Five Enterprise Asset Management Technology Trends In 2023
Five Enterprise Asset Management Technology Trends In 2023
By Rupesh Lahane
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the growth and expansion of enterprise asset management (EAM) technology. With the ongoing advancements in EAM, organizations are poised to revolutionize their decision-making, customer engagement, data management, and more. The increased adoption of cloud collaboration technologies and Internet of Things (IoT) has provided users with unprecedented access to valuable data on asset health and business impact. To maintain a competitive edge, businesses should prioritize EAM and keep an eye on the following five trends for digital transformation in 2023.
1. Increasing Use of Technology in Holistic Business Planning.
To achieve a comprehensive corporate strategy, businesses are actively combining their production and maintenance operations and rely on consistent and reliable master data of their assets. A common asset base helps businesses in integrating their strategies by giving the following information regarding their assets:
- The owner of each asset
- Where each asset stands in its maintenance lifecycle
- How these assets can be tied into material requirements planning (MRP) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) and thus provide businesses with a holistic picture of genuine run times.
- How businesses can use these assets flexibly during times of supply chain challenges.
Maintaining high-integrity master data is crucial for effective planning, and technology can simplify the process of updating this data through user-friendly interfaces.
2. Automation of Facilities.
Businesses are adopting automation in order to improve sustainability and productivity in their facilities. This can be achieved by utilizing IoT, mobile apps, and chatbots for predictive and field maintenance. Through the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning, the EAM system can accurately identify which component of an asset requires replacement, minimizing the need for complete machine shutdowns and resulting in a more productive workforce. Internal and external technicians can use mobile apps or chatbots to monitor work orders, exchange information, and search for relevant data and information.
Modern EAM systems not only predict asset failures, but also map the sensitivity of assets to business performance, identifying mission-critical assets whose downtime could result in greater-than-average losses. This knowledge about asset sensitivity can help businesses predict, plan, and prioritize downtime for critical assets over others.
3. Cloud Infrastructure Usage in Measuring KPIs.
The utilization of cloud infrastructure allows for the integration of unstructured data from sensors and business data from conventional ERP/MRP systems to be transmitted into a standardized cloud environment. Advanced analytics can then be employed to harness this data, aiding in the measurement of crucial performance metrics (KPIs). The KPIs are then distilled down to business units for monitoring and management through relevant KPIs. A centralized dashboard provides access to these KPIs, promoting improved governance and continuous progress.
4. Supply Chain Integration.
Companies are moving away from a distant relationship with their suppliers towards a more collaborative partnership. By integrating their systems with suppliers, businesses gain better visibility across the supply chain, reduce the need for manual data entry, and obtain more valuable insights from business intelligence applications. Additionally, by aligning and integrating internal and external processes, businesses can quickly adapt to customer and market demands and adjust production and equipment usage as necessary.
Traditionally, companies have relied on email-based communication with suppliers. However, leading enterprise software providers have now enabled real-time electronic data exchange between suppliers and customers via portals on enterprise asset management software, making it a highly efficient method for businesses to interact with their external partners. The use of portals is becoming increasingly common, and extended supply chains are also utilizing mobile apps and chatbots for data entry and information sharing.
5. Technology-Enabled Risk Management.
To effectively implement new technology, organizations must ensure the integrity of input and output data and plan carefully for how the data will be managed through the master data management strategy. Businesses can achieve high data integrity by specializing in data intelligence and agile development, which provide insight into corporate data and enable quick testing and delivery of solutions. Real-time data is essential for decision-making, allowing businesses to evaluate their competition, cut expenses, improve efficiency, and enter new markets. However, operational optimization and agile methodologies can cause bottlenecks if suppliers are not aligned. To mitigate this risk, businesses should integrate their supply chain using MRP and ERP insights and adopt a risk-based approach to supply chain management.