Top 8 ways 3D Digital Imaging technology transforms asset lifecycle management into Remote Asset Lifecycle Management.
Managing a company’s hard assets is a complex and critical function that requires precision, transparency, and management to leverage those assets to full effect properly. The process of managing assets sounds more straightforward than it is because so many things change in an organization. On any day, one might encounter significant issues like a retail reconfiguration that went off the rails to an electrical closet that is not operating correctly. Typically, companies would move spreadsheets around and hope nothing gets missed. Those mishaps create a lot of stress and are a significant drain on overall productivity.
This is where Remote Asset Lifecycle Management should be leveraged to organize, operationalize and optimize the value of assets as they go through their natural life cycle.
Let’s start at the beginning so the value of Remote Asset Lifecycle Management can be realized and deployed.
WHY IS ASSET LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT SO IMPORTANT?
Employees cannot deliver a company’s products or services without the right resources available at the right time to get the job done. Without asset management practices, the company’s ability to optimize value delivery would be highly compromised. The business value of asset management boils down to lowering the lifetime cost of assets affected by its physical location, employee usage, and general maintenance practices. Well-managed asset lifecycle management reduces risk and optimizes asset performance.
SO WHAT IS REMOTE ASSET LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT?
Remote asset lifecycle management takes asset management to a new level by introducing the ability to create asset data and accurately document the state of any hard asset enabled by 3D imaging. This technology can provide a data-based digital footprint so organizations can study and observe the asset performances in different stages. Once digital asset data has been captured, it eliminates the need to send actual teams to assess the state of assets. With Remote Asset Lifecycle Management, organizations can remotely plan how each asset can deliver the greatest return on investment while reducing overall total costs of ownership through proactive maintenance.
THE KEY STAGES OF REMOTE ASSET LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT.
Asset management is the understanding of an asset’s lifecycle from the moment it is purchased to the moment it needs to be retired or disposed of. There are financial implications too that are a function of the asset’s operating status, asset depreciation adjustments, and repair/ upgrades costs.
In summary, organizations need to master the art and science of Remote Asset Lifecycle Management. Let’s dig into the key stages in an asset’s lifecycle.
Stage 1: Asset audit with digital data
Assets are in a constant state of flux in an organization. Some are being introduced while others are being retired. Managers need to know what assets an organization has, where they are, and their condition.
The key to this stage is digital data that can create a baseline database of all assets in a moment. 3D imaging is indispensable to conduct asset audits that can be updated regularly, fast, and cost-effectively.
It is essential to get organizational buy-in to the overall asset management process at this phase as it involves a cross-organization audit. The more people want to implement a Remote Asset Lifecycle Management process, the more likely it will get correctly utilized. With early buy-in, employees can proactively help keep the data in the audit correct by suggesting when new 3D scans are needed if the equipment is changing or malfunctioning. Since Remote Assets Management is beneficial for an entire organization, careful consideration must be given to how teams are updated and involved in this function.
Stage 2: New asset procurement
Once a thorough digital database of all existing assets has been captured, it becomes necessary to add new assets. These assets must be integrated within the current digital data repository to ensure that the organization has a complete snapshot of all its assets.
Assets can encompass retail installations, restaurant kitchen equipment, dining spaces, and even the “as is” state of construction projects.
Once the asset is purchased, it would then be digitally scanned for inclusion in the company’s overall asset management process. With consistent 3D data inputs, managers can plan maintenance, schedule upgrades, and effect repairs that are cost-effective.
Stage 3: Organizational Remote Asset Lifecycle Management Deployment
This phase occupies the bulk of Remote Asset Lifecycle Management activity, so it is important that during this phase, the organization is diligent about keeping the asset’s digital data up-to-date. The deployment stage is where all the data and audits work together to ensure that assets are fully used and able to support the company to deliver goods and services.
