What is asset reliability? – IBM Blog

When a important asset like an costly piece of equipment or infrastructure breaks unexpectedly, it impacts clients and may value firms thousands and 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 rapidly when issues break. Enterprises are always on the lookout for new methods to optimize efficiency, improve reliability and lengthen asset lifespans—all with out including pointless prices.

Because of this asset reliability is such a important part 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 consult with each bodily and non-physical gadgets that firms personal and use to create worth. Examples of bodily property embrace equipment, factories, workplace provides, manufacturing crops, meeting traces, automobile fleets, buildings and civil infrastructures. Examples of non-physical property embrace software program, mental property, emblems and patents.

What’s asset reliability?

Asset reliability is the flexibility of an asset to carry out beneath sure situations over a specified interval with out breaking down. To be thought of “dependable,” an asset asset should carry out at a sure stage 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 simple 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, then again, refers to an asset’s means to perform with out downtime or disruption beneath sure situations. An asset is just deemed “dependable” when it operates with out surprising shutdowns as a way to carry out essential repairs.

Whereas reliability and availability are each measured in percentages, it’s potential—even seemingly—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% out there 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 method to asset reliability, upkeep managers depend on two broadly 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 have a look at MTBF and MTTR.

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

Each MTBF and MTBR will be calculated utilizing easy mathematical formulation. Right here’s the components 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 instances throughout that interval, its MTBF can be 20,000 hours / 5 failures = 4,000 hours. In different phrases, this gear will 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 realizing an asset’s MTBF is important to retaining 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 understand how 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 essential gadgets
• Take a look at the gear totally earlier than restarting manufacturing

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

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

For instance, if over the course of a 12 months, a system failed 10 instances, leading to 20 whole hours of downtime, its MTTR can 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 essential.

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 method that minimizes the influence to the general enterprise. Predictive upkeep takes the upkeep capability of preventive upkeep one step additional. Sensors accumulate knowledge in real-time that’s then fed into an enterprise asset administration (EAM) or computerized upkeep administration system (CMMS), the place AI-enhanced knowledge 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 all the asset lifecycle and is topic to the identical situations as the true asset. Digital twins use real-time knowledge, simulations and machine studying to assist decision-makers within the administration of their most crucial property.

Digital twins will be created for property as unique as manned-spacecraft or as widespread as a wind turbine. As in predictive analytics, sensors related to the bodily object accumulate knowledge from the true 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 atmosphere and develop methods to enhance its reliability.

Asset efficiency administration

Enterprise leaders understand how essential it’s to have a deep understanding of when their property are more likely to fail to allow them to take fast motion to cut 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 means of AI-powered distant monitoring, root-cause analysis, Failure Mode Evaluation (FMEA), pc imaginative and prescient and predictive upkeep, APM allows the fashionable enterprise to cut 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 through IoT, upkeep managers are relying an increasing number of on administration software program and AI-enhanced knowledge 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 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 powerful 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 provides fashionable enterprises peace of thoughts in the case of their most respected sources. By deploying essentially the most cutting-edge applied sciences out there, 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 respected 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.  
• Diminished prices: When asset reliability improves, upkeep labor, stock, and dealing capital prices go down—it’s that straightforward. Reliability applications assist managers plan strategically for downtime and carry out repairs solely when the influence on enterprise continuity will be minimized.
• Improved employee security: One other good thing about asset reliability is the development of office situations for upkeep employees. By decreasing 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 by way of an EAM or APM method to enhancing 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 relies on a powerful, coordinated method to asset administration that comes with the latest technological options out there. The IBM Maximo Application Suite is a completely built-in platform that helps firms enhance asset reliability by way of 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 observe file of serving to enterprises enhance asset efficiency, lengthen asset lifespan and scale back prices and downtime.  

Learn more about IBM Maximo Application Suite