Smart Maintenance aims to make the greatest possible value contribution for agile manufacturing companies by empowering the maintenance organization to develop and optimize itself with the help of available data and experiential knowledge. The range of topics affecting the transformation to Smart Maintenance is highly diverse – it is characterized by keywords such as "predictive maintenance," "augmented/virtual reality," or "artificial intelligence." However, technologies are only one part of the necessary development process. At least as important are the adaptation and digitalization of processes, the empowerment of employees in a transformed environment of new processes and technologies, and, not least, the establishment of an open knowledge culture that values errors as an inevitable component of innovation. Together with the objectives of maintenance, a consistently high level of productivity over an extended life cycle of machines and equipment, and the simultaneous development of competencies, the transformation to Smart Maintenance becomes a great challenge offering equally great potential.
In order to support companies on their way to Smart Maintenance, FIR at RWTH Aachen University has developed a "Smart Maintenance Roadmap.” As part of our iterative approach, we first evaluate the maturity level of your maintenance organization, using the proven “acatech Maturity Index.” Based on your level of maturity and aligned with maintenance objectives, we then develop a tailored roadmap in which well-coordinated measures for the gradual improvement of the maturity level are derived and described in detail. We prioritize use cases for predictive maintenance as well as for data analysis in maintenance. For the first measures of the roadmap, we define concrete projects in close collaboration with you and support you with resource and time planning activities to achieve the most effective implementation of the defined measures. You can also count on our support and expertise from past projects when it comes to carrying out these projects.
After 6 to 12 months we carry out another assessment to determine the level of progress made on the way towards Smart Maintenance and to adjust the control variables of your current projects with you. Your roadmap is your guide to a successful transformation to Smart Maintenance.
We look forward to working with you on the road to Smart Maintenance!