Remote Monitoring Solution ROI for Distributed Fixed Asset

January 8, 2021
Posted by: Sanket Pathak
Categories: Digital Engineering, Internet of Things, Quality Engineering

Distributed Fixed Assets are a critical part of many industries including Industrial, telecommunications, Power & Energy, Consumer Electronics, etc. As the assets are spread across geography, there is no one central maintenance team owner per asset. OEMs often create a layer of field support structure including but not limited to local contractors, near-shore (floating) maintenance engineering, and a centralized (zone-wise) pool for subject matter experts in order to offer effective support to end customers. The structure is not optimized for cost efficiency which can account for anywhere from 20 to 60% of OPEX spend as per McKinsey.

Maintenance costs typically range between 20–60 percent of opex spend, depending on the industry, asset type, and capex spend—an opportunity that has only been a minor priority over the past couple of years
– McKinsey, Future of DFA Maintenance

In this article, we will discuss the most prove technological innovations in the field of IoT for realizing maintenance efficiencies for distributed fixed assets. Our customer’s end goal is to achieve cost-efficient maintenance by following strategy to Maintain only when needed and to Maintain efficiently using remote monitoring solutions.

The IoT technologies-backed solution can be instrumental in achieving a key value proposition on cost and downtime reduction.

Issue of not able to maintain when needed due to non-optimal maintenance planning as no real-life information of asset is available to make an informed decision on job priority, work to be done, labor and part required, etc. The remote asset monitoring solution through integrated sensors technology can be of great help in resolving this issue.
The ineffective maintenance activity is result of long travel time required to service distributed assets (in remote locations), repeated trips due to lack of preparation, and

“20 – 30% Reduction in Maintenance Cost using remote monitoring solution.” “20 – 50% Reduction in Downtime using remote diagnostic and digital instructions.”
– McKinsey, Future of DFA Maintenance

distributed maintenance knowledge across local contractors, nearshore maintenance technicians, and subject matter experts. The use of digital tools to automate planning, scheduling, dispatching of maintenance jobs using real-time asset health data from remote monitoring solution, and using digital instruction and remote diagnostic feature can be is transformative in achieving overall efficiency