How OEMs and Plant Operators Can Collaborate to Defeat Downtime

Which scenario would you prefer to play out on your factory floor?

1. A motor seizes, halting the assembly line. Maintenance techs get things working again—until next time. No one is tracking why the motor broke down or trying to understand the root cause of the problem; they’re just responding to breakdowns as they happen.
2. When a motor starts to run hot, it sends data back to its original equipment manufacturer (OEM). The OEM has a deep technical understanding and a vast pool of performance data about the motor—these insights prompt the OEM to alert the plant operator that something’s off before an outage even occurs.

Most maintenance professionals would opt for scenario two—preventing the motor failure from happening in the first place. But if that sounds like a dream rather than a real option for plant operators today, we have good news. The technology to bring this vision to life is already here—“connected manufacturing.” 

To defeat downtime with this type of uninterrupted data sharing (i.e. “connected manufacturing”), plant operators can work with OEMs to solve four key challenges.

1. Simplify communication

If every machine came from the same OEM, connected manufacturing would be a breeze. However,  even something as seemingly “low-tech” as cooking a potato chip can require over half a dozen different machines to mix, roll, slice, reclaim scraps, fry, sort, flavor, and package the finished product. The result is a medley of equipment from many different OEMs.

As a plant operator, it is difficult to juggle dozens of different apps to manage all the equipment on your assembly line. Instead, you need a single unifying layer that can communicate insights from the factory floor to your OEMs and back again.

Technology that centralizes data sharing is key to connected manufacturing’s success, and plant managers can also help streamline communication by meeting regularly with key OEM partners to discuss challenges.

2. Strengthen security

Understandably, the idea of sharing real-time data with OEMs may make some plant operators apprehensive. If designs and order details are exposed, customer relationships could be risked. Leaked information about plant efficiency or other KPIs also puts companies at a disadvantage. In fact, the average data breach now costs manufacturers $5.56 million. 

Plant operators can protect data privacy and benefit from connected manufacturing by developing clear policies around what operational data to share with OEMs. Create tiered access levels defining who can obtain specific types of data—distinguishing between who can see equipment performance metrics and who can view production metrics, for instance.

3. Reframe your maintenance philosophy

To build a strong foundation for connected manufacturing, plant operators need to shift the culture within their organizations from reactive to preventive. To encourage collaboration with OEMs, their teams should understand that preventing failures is more valuable than responding quickly to breakdowns.

One way manufacturers can encourage this cultural shift is by adjusting performance metrics. It’s important to create KPIs that recognize techs for proactive maintenance actions. Rather than focusing primarily on mean time to repair, for example, start to track prevented failures and celebrate reductions in unplanned downtime. 

4. Empower frontline workers

Plant operators should also build up their maintenance team’s expertise so they can effectively use the insights OEMs share. 

Give techs access to real-time equipment performance data and OEM insights, and train them to work with remote monitoring tools. Recognize workers who successfully use data to prevent failures, but also make sure OEM recommendations aren’t overshadowing the team’s expertise. It’s important to establish a way for team members to validate or challenge OEM suggestions based on their hands-on experience with the equipment. 

You’ll also need to create clear protocols for how to respond to predictive alerts from OEMs, as well as standard processes to help the team translate OEM recommendations into concrete maintenance actions. 

Reducing downtime to zero

Sharing data in real-time can increase profitability for plant operators and help OEMs innovate faster. The hurdles to making truly connected manufacturing a reality are surmountable—and the payoff in terms of downtime reduction is well worth the effort.