Business Chief Europe Magazine October 2017 | Page 14

INSIGHT
can make a difference in a business . And of course , we have a number of great software suites ourselves that sit on that , like our Asset Performance Management ( APM ) software , and our automation and service software that are key .”
The APM software makes it possible to monitor equipment and its “ equipment health ” as Sherry says . An example is Schindler , manufacturer of escalators and elevators , which deploys Prefix around the globe to monitor all of its lifts . It has a sensor on all equipment , that through dashboards with APM software , tells engineers what needs maintenance , and when , before it breaks down .
“ Gone are the days of merely a rota of maintenance that might be unnecessary ,” Sherry says . “ Now it ’ s predictive maintenance . Once you predict what needs doing , wouldn ’ t it be great if you had people in the field with handheld devices and software to tell them exactly what they need to fix and when ? That ’ s where Servicemax , our field service management software , enables engineers to have exactly the right data and information they need to service equipment most efficiently .”
Bringing these types of software together means pretty much an instant diagnosis and a swift repair of any issues . Sherry uses the example of a car breaking down , with mechanics charging a substantial hourly rate just to find the problem and fix it . “ By integrating them , we give you one wonderful value chain that brings it all together seamlessly ,” she says .
FULL CIRCLE Predicting failures ahead of time ties in neatly with the model of the circular economy , which is based on wasting less while making best use of available resources . One example is with a client based in Paris which experienced a lot of wastage . By using this software , it was able complete the same process with much less waste , in a shorter timeframe , and at a lower cost .
“ Renewables is a huge area for us ,” Sherry says . “ We can go help a company understand that it can deploy our software to decrease its energy consumption .”
One big focus is saving on jet aviation fuel . Every two seconds a GE jet takes off , and by making a
14 October 2017