SAP's innovations help create a new digital asset lifecycle

SAP, the enterprise application software company, has introduced SAP Asset Intelligence Network and the SAP Predictive Maintenance and Service solution. Both these solutions will aid equipment manufacturers, service providers and asset operators leg up Internet of Things as the proliferation of sensors and smart devices transforms asset management. They will provide the applications and the business network necessary to enable new insights and the ability for all stakeholders in asset management to move from a reactive to a more proactive approach.

Hans Thalbauer, Senior Vice President, Extended Supply Chain, SAP, says, “We are now at a point where business challenges such as balancing cost, risk and performance meet technology enablers like in-memory analytics and cloud-based platforms for collaboration to initiate a quantum leap in operational excellence. Connectivity across the Internet of Things is helping machines talk to business information systems, and our new offerings provide the network and ability to take insight to outcome, creating a completely new digital asset lifecycle.”

SAP Asset Intelligence Network

It helps ensure data quality in products and asset lifecycle and offers a single, global register of model and equipment information. The network provides a secure cloud platform to connect multiple business partners within and outside the company for collaboration in a central clearinghouse and communications hub. Using a cloud-based portal, sharing standardized content helps ensure a consistent definition among business partners.

The network permits SAP S/4HANA to facilitate B2B integration for asset data. Advanced analytics information for identifying and understanding trends can be shared across the network, and it is possible to notify both manufacturers and operators about imminent shortfalls or failures. Having a common definition of equipment, greater transparency and common data, the network provides not only the collaboration platform for asset-related information but also the business context for predictive maintenance and service.

“I expect that every device we manufacture at Endress+Hauser is automatically available with all relevant lifecycle information in the SAP systems of our customers. Appropriate information at the needed time is of unimaginable value because this improves the efficiency and therefore the results of the entire company,” says Klaus Endress, President, Supervisory Board, Endress + Hauser.

SAP Predictive Maintenance and Service

Designed to help businesses decrease maintenance and service costs, while boosting availability and reliability of enterprise assets. Using predictive analytics on the SAP HANA platform, the solution processes vast amounts of real-time operational data from sensors and smart assets.

It has built-in capabilities that analyze sensor data and monitor equipment behavior remotely for businesses in asset-intensive industries as well as OEMs that offer new service business models for their customers. The solution provides predictive models for machine learning and closed-loop integration with business systems that will trigger corrective actions in service and maintenance systems to avoid unplanned downtimes.

Falko Lameter, CIO, Kaeser Kompressoren, says, “Being able to anticipate events and maintenance operations helps increase the efficiency and performance of our enterprise assets. SAP Predictive Maintenance and Service enables us to align our products and services more closely with our customers’ use patterns and operating needs.”