How IoT-enabled Predictive Maintenance can Transform Your Business
The internet of things (IoT) is transforming business across every industry, from healthcare to energy to retail, and the opportunities seem endless. In fact, by the year 2020, it’s estimated that manufacturers will invest $70 billion on IoT solutions, more than double their spending in 2015.
Here at Microsoft, we’re focused on helping our partners and customers in all industries seize IoT opportunities. That is why we’re hosting a new IoT in Action webinar series. Starting in January, we’ll tackle IoT topics from a different industry perspective each month. Our first delivery is all about IoT-enabled predictive maintenance for equipment manufacturers and how artificial intelligence (AI) technology can help you prevent equipment failures, boost product quality, and ultimately, drive profit. Attend the webinar on January 11, 2018 to learn more.
Benefits of IoT-predictive maintenance
Manufacturers that implement IoT and predictive maintenance garner a number of benefits, depending upon need and application. Benefits may include:
- Reduced unscheduled downtime: Avoid costly equipment failures and unscheduled down time. Proactively address issues before they become problems that significantly impact operations.
- Increased quality: Improve products and processes through machine-learning and detect maintenance issues early to increase customer satisfaction.
- Decreased costs: Lower maintenance costs and extend equipment life.
- Greater efficiency and output: Increase process efficiency, asset utilization, and production output.
Examples of IoT-enabled predictive maintenance
For a great example of how IoT-enabled predictive maintenance can transform business, let’s look at a steel manufacturer with multiple plants in India. Each plant has multiple arc furnaces that use water cooling panels for temperature control. However, leakages in the panels were causing safety issues as well as production losses. To resolve this issue, the manufacturer worked with Happiest Minds (a Microsoft partner) to build an Azure-based IoT solution that remotely monitors the panels, detects anomalies, and performs root-cause analysis. The implementation of predictive maintenance has prevented failures and production delays throughout the plants while helping ensure employee safety.
In another example, aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce implemented predictive maintenance on the Azure IoT platformto help their customers reduce costly flight delays caused by engine maintenance issues. Each of their 13,000 engines in operation worldwide has thousands of sensors that monitor engine components and deliver insights around fuel efficiency, engine performance, and operational efficiencies. These insights enable Rolls-Royce to anticipate maintenance needs and avoid costly, unscheduled delays.
