The SAP Intelligent Asset Management suite was designed and released in November 2018 to update asset management for a digitally connected world, offering decision makers in asset-centric industries everything they need to make informed choices. These solutions utilize real-time data as well as machine learning to change how asset management is approached.
With SAP asset management available, you’ll be able to outperform the competition while more accurately predicting future outcomes and making adjustments to further improve the efficiency of your own processes. These tools will help you streamline asset management to the fullest extent possible and find new ways of advancing your field.
What Is SAP Intelligent Asset Management (IAM)?
The name SAP Intelligent Asset Management is used to refer to a set of five key cloud-based tools that belong to the larger SAP Enterprise Asset Management suite. Together, these applications can reduce equipment downtime and allow managers to take a more proactive approach to asset management. The SAP EAM suite, along with the features included in SAP Intelligent Asset Management, centralizes tools for everything from condition monitoring to collaboration and asset intelligence.
Programs Included in Intelligent Asset Management
The SAP Intelligent Asset Management suite is made up of five cloud-based tools:
- Asset Intelligence Network (SAP AIN)
- Asset Strategy and Performance Management (SAP ASPM)
- Predictive Maintenance and Service (SAP PdMS)
- Predictive Engineering Insights (SAP PEI)
- Asset Manager
Although the tools included in the SAP Intelligent Asset Management suite are designed to integrate with each other, all of these applications are separate and provide effective and valuable features within their respective niches. That said, the suite is at its best with each piece complementing the others, making SAP Intelligent Asset Management a centralized platform for improving the efficiency of your practices.
SAP Asset Intelligence Network (AIN)
The SAP Asset Intelligence Network is intended to facilitate the tracking and management of equipment based on real-time information. It makes collaborative asset management easy by operating in the cloud for both operators and manufacturers (which also leads to significantly lower IT costs and improved security). Operators have access to manuals and maintenance strategies from manufacturers, while manufacturers can see failure and usage data from operators.
Companies that work together can also opt to share equipment analytics, effectively enabling feedback for asset performance. The Asset Intelligence Network, like other pieces of the SAP Intelligent Asset Management suite, was designed for maximum collaboration and sharing of information without compromising privacy or security. Collaborative asset management increases efficiency throughout networks and gives all companies involved the information they need to make informed decisions.
With the Asset Intelligence Network, you’ll have access to all the tools you need to cut down on maintenance expenses while increasing safety and productivity. It can work closely with other SAP tools to connect your assets and substantially improve your operational uptime.
SAP Asset Strategy and Performance Management (ASPM)
The tools included in SAP Asset Strategy and Performance Management are intricately designed to analyze the efficiency of current maintenance patterns and look for places where uptime and product safety could be improved. By integrating collaborative data in a single location, the Asset Strategy and Performance management application helps decision makers predict future outcomes and be more confident in their asset management strategies.
Like other programs in the suite, SAP Asset Strategy and Performance Management is highly customizable and can be tailored to your business’s unique needs. If you have a limited maintenance budget, for example, it’s easy to input this information into the application and consider it when determining how to manage assets. You can also set performance for a given level of risk.
When starting out with the Asset Strategy and Performance Management tool, you’ll be able to transfer data to the centralized platform from an existing ERP system. Over time, you’ll be able to identify inefficiencies and weak points throughout your system and determine their causes.
SAP Predictive Maintenance and Service (PdMS)
When combined with the real-time data provided by devices connected to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), SAP Predictive Maintenance and Service can help you identify problems before they happen and proactively respond to them, leading to less downtime and a more cost-effective maintenance solution.
With powerful analytics along with tools such as data visualization, asset scoring, and statistical modeling, SAP Predictive Maintenance and Service provides all the information managers need to make effective decisions. Machine learning algorithms allow the application to efficiently process the massive quantities of data businesses produce every day.
Predictive maintenance is a paradigm shift from traditional approaches to asset management, and SAP Predictive Maintenance and Service makes that goal a reality for your business. Even relatively minor jumps in maintenance efficiency can lead to major savings when implemented throughout a business.
SAP Predictive Engineering Insights (PEI)
SAP Predictive Engineering Insights creates digital twin models of your physical assets and leverages insights from your data to predict asset performance using this digital model. This will help reduce the variability and uncertainty of asset performance throughout your business and facilitate a proactive approach to maintenance.
Digital twins are becoming a more and more effective option in a large cross-section of industries as they offer an innovative solution to predictive maintenance. They can also be used in collaboration with research and development teams as well as reliability engineers, streamlining the process of product design.
Sensors placed on specific parts can help monitor the forces acting on assets and determine their condition with no need for a physical analysis. 3D models make it easy to perform a digital inspection of your assets and use that insight to make informed maintenance decisions.
