PEOPLE
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A s industrial automation continues to digitse , one area in particular is becoming a critical area of concern – unplanned downtime . The shift to outcomebased business models , equipment assets becoming more sophisticated and connected , and of course , the pervasive and increasing reliance on machines , are all adding to the pressure to avoid outages . Mitigating downtime is now a strategic priority in the digital age .
Take power as an example . In the US , generating units are unavailable on average for 15 % of the time due to outages and maintenance . In fact , 6 % of the time they are unable to meet demand at all . And the Energy Information Administration highlights that a further 6 % of electricity is lost in transmission and distribution due to both technical factors and outages .
The growing reliance on automation is already widening performance gaps . Businesses are losing sight of assets , especially in terms of efficiency , leading to a fractured insight of manufacturing or service delivery . The upshot is that unplanned downtime becomes a real problem and even worse , the lack of visibility leads to an unnecessary lengthening of recovery time . Closing this downtime gap is a fundamental step in an organisation ’ s digital maturity , and a core part of their transformation journey .
JULY 2019