Here’s what will happen if you haven’t digitized your production processes yet

Digital technologies are transforming the production processes of industry in all sectors. The benefits associated with the digitization of production plants are already a reality and, beyond that, quantifiable. Several European studies estimate that the digitisation of products and services has the potential to provide the industry with benefits of more than 110 billion euros per year and have determined that these technologies are the reason why industrial production on the continent has increased by 8% in ten years.

Digital Transformation is associated with the advance of data capture technologies and the interconnection of physical elements that allow them to communicate, leading to smarter industries and optimized production processes.

Industrial maintenance is adapting to new times and the current needs of the industry. In this new paradigm, the predictive maintenance based on condition monitoring acquires a determining role to face the challenges and take advantage of the benefits associated to the industry 4.0, since it allows to anticipate breakdowns and unplanned stops in the productive process of the work plant.

Haven’t you taken the step of digitizing your production plant yet? Well, here’s what you’re missing out on.

You won’t save up

Indeed, the step to digitize production processes and establish a predictive maintenance strategy based on the operating condition of the machinery involves an economic outlay.

Often, the implementation of these technologies is associated with costs, when it is an investment with high return capacity. Industries that have already faced the digital transformation of their production and maintenance processes quickly recoup the investment and, from that moment on, only provide them with the benefits associated with optimised production, reduced maintenance costs and the extension of the useful life of their machines.

You won’t optimize your processes

To materialize the advantages associated with Industry 4.0 mentioned above, predictive maintenance technologies are a great ally. Regarding process optimisation, integral monitoring systems not only offer concise information on the real-time operating status of each of the machines being monitored, but also provide an overview of how the entire production process is performing. Contrary to what one might think, the fact that a machine is operating optimally according to the data provided by its manufacturer does not mean that its condition is the most suitable for the whole system. The communication and interrelation of the data obtained by monitoring several machines in parallel make it possible to draw correlations and adjust the operating points of each of them to improve the overall efficiency of the plant.

They also provide the possibility of modifying the operating parameters by the real production needs of the plant and make these adjustments in the operating conditions that best guarantee the health of the machines.

You will not extend the service life of your machinery

If you decide not to opt for digitized industrial maintenance systems, you won’t get valuable information to maximize the life of your machinery. The advanced data obtained from sensor monitoring allows potential failures of the machinery to be detected before major breakdowns occur, which, in addition to having a negative impact on its estimated useful life and production capacity, entails considerable costs arising from its repair and lack of availability.

These technologies provide visibility into incipient failures that are invisible to reactive and preventive maintenance strategies and can lead to unplanned production downtime. It should not be forgotten that machine downtime costs do not end with machine repair. To put it back into operation, additional costs are often incurred, because depending on the size and function of the machine, it is not as simple as turning on its switches again.

In addition to avoiding or minimizing the impact of breakdowns, the information obtained through machine monitoring allows you to make proactive and informed decisions to improve your operating conditions and performance.

You won’t be in the front line of the market.

The decision not to implement solutions for digitizing production and maintenance processes can result in a very high commercial cost. Your portfolio of consolidated clients may be reduced because they have understood before you the added value that a digital strategy brings.

The sooner you assume that these digital solutions are not a one-off trend but are already a consolidated reality for improving production processes and reducing costs in all industrial sectors, the sooner you will be up to date with this constantly evolving methodology.