For each organization, the specifics of this phase vary, but the broad contours include:
- regular “as is” asset checks to ensure all assets are operating at total capacity
- identification of potential issues or breakdowns
- remediation plan of assets at risk to include engineering issues, installation challenges, age, and design friction points
- updated digital update with digital scanning data to update the database
- asset tracking and depreciation calculations
- integration of assets to complete tasks such as construction projects or retail installation
Breaking down the Remote Asset Lifecycle Management deployment plan into meaningful milestones and manageable steps can better result in quick time-to-value and build confidence in the organization’s long-term vision.
Stage 4: Asset Maintenance
Continuous use will put a lot of wear and tear on assets. Regular maintenance can proactively extend the lifecycle of many types of assets. It also helps increase the productive life of aging assets. As modifications and upgrades are done to make the asset more in sync with the times, it becomes more critical to operationalize this function.
During this phase, key activities that are most common are:
- Maintenance of assets using digital scanning data
- Notification of scheduled maintenance
- License Agreements linked to the asset
- Lifecycle roadmap of an asset to determine when it needs to be retired and replaced with a new asset
Stage 5: Retirement and Disposal
Assets have a finite period of use. Once an asset reaches the end of an asset’s useful productive life, it must be disposed of. When assets need to be retired, that process is often accompanied by replacing or upgrading to another asset.
Assets often operate in specific departments—however, the retirement of an asset cascade to the whole organization. In the past, departments controlled assets within their domain with no line of sight into asset independencies. Now, an organization’s asset management practice can encompass cross-department interdependencies to ensure employees’ expectations about available resources can be met when needed. This modern approach requires a company-wide adoption of Remote Asset Lifecycle Management systems and practices to enable the business’ operating success best.
REMOTE ASSET LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT IN THE REAL WORLD.
As Remote Asset Lifecycle Management becomes more prominent in managing assets, the applications in the real world continue to expand. Here are just three examples of these real-world applications.
Equipment Tracking
The price an organization pays for damaged, lost, and unused equipment quickly adds up, whether in manufacturing, construction, facility management, or a retail environment. Without robust tracking practices, waste increases because employees don’t know where equipment is or its condition.
With Remote Asset Lifecycle Management, data is available to manage equipment across hundreds of internal touchpoints, allowing organizations to track equipment system-wide, saving time and eliminating any resource-dependent errors.
Facilities Management
Managing large quantities of assets across a complex facility is time-consuming and apt to result in productivity lapses unless carefully managed. Remote Asset Lifecycle Management can streamline the process and allow an organization to manage all assets within a structured data-centric program. It eliminates the manual asset tracking process and increases accuracy and accountability while ensuring all assets are in prime operating condition.
Mandate Compliance
This function is often a struggle because it can be an afterthought for many organizations dealing with production issues or asset management issues. Yet this area is critical as an entire company could be put on hold if it was under-optimized. Remote Asset Lifecycle Management allows managers to control all those assets requiring state and federal monitoring and accountability.
THE BENEFITS OF REMOTE ASSET LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT
This new practice of Remote Asset Lifecycle Management is a holistic merging of technology, data, and human oversight that is an evolution of Asset Lifecycle Management. It starts with data that powers the entire practice to enable anyone, anywhere, to clearly understand the health of the organization’s asset and downstream capabilities.
With that in mind, here are the key benefits of deploying this next generation of asset management processes.
Identify Quality Issues Fast
Errors and non-conformance issues that are not detected cause unnecessary waste, rework, and unhappy customers. When excellence matters, the availability to activate the right assets at the right time is fundamental to success.
Eliminate Guesswork in Asset Productivity
Struggles with alignment and asset operations can slow down production processes. When speed counts, precision asset management makes all the difference.
Bringing Customer Satisfaction to Life
The most innovative ideas lose their appeal if the products can’t be delivered. Digital data from 3D scanning provides the ability to ensure that the company can deliver what it promises, delighting customers in the process.
Cost reduction
By evolving to a Remote Asset Lifecycle practice, you reduce costs in a few ways; better insight into the current state of assets; no need for costly manual auditing; data is available to everyone within the organization, eliminating the need for expensive travel.
Fast problem solving
Employees will quickly spot issues and create remediation plans without wasting time trying to figure out precisely the actual situation or, worse, traveling to the location.
