By Nnadozie Ogbuehi, Field Services Director at Schneider Electric 

In a research paper published by Taylor and Francis Online: An approach to improve asset maintenance and management priorities using machine learning techniques, asset maintenance and management activities are described as typical services provided by a physical asset maintenance firm. 

The statement therefore underscores the importance of partnering with the right service provider to manage and maintain assets.  “Numerous services are available today to develop an optimised asset management solution to enhance asset operations by improving the system availability, decreasing down-time and operation and maintenance cost. 

“A combination of these services would result in an optimised asset management solution that would satisfy the needs and challenges of the asset operators to improve the asset system availability and reduce the downtime of the assets, while following a systematic planning of operation and maintenance activities,” says the paper.

It is therefore paramount that organisations choose the right partner for the job.  Your asset maintenance partner should be reputable, knowledgeable and understand your environment and the equipment that runs it.

Investing in the asset management partner, backed by a robust maintenance programme must form part of business operations and resultant OPEX expenditure.  Not only do these programmes run systems efficiently and maximise equipment expectancy, but it also plays a fundamental role in mitigating downtime and system failure.

What should you look for?

The saying “It's a simple task to make things complex, but a complex task to make things simple” couldn’t be more apt when choosing an asset maintenance partner.  In a nutshell, these are five attributes an organisation should look for choosing a partner:

1. Expertise of the maintenance personnel.
2. Quality assurance.
3. Onsite response time.
4. Remote monitoring capability.
5. Comprehensive onsite inspection.

Human error can often lead to operations issues which is why it’s so important to ensure the service personnel are experts.  Your asset maintenance partner should feature a pool of system specialist who receive ongoing training which includes safety protocols and are certified by regulatory bodies such as OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration).

The service and maintenance team must have access to the necessary vendor tools and software that allow for system diagnostics and newest field service bulletins, created by the system vendors, that alert them to trending issues. 

Also, access to international support that feature technical experts from various regions as well as global case studies will provide valuable insight into particular challenges organisations might face.

Remote monitoring and onsite inspection

Both remote monitoring and onsite inspection play an all-important role in preventive maintenance.  Remote connectivity for example allows for quicker diagnostics of problems, which can be addressed without having to send a technician to visit the site

However, onsite visits are extremely important and can provide the following benefits: 

•                      A visual inspection will in a non-invasive way identify potential problems like dust or debris on a condenser, dirty condenser coils, bloated or leaky batteries, etc. 

•                      An environmental inspection will allow the specialist to assess how a system can be impacted by humidity, air, and water quality. This all can have a direct impact on the function and life of the system.

Lastly, technologies such as data analytics and AI now play a vital role in asset maintenance and repair.  The more connected and smarter services become, the more your service provider will become an invaluable and trusted advisor.