Overcoming Business Challenges with Continuous Diagnostics

Whether Fortune 500, OEM or SMB, the challenges of using a preventive maintenance (PM) strategy remain the same: unplanned downtime, big budgets for spare parts and labor and a constant need to optimize field service professionals, just to name a few issues. Preventive maintenance involves inspecting and repairing equipment according to a schedule or rules-based methodology, which is intended to catch malfunctions before they occur, but leaves many large gaps during which equipment can fail, halting production, decreasing the sustainability of the equipment, and disrupting the bottom line.

The answer, instead, is a form of predictive maintenance (PdM) called continuous diagnostics, which combines continuous monitoring of equipment with cloud-based analysis to provide real-time diagnostics, leaving no time between inspections for equipment to fail. Here’s how this approach can help overcome the most common challenges of an industrial business.

Mitigating Downtime

Previously, PdM was relegated to businesses with large budgets as the costs of implementation and operation were often thought to outweigh the benefits. However, advances in cloud storage and computing, mobile devices and connectivity, have allowed continuous diagnostics to become available far and wide, regardless of business size or industry. Whether in hospitals, public schools, chemical manufacturing facilities or wastewater treatment centers, the ability to proactively monitor equipment and diagnose problems in real-time can overcome challenges left unaddressed by legacy technologies.

With real-time and continuous diagnostics, businesses can experience significant reductions in downtime. When equipment fails unexpectedly, not only does operation cease, but working capital is consumed through spare parts and overtime labor.

Navigating Capex

In addition to the basic pitfalls of equipment downtime, continuous diagnostics can help your business avoid unexpected capital expenditures. With continuous diagnostics, your maintenance team is in constant communication with your equipment. This means major repairs and overhauls do not need to be surprises.

Setting Up Businesses for Success

Continuous diagnostics offers businesses the ability to mitigate downtime, plan out thoughtful capital expenditures and make best use of their employees in on the ground and in the field.

In the industrial sector, navigating these business hurdles is an imperative for unlocking a streamlined way of doing business, increasing the sustainability of processes, and bettering the bottom line.

By Jonathan Cooper, head of business development, Augury