Accelerate Time to Market
A key advantage is the ability to speed up product realization because of the ease of collaboration across departments and partners pinpointing available assets.
Easy implementation
When implementing Remote Asset Lifecycle Management practices, it is critical that teams can implement the program. It is enabled by mature technologies that are market-proven, such as digital data systems and 3D scanning.
Centralized Visibility
Knowing where assets are is not as simple as it sounds. These best practices to track assets company-wide allows everyone to sing off the same song sheet.
Streamlined audits
Reduce the cost of fixed asset audits time by up to 80%* with 3D scanning because it involves just a few people able to gather needed data efficiently. It also reduces inevitable errors associated with manual spreadsheets.
THE CRITICAL ROLE OF 3D IMAGERY IN A HOLISTIC REMOTE ASSET LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
The central underpinnings of Remote Asset Lifecycle Management rest firmly on a data foundation based on 3D scanning data that creates a permanent record of assets and the environment they operate in. Creating this data cloud of assets is a crucial technology service of 3D scanning companies like IFTI PROvision. Their nationwide network of specialists can quickly and economically develop the baseline audit of all assets with an ability to update the data as conditions demand easily.
Understanding what 3D scanning can do helps organizations incorporate it into the broader Remote Asset Lifecycle Management goal for the company. 3D (three-dimensional) scanning takes hundreds of pictures that are stitched together digitally by software into a “walkable” tour through a building or construction site or an office complex or a specific asset – all remotely. It allows users to manipulate the data to “move” around in the space virtually to evaluate assets, assess their condition, and get precise measurements. This digital mirror is a digital snapshot in time that can be engaged with ease and quickly referenced in future uses. Importantly, this approach eliminates the need for individuals to spend time and money traveling to locations, thus allowing for the “remote” capability of Remote Asset Lifecycle Management.
3D scanning has a wide variety of applications in many industries.
- Construction companies can audit the project, reconfigure floorplans and assess the electrical/ mechanical footprint of a location before plans are drawn up. Updates on the project as it commences provide a data-based view of progress.
- Retail firms can audit assets from stores and shelving to back-office operations.
- Convenience store chains can have an accurate view of the many outlets in their networks, allowing them to plan upgrades and rehabs.
- Senior living facilities can develop a robust view of the condition of assets on the property, thus ensuring continuous service to clients.
- Fast food retail chains can ensure quality customer experiences by proactively maintaining food preparation equipment through routine asset scans.
- Real estate firms can use 3D to create a 3D digital mirror of their locations to understand how the facility is performing over time as it becomes fully occupied.
- Corporate campuses can audit and update the broad set of on-site assets, from equipment to buildings’ physical footprint, to ensure frictionless and efficient operations.
- Architectural design firms can monitor the progress of a project at critical junctures without traveling to the construction site.
- Oil and gas companies can power their engineers with a complete view of assets like pipes or platforms via digital data from 3D scanning.
- Cross-industry safety and equipment reliability-driven audits that assess the degradation of assets can be easily deployed to ensure compliance.
- Business continuity needs can be executed when the facilities or locations are handed off to new management.
- All companies can use real-time measurement capabilities on the 3D scans.
- All companies will benefit from the seamless integration with PROCORE, and the ability to add digital tags in walk-thru to layer in documentation and explainer videos.
Bringing Virtual Information to Business Life
Fundamentally, 3D scanning allows remote managers to determine the current state of assets and the condition of assets over time with updated scans. With this powerful data, managers have access to this critical data as the basis for developing plans and ensuring the project is completed on time and within budget.
The ability to access information in a virtual setting allows for a new level of performance to evaluate assets and create accurate plans. Once done and updated, scans can be shared with all the other team members, making it easily accessible information. Remote Asset Lifecycle Management extracts the total value of assets when hardware, facilities, and equipment are linked through data.
Remote Asset Lifecycle Management has been elevated into a trend whose time has come by ensuring asset management best practices.
(*Source: Digital Journal – 3D and Virtual Analytics Market: 2021)
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