ADVICE & OPINION
OPINION
HEALTH CHECKS
The world of the Internet of Things (IoT)
is a fast-paced one. With so many new
innovations and possibilities in sensor
technologies, IoT-connected devices, and the
digital tools to manage it all, the potential
value that can be added keeps increasing,
particularly as the cost of sensors continues to
fall drastically.
Asset management is one area in which IoT
excels. You can get constant vision over, and
insight into, your equipment. When done right,
this means each asset, the scheduled and reactive
maintenance it goes through, and the model, brand
or type of asset chosen, provides maximum value
for your operations.
Within the healthcare market, the boost to
operational e iciency can be huge The global IoT
in healthcare market was valued at $61 billion in
2019, rising to $260 billion in 2027. The new National
Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness recognises the
role digitisation has in measuring performance:
“Electronic audit systems are useful for highlighting
trends and hot spots, as well as greater transparency
and more e ective sharing of data.”
But IoT is very much a partnership - it has to play
well with your so ware architecture, whether that’s
a CAFM, a works management tool, an analytics
platform or a combination of all three. IoT needs
help to give you actionable information and
facilitate insight.
The trap people are falling into is one of
10 JUNE 2022
compatibility. As this technology becomes more
diverse, so does the risk that it won’t be compatible
with your data aggregation so ware or hardware.
Not all sensors are created equal, and neither are
all platforms for managing data. This is why being
hardware-agnostic is so important.
You need to have easy access to all this data in
one place, both for your own sanity and to drive
real improvements.
MORE ACCURATE PROACTIVE MAINTENANCE
IoT sensors can give you advanced warnings for
equipment that isn’t functioning at 100 per cent.
For example, if a sensor notices an upwards tick in
the power consumption of an air conditioning unit,
you know that a part is likely to be faulty and you
can send an engineer to remediate the problem
before it breaks completely.
On the other hand, if another sensor is telling you
that it is unusually warm outside; then it’s possible
the air conditioning unit is simply working harder.
This demonstrates why context is important – you
need a full picture to make accurate judgements
and deploy your engineers only when they are
really needed.
LESS WASTED SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE
With all the data flowing into your CAFM or works
management platform, you can start to enhance
your Planned Predictive Maintenance (PPM) regime.
Combining sensor data with other information
about an asset will better inform you on the
lifespan of parts and give you immediate alerts on
many faults.
For example, if you fix an issue with an air
conditioning unit three months before its sixmonth
PPM check, you should be able to update
your database and move the scheduled check
further in advance to reflect the recent fix. In short,
proactively updating your schedules will allow you
to work flexibly and e iciently.
Updating your information proactively, whether
through a field application or a er the fact, will
help to create real-time PPM schedules that are
more e icient – saving the engineer doing an
unnecessary check.
REAL-TIME ASSET LISTS
One of the more time-consuming aspects of asset
management is asset surveys. These are o en
completed at great cost, eating up time and budget,
whenever someone realises that the last list must
be out of date.
With IoT, tags, and a smart platform, any new
piece of equipment can be tagged and added to the
roster, or decommissioned and removed from it –
saving time and therefore money spent manually
adding items.
O en, asset surveys take so long that by the
time the asset list is finished, it will already be out
of date. But by proactively adding every asset to
your database, and attaching unique QR codes and
sensor data, you will always have an up-to-date list
that costs you no money to pull out anytime you
need it.
ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT
Your so ware platform of choice may well have
the ability to use machine learning to analyse
information you manually input – and draw out
cost savings. For example, if you have 10 premium
air conditioning units, and 30 of another cheaper
brand – you may soon learn that you are actually
losing money overall because you are having to
repair the cheaper brand more frequently.
In this case, even without active sensor
technology, your so ware platform can drive
cost savings. This is just one example of the many
benefits of fully digitising your asset management.
THE VALUE IN AGNOSTIC TECHNOLOGY
The benefits of going digital and investing in IoT are
transformative for asset management. By bringing
sensor data into your database, CAFM and works
management platform, you can create flexible PPM
routines, maximise e iciency and save money. You
will learn more about how your assets are used and
their condition over time.
But it’s worth remembering that none of
this is possible without a flexible approach to
implementation, that the core element of a
successful rollout will be how well you integrate IoT
into your existing or new so ware hierarchy.
Dan Teare, Healthcare Sector Director at mpro5 on the
benefi ts of taking a fl exible approach when integrating IoT,
smart platforms, and real-time data into asset management