The fourth industrial revolution is fully underway: most manufacturers have already taken steps toward digital transformation. Recent surveys show that 79% of manufacturers plan to deploy AI tools to help bridge the growing skills gap. At least 12% of manufacturers are already using AI in their daily work.
However, there are signs that Industry 4.0 has yet to fulfill its promise. Most large organizations still lack sufficient resilience to meet many modern-day challenges, from global supply issues and labor shortages to shifting customer demand and regulatory changes.
There is a clear solution to these challenges. For multi-site organizations, extending and standardizing digital tools across the whole enterprise is one of the most effective ways to increase efficiency, reduce unplanned downtime, and demonstrate regulatory compliance.
Upcoming Trends: Efficiency, Expanded
In the coming months and years, we anticipate a significant increase in the adoption of tools such as agentic AI, augmented workflows, and collaborative AI tools. These tools all extend the capabilities of a lean workforce while leveraging data-driven insights to increase efficiency.
Beyond the tools themselves, we expect to see a shift in approach: we anticipate a move away from single-site, siloed digital innovation, towards a consolidated, enterprise-wide use of digital tools. In particular, we expect to see multi-site organizations standardize data collection workflows and a wide range of data-driven maintenance strategies.
Best Practices for Multi-Site Digital Transformation and Standardization
Over the years, our team of experts has developed a detailed list of best practices for standardizing Industry 4.0 tools. Here are the most important areas of focus.
Integrating the Technical Stack
A fragmented digital architecture leads to duplicated workflows, data siloes, and managerial headaches. Processes like demonstrating regulatory compliance, managing inventory, and forecasting budgetary needs all depend on integrated tools.
The right EAM should integrate easily with BI, SCADA/PLC, and ERP, as well as IIoT sensors. AI diagnostics should flow seamlessly into existing workflows. Data collection workflows, data cleaning, and naming conventions need to be standardized throughout the enterprise to facilitate smooth integrations.
Leveraging Multi-Language Capabilities
For multinational organizations, navigating different languages and currencies can be a challenge. Standardization requires digital tools that offer multi-language functionality. Look for an EAM that also operates in multiple time zones and across multiple currencies.
Standardizing Asset Lifecycle Management
Standardizing your asset lifecycle management approach ensures that you make smart, data-driven decisions about acquisitions, repairs, and replacements. Instead of operating on a hunch or a whim, teams follow clear procedures at each step of the asset lifecycle.
Create a standardized workflow for collecting, storing, and analyzing asset data (work order and maintenance history, condition monitoring data, and the relevant KPIs). The more data is available, the more easily teams can identify patterns and make predictions about future asset health. The right EAM helps by integrating your standardized processes right into the work order.
Scaling Predictive Maintenance
Predictive maintenance is the gold standard for maintenance teams. The approach uses a network of wireless condition monitoring sensors and data analytics to predict upcoming maintenance needs of assets. Your EAM collects and organizes the necessary data, auto-generating work orders as needed.
It’s a best practice to scale your predictive maintenance program across all your worksites so that you have access to a greater pool of asset and maintenance data.
Harnessing AI Diagnostics
AI has the capacity to “read” condition monitoring data and identify the earliest signs of a potential machine fault. Today, AI can create detailed reports on the health of every machine in a plant. The best AI tools can contextualize data, set maintenance priorities, and create “prescriptions” for teams to follow.
As with most Industry 4.0 tools, AI diagnostics perform best at scale. Expanding and standardizing their use results in more data, even greater precision, and increased efficiency.
Standardizing Compliance Workflows
Demonstrating regulatory compliance can be a constant headache — and with ever-changing regulations, compliance should be a top priority for every organization.
It’s a best practice to standardize maintenance workflows across your organization so that every task gets completed correctly, every time. Using the same digital tools across your worksites also makes it easy to create audit trails. Inspections, signatures, and preventive maintenance records all get stored in the same central location, so you can access them immediately, from anywhere in the world.
Accessing Expert Planning
Effective digital standardization begins with planning. Many organizations falter at the implementation stage by failing to train teams and get employees on board with the new technology.
We also see frequent issues with roll-out phasing. Organizations tend to roll out their digital tools in their most “advanced” and data-driven worksites first. Unfortunately, this makes it difficult for the other worksites to catch up and creates a siloed, uneven company structure. That’s where expert planning comes in. It’s a best practice to get input from someone who’s seen a few digital transformations and can predict the kinds of issues that may arise.
Choosing the Right EAM for Multi-Site Standardization
An effective multi-site EAM delivers a mixture of standardized features and customizability — promoting a consistent maintenance approach while allowing for regional variation from one shop to another.
When choosing an EAM, look for software that offers these features:
Configurability – the ability to customize work orders, reporting, and other key features to meet the unique needs of your organization. This ensures that your whole organization will use the EAM consistently and correctly.
Integrations – a good EAM is at the heart of your data-driven maintenance strategy. Select a tool that easily integrates with all of your existing business tools, from Business Intelligence to ERP. eMaint delivers seamless integration with wireless sensors, ERP, SCADA/PLC, and much more.
Ease of Use – multi-site roll-outs require intuitive tools that are easy to learn for everyone in the organization. Collecting, sharing, and analyzing data should be straightforward processes. Mobile apps should be fully integrated and have offline functionality.
Robust Reporting Functions – your multi-site maintenance data has the potential to transform your operation — but only if you can use it. Look for an EAM with customizable, intuitive reporting features so you can drill down into the data and derive valuable insights.
Standardizing Industry 4.0 Workflows With eMaint CMMS
eMaint EAM/CMMS delivers ease of use, intuitive functionality, and accessible, customizable reporting functions. It integrates seamlessly with the Fluke family of tools, as well as with standard business intelligence, maintenance, and facility management tools.
eMaint is supported by a global team of experts who offer hands-on assistance at every stage, from planning and implementation to troubleshooting and remote monitoring. Here are a few recent success stories.
eMaint Case Studies: Getting Multi-Site Right
SKF
Background:
SKF is one of the largest manufacturers of bearings in the world. Based in Sweden, it operates 81 factories worldwide.
Challenges:
SKF’s facilities were using a patchwork of different CMMS solutions, each with its own naming conventions, KPIs, and failure codes. The company also lacked a mobile solution.
Results following eMaint implementation:
- Standardized naming of assets, failure codes, and spare parts
- Overhauled inventory and asset management systems
- Localized language and currency
HEXPOL
Background:
HEXPOL is a custom rubber manufacturer with 16 locations across the U.S. and Mexico.
Challenges:
Worksites were operating in siloes, with little visibility into operations. Managers struggled to benchmark progress and resolve maintenance issues.
Results following eMaint implementation:
- Standardized maintenance and operations across all 16 sites
- Reduced emergency capital expenditure repairs, replacement of equipment, and end-of-life costs by over 30%
- Streamlined and improved inventory management
Johns Hopkins
Background:
Johns Hopkins Radiology is a world-renowned medical treatment and research center. Its dedicated maintenance team uses eMaint to standardize asset management across 7 facilities.
Challenges:
The team needed a way to streamline asset management for 3000 critical medical assets and track preventive maintenance (PM) task completion for regulatory purposes.
Results following eMaint implementation:
- 92% uptime, with 2000+ uptime hours per quarter
- Standardized maintenance management for 3000+ medical assets
- Simplified medical industry regulatory compliance and audit inspections