SAP Asset Manager
The SAP Asset Manager is a powerful mobile application designed to allow users to view and manage their assets from any device. It is available for smartphones and tablets running either iOS and Android, and can run either offline or online in the cloud.
With the Asset Manager application, decision makers have access to actionable information in the palm of their hand. The program was created to allow for integration with the other tools that make up the SAP Intelligent Asset Management suite, making it easy to execute predictive asset management from any location.
Asset Manager offers powerful mobile tools for asset management, including the ability to manage work orders, analyze past equipment failures, and examine timesheets. The Asset Manager application is a vital part of the SAP Intelligent Asset Management toolkit and vital for businesses that want to improve their asset management practices.
The Impact of SAP Intelligent Asset Management
If you’re familiar with other forms of Enterprise Asset Management, you can likely see the advantages SAP Intelligent Asset Management offers over conventional solutions. In addition to EAM features like IoT integration and data analytics, Intelligent Asset Management leverages digital twin models, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies to provide cutting-edge solutions for your business.
SAP provides an unparalleled suite of tools and features to provide real-time data and information that can guide decision-making at all scales. Making maintenance more affordable and predictable helps with everything from uptime to safety and financial planning.
The Internet of Things is an incredibly powerful resource, but it’s impossible to unlock the greatest possible benefits without a way to interpret such large amounts of data. SAP Intelligent Asset Management ensures that you get the most out of your IoT devices and leverage them to increase maintenance efficiency with all your assets. We spoke to Norm Poynter, an EAM thought-leader and owner of NLAS Possibilities Inc. (Canada) and Asset Management Advocates (USA), about the benefits of Intelligent Asset Management over Physical Asset Management:
Physical Asset Management practices, agnostic of software, are not known for innovation. Add software and there are examples where new technologies have increased reliability and lowered lifecycle costs. Intelligent Asset Management, if implemented, will provide Asset Owners the ability to remove many burdensome repetitive tasks from their maintenance and reliability worker.
The Internet of Things (IoT)
The IoT connects a variety of devices and assets to the internet and allows them to communicate real-time information across large, collaborative networks. With IoT technology, users can monitor the condition of all their assets from a centralized platform.
Traditional methods of asset management are no longer efficient in the contemporary economy, and the Internet of Things is helping businesses around the world automate their asset management practices. SAP Intelligent Asset Management users can be confident that they’re getting the most out of their assets.
Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
One of the key advantages of the SAP Intelligent Asset Management suite is its ability to utilize machine learning and artificial intelligence for predictive asset management and the continuous improvement of asset management practices.
The Internet of Things provides us with more information than ever on asset condition and previous performance, but the complexity and sheer volume of data makes it difficult for users to leverage this knowledge to make real-time decisions. Machine learning automates much of this process and allows applications to present users with more actionable information.
Machine learning capabilities also make these asset management strategies significantly more scalable and reduce the need for data experts. With machine learning, any end user can interpret and use the data onscreen.
Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) / Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) Strategies
The Intelligent Asset Management suite includes a number of important capabilities related to Reliability-Centered Maintenance and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, particularly in the Asset Strategy and Performance Management tool. These asset management processes are used throughout a variety of industries and can be even more effective with Intelligent Asset Management.
With Asset Strategy and Performance Management, you can upload asset data from your Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) system using templates based on ISO standards. ISO 55000 standards specify worldwide standard for asset management, providing a universal set of guidelines for the field and streamlining the transfer and sharing of information. This data can then be leveraged to make more informed decisions within either asset management paradigm.
For risk and criticality assessment practices, the Asset Strategy and Performance Management application makes it easy to calculate an asset’s risk score using a range of impact categories. Users can then analyze this risk score to determine an asset’s criticality.
Within a failure modes and effects analysis framework, Asset Strategy and Performance management users are able to identify failures before they happen in addition to potential effects and causes. The tool will then help determine the right course of action in order to reduce asset risk to the fullest extent possible.
Conclusion
Inefficient asset management processes can lead to massive unnecessary costs, and businesses that refuse to adapt are losing ground to more forward-thinking competition. Working with the latest advances in machine learning, IoT, and artificial intelligence technology will separate your company from the pack and streamline your asset management practices.
Using the tools provided in the SAP Intelligent Asset Management suite, your business will be able to predict equipment failures before they happen and take a proactive, yet predictive approach to maintenance. This can substantially improve uptime and safety while reducing maintenance costs across your asset network.
The complexity of modern asset management can be overwhelming to many businesses, and Gentackle offers unparalleled consulting services for companies who want to get the most out of the SAP network. We have more than ten years of experience working in SAP implementation.
Gentackle specializes in enterprise asset management and supply chain integration, and we have the tools you need to help your business use the SAP Intelligent Asset Management suite to its fullest potential. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you’re looking for top-tier consulting services that can take your asset management practices to the next level.