration (EAM) or computerized upkeep administration system (CMMS), the place AI-enhanced information evaluation instruments and processes like machine learning (ML) spot points and assist resolve them. This info is then used to construct predictive fashions of an asset’s efficiency over time and assist spot potential issues earlier than they come up.

One of many methods upkeep managers refine and enhance predictive analytics to extend asset reliability is thru the creation of a digital twin.

Digital twin expertise

Digital twin expertise permits for the creation of a digital illustration of an asset that spans your entire asset lifecycle and is topic to the identical situations as the actual asset. Digital twins use real-time information, simulations and machine studying to help decision-makers within the administration of their most important property.

Digital twins might be created for property as unique as manned-spacecraft or as widespread as a wind turbine. As in predictive analytics, sensors linked to the bodily object gather information from the actual world that’s then mapped onto a digital mannequin. By monitoring the asset’s digital twin, managers can spot essential insights into how the asset is reacting to its surroundings and develop methods to enhance its reliability.

Asset efficiency administration

Enterprise leaders know the way essential it’s to have a deep understanding of when their property are prone to fail to allow them to take quick motion to scale back danger to general enterprise operations. Asset efficiency administration, or APM, helps decision-makers improve asset administration insights with automation, analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.  

By way of AI-powered distant monitoring, root-cause analysis, Failure Mode Evaluation (FMEA), pc imaginative and prescient and predictive upkeep, APM allows the trendy enterprise to scale back unplanned restore work, handle danger, lengthen asset lifecycles and improve profitability.

Enterprise asset administration (EAM) and CMMS

Enterprise asset management (EAM) is an asset administration system that mixes software program and providers to assist organizations preserve, management and optimize the standard of operational property all through their lifecycles. With the quantity of information being generated by way of IoT, upkeep managers are relying increasingly more on administration software program and AI-enhanced information evaluation to assist them make extra knowledgeable selections. The objective of EAM is at all times to enhance gear reliability, improve productive uptime and scale back operational prices.

Many EAM initiatives work in tandem with a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) to assist upkeep departments centralize very important asset info. A CMMS tells upkeep managers the place an asset is, what sort of providers or repairs it requires and who ought to carry out them. A robust CMMS can improve upkeep planning by making the details about an asset instantly accessible and auditable.

What are the different types of asset management?

Why is asset reliability essential?

Asset reliability gives trendy enterprises peace of thoughts in the case of their most dear sources. By deploying probably the most cutting-edge applied sciences obtainable, coupled with rigorous upkeep administration methods and adherence to key metrics like MTBF and MTTR, enterprises can scale back prices, improve asset dependability and maximize their return on funding (ROI) of their most dear property.  

The advantages of sturdy asset reliability embrace the next:

• Elevated uptime: Having good asset reliability means top-performing property run at peak ranges for longer with out rising their danger of failure. By performing preventive and predictive upkeep as a part of an general upkeep technique, companies can scale back the quantity and frequency of breakdowns.  
• Lowered prices: When asset reliability improves, upkeep labor, stock, and dealing capital prices go down—it’s that easy. Reliability applications assist managers plan strategically for downtime and carry out repairs solely when the affect on enterprise continuity might be minimized.
• Improved employee security: One other good thing about asset reliability is the advance of office situations for upkeep staff. By lowering the probability of kit failures, workplaces keep away from accidents and accidents related to surprising gear failures.
• Smarter asset administration: The continual monitoring of property via an EAM or APM strategy to bettering asset reliability generates insights into present and future (anticipated) asset states that enhance the decision-making capabilities of upkeep managers.  

Discover asset reliability options

Asset reliability will depend on a robust, coordinated strategy to asset administration that includes the newest technological options obtainable. The IBM Maximo Application Suite is a totally built-in platform that helps corporations enhance asset reliability via higher upkeep operations.

IBM Maximo allows the evolution of timed scheduling upkeep to condition-based, predictive upkeep knowledgeable by real-time insights. It has a confirmed monitor document of serving to enterprises enhance asset efficiency, lengthen asset lifespan and scale back prices and downtime.  

Learn more about IBM Maximo Application Suite