ShareA generation shift is happening now
Higher productivity, higher usability, and improved safety – these are some of the things industrial companies are looking for in new technology. Clever ways of utilizing usage data and maintenance data can help in maximizing usability, finding the optimal ways for maintenance, and maximizing the productivity of the whole production process.
A change in behavior
In my work with industrial machines, we have been witnessing a generation shift in the recent years. This shift started already when the first remote access connections became available for industrial machines. Now a generational shift is also happening with the people operating the cranes.
In the field of crane maintenance, for example, we are seeing a change in customer behavior. Many of our customers are used to buying spare parts or making repair orders online. More and more customers are using tablets at work, too. People who are used to having various online services available on their consumer devices expect that these services are available for the machines they operate at work, too.
Higher expectations
Through this change in behavior, the expectations for what is possible to create from the data have increased tremendously. In previous years, industrial companies were happy to receive any data from their machines. When the amount of available data has grown tremendously, data on its own is not enough: it needs to be processed and analyzed. There is a shift from data quantity to data quality. The service provider’s job is to turn data into information and further into knowledge.
The customers expect not only that data can be collected from the machines but that different kinds of reports can be combined from this data, and that those reports are accessible online. This data can help answer safety and productivity questions, and also help the product last longer in use. Customers also look for analysis and recommendations by the service providers based on the reports and data. The best results are achieved through continuous improvement and productivity development that is done in partnership with the customer.
People who are used to having various online services available on their consumer devices expect that these services are available for the machines they operate at work, too.
Real-time service
In the age of “instant gratification”, people are becoming more and more used to having everything available in real time. For example, if you make a phone call to the service provider and they say they will find out what’s wrong and call you back in three hours, you can regard this as being too slow. You want to see the answers instantly on your phone or tablet.
A transition phase means new opportunities
In the coming years, it seems to become more and more common for industrial customers to pay for data services. Just by looking at the data, the service providers seldom know well enough what is most beneficial for the customer, so a partnership is required for developing the most useful data tools for the customer. It also makes the customer an important part of service development processes. From the customer, this requires vision, readiness and a fearless attitude. Industrial internet-savvy people are also needed on the service provider’s side and the customer side.
This brings us to a very fertile situation. In the recent years, the quick technological development in IT and Communications has led to several slow developments in remote and industrial internet. Now, all of a sudden, we have arrived at a situation where a simultaneous transition phase is happening both in technology and in the market regarding Industrial Internet. These kinds of situations can be opportunities for very successful business concepts. When you reach the critical mass, these opportunities can become volume businesses. It would be very short-sighted not utilize this possibility in your own company.
Image credit: Tom Wang/Shutterstock.com
