Predictive Maintenance: Finally an Affordable Solution

Gary Cole, CEO of Lumilinks, explains how tapping into existing data can allow you to predict, prioritise, and pre-empt maintenance on your systems and equipment. So, you can reduce repairs and cut costs. You already have the data you need; you just need to know how to use it. 

Increasingly, organisations understand the value of data in informing customer relationships, guiding effective marketing campaigns, and driving sales. But, data can supercharge internal processes too. There is money to be saved in how you handle equipment repairs and maintenance, and predictive maintenance is the key.

Predictive Maintenance:

Predictive maintenance is a familiar concept: data analysis to get ahead of repairs. It’s a technique that detects anomalies in your operation, possible defects in equipment and processes, and future maintenance requirements, so you can fix issues before they result in failure. 

Ideally, the predictive method keeps maintenance to a minimum because it prevents unplanned reactive maintenance and makes expensive preventive maintenance redundant. 

You may be familiar with predictive maintenance systems that utilise a network of Internet of Things (IoT) devices to paint a real-time picture of your system’s health. Monitors and sensors attached to all parts of an asset produce a constant stream of data, which is then processed using machine learning and AI techniques to make predictions of future maintenance needs.

Predictive maintenance of this kind is expensive to set up and run. Its output is powerful and accurate, but it requires large data storage infrastructure, high computing power, and a time-intensive program of modernisation that affects all assets. At Lumilinks, we have a solution that gives you the best of both worlds.

The question surrounding predictive maintenance is, ‘Can you harness the benefits without incurring the costs?’ At Lumilinks, we believe the answer is ‘Yes.’ In response, we have developed a predictive maintenance model that produces similar results but without the set-up and maintenance costs. 

Our technique uses the statistical methods to build a proportional hazards model for your assets using the maintenance data you already have. The technique produces predictions about which parts will break next, the proportional risk posed to the entire asset, and the cost of repair in relation to the cost of potential failure. You can then prioritise the most critical maintenance, reduce downtime of key assets, and discontinue expiring assets before they cause damage.

For businesses with multiple or complex assets, this is a game-changer. It is an opportunity to reduce maintenance costs while increasing maintenance value by drawing up a viable and effective schedule and using it to inform the products and services you offer.

What are the benefits of the Lumilinks solution?

1.    No additional set-up costs

Predictive maintenance that leverages existing data requires minimal investment in new data-collecting infrastructure. Instead, you learn to correctly use the data you already have access to, through the correlation of data across your business as a whole.

2.    No additional maintenance costs

With new monitors, sensors, and IoT devices, comes additional maintenance. With the Lumilinks solution, you are not adding equipment into the maintenance schedule you are building. 

3.    Prioritise maintenance

Predictive maintenance allows you to identify which critical assets will need maintenance and when, and balance this against the maintenance needs of everything else. 

4.    Plan a maintenance schedule

With better insights into system and asset behaviour, you can draw up a schedule that reduces costly and overzealous preventive maintenance and means you won’t be unwittingly replacing perfectly good parts.

5.    Adapt pricing models

Proper insight into which parts of your business and which clients cause the most damage and prove to be the most expensive allows you to devise proactive pricing models that will keep you ahead of future costs and improve your product offerings.

There is value in your business data, and correlating data across your business helps you uncover patterns, learn from experience, and make smart, effective decisions. Using this data to develop a proper preventive maintenance plan will, in the long run, save money and help you plan future asset acquisitions. 

Lumilinks is turning data into a Single Source of Truth, making data management accessible to all and encouraging better data hygiene. This is what makes money-saving techniques such as preventive maintenance possible. 

Predictive Maintenance: Client Story

“The partnership between Dawson Group and Lumilinks has opened our eyes to what is possible. One of the biggest assets within Dawson Group is data, but a recent study revealed that we do not use our 25+ years of historical data in the most effective manner. While we have numerous in-house accountants, we do not regularly analyse the data in any great depth. Ad hoc analysis takes time, and the important message may be missed due to data overload. This is where the partnership with Lumilinks has been a real benefit.”

The data analysis undertaken by Lumilinks will enable Dawson Group to manage its fleet more efficiently, reduce costs, increase revenue, and provide better solutions for our customers. As an example, we can now predict when will be the optimum time to dispose of a vehicle, taking into consideration our own data on ageing repair and maintenance costs, as well as external data such as second-hand market values.

By Adrian O’Reilly

Group Accounting Director