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Downtime threat calls for data analytics

Running equipment perhaps harder than they should, manufacturers recognize the benefits that Big Data can bring in uptime. They’re increasing investments in data analytics even while delaying other technology investments.

Image: Honeywell Process Solutions
Image: Honeywell Process Solutions

Despite a tough business climate in which manufacturers are cutting back spending, data analytics is one area where money continues to flow—in large part to keep it from bleeding out instead through equipment downtime. Manufacturing executives are increasingly recognizing the value that Big Data and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) can bring to their operations, and some two-thirds of them are moving forward with investments in data analytics even as they pare back elsewhere, according to a survey commissioned by Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS).

“Executives need to keep their businesses running smoothly and safely, and they’re banking on IIoT technologies to help navigate challenges, even during cash-strapped times,” said Andrew Hird, vice president and general manager of HPS Digital Transformation.

For the more than 200 North American manufacturing executives surveyed recently by KRC Research, unscheduled downtime was ranked as the top threat to maximizing revenue, with equipment breakdowns also ranking high on the list. And yet they’re feeling the pressure to push their equipment to their limits despite that threat.

Almost half (42 percent) of respondents admitted to running their equipment harder than they should. And they’re paying the price: 71 percent have experienced equipment breakdowns at least occasionally, and 64 percent said the same for unscheduled downtime.

“Running plant equipment harder than appropriate presents a host of issues ranging from equipment breakdowns to potential safety incidents,” Hird said. “Those issues inevitably lead to more downtime, which leads back to lost revenue. It’s easy to see how many companies feel they’re caught in a vicious cycle.”

Thus the value seen from a data analytics program that can help manufacturers move maintenance to a more predictive regime. Most survey respondents agreed that a data analytics program could help reduce occurrences of equipment breakdowns (70 percent), unscheduled downtime (68 percent), unscheduled maintenance (64 percent) and supply chain management issues (60 percent). They also said they believe data can enable well-informed decisions in real time (63 percent), limit waste (57 percent) and predict the risk of downtime (56 percent).

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