The EAM softwares are going through a phase of change with interesting ideas for improvement and benefits for users. EAM, acronym of Enterprise Asset Management, are softwares that help CEO, administrators, stakeholders in the complex management of assets, that is, of monetizable assets, of any nature, that lead added value for companies.
The task of these solutions is not only to manage physical assets (software, machinery, systems, etc.), as the CMMS (Computerized Management Management System) do, but also to manage the intangible assets of companies such as bonds and shares.
There are many changes that have involved the EAM solutions on the market: in the past there was a tendency to focus on the maintenance of each individual asset. Now every asset is monitored and studied not only in its current state, but throughout its life cycle, in all its aspects, from maintenance to performance, to reach a thorough understanding that, from the insiders, is called Asset Performance Management (APM). In the future, companies will choose a single application that will manage the entire company system and eliminate superfluous and fragmented solutions. Another aspect of change concerns the introduction of predictive maintenance, according to which, thanks to continuous monitoring of the asset at each stage of its life cycle, intervention can take place before the problem occurs. This will result in a significant reduction in costs. Each intervention will be planned mechanically, processing the information that each asset will transmit through sophisticated sensors integrated with the system through the IoT. It will also be possible to redefine workflows. In a short time, the data that will be used to plan the production, will be entered directly by the machines, and not by the technicians, as happens today. This will eliminate slowness, inefficiencies, errors in transcripts, incorrect evaluations, and other problems, generating optimization of work flow management,
The technologies that will make this transformation possible (cloud, mobile, IoT (Internet Of Things) and analytics) will evolve faster and faster, and will move huge investments. The Politecnico of Milan has estimated that in Italy the value of the sector, linked to these technologies, is about 2 billion euros (2016 data), with a growth rate of up to 25%
How is Infor EAM positioned in this improvement process? Infor EAM, the Enterprise Asset Management solution of Infor, is following these trends of change. Thanks to the possibility of integrate the system with the machines, the sensors and the plc, it is possible to easily manage all the company assets, defining a mechanical maintenance program, including predictive maintenance interventions. Customers can analyze the data coming from the machines thanks to the integrated module of Analytics, redefine the company work flow in the light of data from the field and machine operators and guarantee user flexibility. In addition, Infor EAM offers great control and a clear overview of the operating and maintenance costs of company assets and their energy consumption.
The EAM and CMMS softwares, therefore, are the future that will bring significant benefits, in terms of optimization of production processes, savings, reduction of risks, efficiency, etc. A plus of these solutions is also the fact they are included in the Industry 4.0 plan. So companies, who want to invest in research and innovation, will be able to enjoy interesting tax incentives.