Long-time users of SAP ERP Plant Maintenance are enthusiastically embracing SAP’s

entrance into the Asset Performance Management (APM) domain. Over the past decades,
maintenance planning, scheduling and execution functions that are part of Enterprise Asset
Management (EAM) have been disconnected from the APM domain. SAP’s Intelligent Asset
Management (IAM) portfolio now brings these two worlds together in an integrated approach
that supports standards-based asset modelling, ecosystem collaboration, advanced
maintenance strategy development practices, IoT enabled performance monitoring/predictive
maintenance and mobile capabilities for field workers.

Standards-based Asset Modeling

The foundation of any EAM and APM solution is an asset modeling capability that is both
flexible and that enables the adoption of industry standards. EAM “as-maintained” structures
should be built in a manner that is consistent with the maintenance strategy of the asset. APM
structures on the other hand can look quite different since they are built with functional or
operational performance in mind. Despite these differences, both structures need to adopt a
common taxonomy that enables them to exchange information efficiently. SAP has
developed the IAM portfolio based on industry standards that help to facilitate a common
communication language. SAP IAM delivers various industry standards like ISO 14224, that
(per the standard) streamline the “collection and exchange of reliability and
maintenance data for equipment”. The ISO 14224 standard “describes
data collection principles and associated terms and definitions that
constitute a reliability language that can be useful for communicating
operational experience.” Standardized asset modeling means creating a
piece of equipment once and leveraging it for both maintenance
execution and strategy development processes like FMEA and RCM.

Ecosystem collaboration

In addition to delivering a “reliability language”, ISO standards like 14224 aim to

facilitate the “exchange of information between parties, e.g. plants, owners,
manufacturers and contractors.” There is a great deal of information that
is created over the life of an asset. Illustrated parts catalogs,
maintenance and operation manuals, CAD drawings, spare part
provisioning lists and many more. Asset operators want a high rate of
return on their assets. This requires that they operate and maintain their
assets based on OEM recommendations over the entire life of the
asset. This requires an efficient and secure communication network to
alert operators of product changes such as new maintenance procedures or model
specifications. The SAP Asset Intelligence Network delivers this communication and
collaboration mechanism. Operators can subscribe to Models purchased from the OEM and
be proactively updated when the OEM introduces new Model versions or specific technical
data (ex, failure modes) that should be accounted for in the operator’s asset strategy
development process.

Asset Strategy Development

With a common taxonomy that is applicable for both EAM and APM processes, asset
strategies can be more seamlessly defined and implemented in the maintenance execution
system. The failure modes that are assessed in RCM and FMEA projects are the same failure
modes documented in maintenance notifications by technicians. This ensures reliability
metrics are consistent with the maintenance strategy and an objective analysis of maintenance
strategy effectiveness can be performed to ensure continuous improvement of RAM
figures. Maintaining a connection between the asset strategy development process and
maintenance execution activities is the key to continuous improvement of the maintenance
program over the life of the asset.

IoT Enabled Performance Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance

Advances in cloud computing, advanced analytics, in-memory computing and the Internet-of-
Things (IoT) have all helped to enable a move away from more expensive reactive and
preventative maintenance strategies to more Condition Based Maintenance (CBM)
approaches. CBM is a maintenance strategy that recommends maintenance actions based on
the information collected through condition monitoring. CBM focuses on the physical
condition of a piece of equipment and how it operates. It is ideal when measurable parameters
are good indicators of impending failures. SAP Predictive Maintenance and Service is a key
enabler for a CBM strategy. Alerts generated from the solution help to reduce the dependency
on manual processes to generate maintenance actions. The solution automates the
maintenance management process and helps to identify equipment degradation earlier in the
failure cycle (i.e., P-F Curve). Early notification of failure events can prevent unplanned
operational shutdowns and save a great deal of money in lost production by providing more
control over the scheduling of maintenance work.

Mobility

The convergence of APM and EAM processes and master data also results in insightful
information that can benefit front line workers. Field and factory workers benefit
tremendously from mobile capabilities that enable them to create and execute work requests,
check inventories and access technical publications. SAP Asset Manager not only delivers
these capabilities to front line workers but also exposes them to new insights from APM
processes. Past, present and future (i.e., data science driven predictions) asset performance
indicators as well as maintenance history and RAM figures are now at their fingertips to
diagnose and accelerate corrective actions as well prevent non-critical failures from
escalating into catastrophic events through early detection.

Considered separately, many of the capabilities described above have existed in some form
for many years through siloed applications. What differentiates SAP’s asset management
portfolio from the many niche applications on the market is the fact that all these capabilities
are now brought together under one umbrella and in an integrated manner to finally close the
loop in our asset management processes. This is what has been missing for decades. Closing
this loop marks a significant milestone for all asset intensive industries and will enable
operators to achieve significant ROI gains from their assets for years to come.