Digital Equipment Operator

The Digital Equipment Operator

The Digital Equipment Operator is utilizing AIoT to optimize how he operates physical assets or equipment. Goals often include asset performance optimization and process improvements. Examples for Digital Equipment Operators include manufacturers, electricity grid operators, railroad operators, and mining companies. This section will introduce the concept of the The Digital Equipment Operator in detail, again following the why, what, how structure from the introduction.

WHY

The motivation to become a Digital Equipment Operator can be manyfold. When looking at the total operator budget, one will often find that the budget is split between operations / business support and the total asset costs, including asset related projects and asset maintenance. Managing the complex asset lifecycle from acquisition over operations to decommissioning offers many opportunities for optimization. In addition, physical assets usually support business processes, which will also benefit from digitalization.

Typical pain points related to this include low levels of asset utlization, high capital expenditure, asset-related process inefficiencies and quality issues (including the quality of manufacturing output), as well as revenue loss due to asset downtimes.

WHAT

AIoT can support the Digital Equipment Operator in many ways. Smart, connected solutions can help improving OEE through improved visibility, advanced analytics and forecasting. AIoT can help enable OEMs to support Asset-as-a-Service offerings. For the operator this is interesting because it can help shift from Capex to Opex, making innovation investments easier. Asset Performance Management (APM) aims at taking a holistic view at production as well as maintenance, utilizing data and insights generated via AIoT. Process optimization can play a big role, e.g. to improve manufacturing quality and minize scrap rates. Finally, using predictive and preventive maintenance to minimize downtimes can also play an important role.

Example: Escalator operator (railway company)

Example: School bus fleet operator

Example: Airplane fleet operations planning using flight path optimizer

HOW

Solution Lifecycle

Considerations for execution and delivery