Industrial electronic assets form the backbone of modern manufacturing, automation, and various industrial processes. Despite their critical importance, many organisations face challenges related to unused or underutilised assets and a lack of redundancy, leading to inefficiencies, financial losses, and operational risks.
This article delves into these challenges, including the concepts of criticality, inventory management, and obsolescence, while offering solutions that businesses can adopt to optimise their operations.
Designed obsolescence vs obsolescence from a maintenance perspective
Obsolescence is an inevitable aspect of industrial operations, but it can be viewed through two distinct lenses: designed obsolescence and obsolescence from a maintenance manager’s perspective.
- Designed obsolescence:
- This refers to the deliberate design of products with a limited useful lifespan, encouraging consumers to replace them sooner. Manufacturers may choose this strategy to drive sales of newer models with improved features, often resulting in older equipment becoming obsolete even if it is still functional.
- For example, industrial HMIs or PLCs may no longer receive firmware updates or spare parts, forcing organisations to upgrade to newer systems.
- Obsolescence from a maintenance manager’s perspective:
- Maintenance managers often view obsolescence in terms of functionality and criticality. From their perspective, an asset becomes obsolete when:
- It no longer aligns with operational requirements.
- Spare parts or technical support are unavailable.
- The risks of failure outweigh the cost of maintaining or replacing it.
- Unlike designed obsolescence, maintenance-driven obsolescence considers how unused or underutilised assets can still serve a purpose if properly managed, refurbished, or redeployed.
- Maintenance managers often view obsolescence in terms of functionality and criticality. From their perspective, an asset becomes obsolete when:
Understanding these perspectives is crucial to making informed decisions about asset management and mitigating the risks associated with obsolescence.
The problem of unused or underutilised Industrial Electronic Assets
What are Industrial Electronic Assets?
Industrial electronic assets include programmable logic controllers (PLCs), variable speed drives (VSD/VFD), industrial sensors, drives, human-machine interfaces (HMIs), SCADA systems, and other automation technologies. These assets are vital to ensuring the smooth operation of industrial processes.
Why do assets go unused or underutilised?
Despite their importance, many industrial electronic assets remain idle or underused due to several factors:
- Poor asset management:
- A lack of proper inventory tracking systems can result in misplaced or forgotten assets.
- Inadequate labelling and documentation also contribute to poor visibility of assets.
- Over-purchasing of equipment:
- Organisations often stockpile spare assets to prepare for potential failures, but without a clear strategy, these assets can remain unused.
- Technological and functional obsolescence:
- The rapid pace of technological innovation often renders older equipment underutilised, even if it is still functional.
- From a functional standpoint, equipment may no longer meet the criticality needs of evolving operations.
- Mismatch between asset capabilities and operational needs:
- Over-specification of assets can lead to their underutilisation when their capabilities exceed the requirements of the process.
- Lack of skilled personnel:
- Without the technical expertise to deploy or maintain assets, organisations may leave them idle.
- Changing business priorities:
- Shifts in business focus can leave previously critical equipment unused.
Criticality and inventory levels
- Criticality refers to the importance of an asset to operations. Businesses often fail to classify assets based on their criticality, leading to either overstocking or understocking of spares.
- High-criticality assets require redundancy or reserves to minimise risks.
- Low-criticality assets may be overstocked unnecessarily, contributing to underutilisation.
- Balancing inventory levels is essential to ensure that critical spare assets are available without accumulating excessive, unused inventory.
The risks of having no redundancy
What is redundancy in industrial electronics?
Redundancy refers to having backup systems or components to ensure continuous operation in case of failure. In industrial settings, redundancy is crucial to maintaining uptime and minimising disruptions.
Why is redundancy important for critical assets?
- High-criticality assets, such as PLCs or VSDVFDs, are essential to operations. Their failure can lead to production downtime, safety risks, and emergency repair costs.
- Without redundancy, organisations become vulnerable to unplanned failures, which may negatively impact overall efficiency, safety, and profitability.
Strategies to address these challenges
Optimising asset utilisation
- Conduct regular audits:
- Schedule periodic audits to identify unused or underutilised equipment and assess its criticality. This ensures that high-criticality assets are prioritised for redundancy or redeployment.
- Implement asset management software:
- Use digital tools to track inventory levels, monitor asset performance, and ensure effective deployment of spare assets.
- Repair, redeploy, or sell idle assets:
- Idle equipment can often be repaired or refurbished for a fraction of the cost of new replacements. Redeploy assets where needed or sell surplus equipment to recover costs.
- Refine spare inventory levels:
- Avoid overstocking by aligning spare asset inventory with criticality. High-criticality spares should always be available, while low-criticality items can be managed more flexibly.
- Invest in training:
- Equip personnel with the skills necessary to maximise the use of all assets, ensuring that they remain functional and aligned with operational needs.
Enhancing redundancy
- Adopt a risk-based approach:
- Prioritise redundancy for high-criticality systems that pose the greatest risks to operations in the event of failure.
- Implement predictive maintenance:
- Use IoT sensors and data analytics to anticipate failures, enabling proactive maintenance and reducing downtime risks.
- Collaborate with vendors:
- Work closely with OEMs or repair specialist (Rom Control) to duplicate or refurbish critical assets that are no longer supported by the manufacturer.
- Streamline inventory for critical spares:
- Maintain a ready stock of refurbished spares for high-criticality assets, ensuring immediate availability in emergencies.
Conclusion
Unused or underutilised industrial electronic assets and a lack of redundancy pose significant challenges to industrial operations. However, these issues can be overcome through effective asset management practices, regular audits, and a focus on criticality. By prioritising redundancy for high-criticality systems and optimising spare inventory levels, businesses can mitigate risks, reduce inefficiencies, and improve operational resilience.
Industrial operations thrive on reliability and sustainability. Addressing these challenges head-on is not just about minimising risks—it’s an opportunity to build a stronger, more competitive future.
About Rom-Control
Rom-Control has been servicing industrial electronic assets since 2007 and about to mark our 10,000thcustomer asset repair. Ask us about:
- Ad hoc electronic asset repair and refurbishment
- Contracted maintenance agreements for industrial electronic assets
- Critical Asset Duplication – Augmenting existing systems with repaired and refurbished assets
- Re-manufacturing of obsolete industrial electronic assets
- Asset Auditing and obsolescence mitigation strategies
Whether dealing with VSDs, PLCs, HMIs, inverters, or UPS systems, Rom-Control offers cost-effective solutions to repair, refurbish, or duplicate critical assets, providing a local 2-year warranty for peace of mind.
Rom Control is trusted to repair and refurbish industrial electronic assets across mining, oil and gas, ports & marine, construction, manufacturing, smelting, packaging, food & beverage, renewable & fossil energy and more.
Rom Control
2 Axis Crescent, Dandenong South, Victoria, 3175
+613 9543 4544
