From reactive to proactive maintenance

Manager Global Services Milan Tijm on FUSE Maintain and the future of service and maintenance

Maintenance, spare parts and day-to-day questions are all part of operating a production line. With FUSE Maintain, Selmers is bringing more and more of this information together in one place, giving customers greater insight into their assets, parts and maintenance.

For Milan Tijm, Manager Global Services, this is part of a broader development. Traditionally, service is often reactive: a customer needs something and gets in touch. With FUSE Maintain, Selmers wants to gradually change that. Milan: “From reactive to more proactive and eventually perhaps even predictive.”

FUSE Maintain is part of Selmers’ broader digital FUSE platform and consists of four components: Asset Manager, Part Manager, Maintenance Manager and Service Board. Asset Manager and Part Manager are currently being piloted with two customers. Maintenance Manager and Service Board are still under development.

It all starts with insight

The first step is to have a clear overview of the installation. In the Asset Manager,  a plant is structured step by step: from a complete asset, such as an External Coating Area, to the individual equipment’s, modules and ultimately the components that make up those assets.

“You can basically keep going one level deeper,” Milan explains. “You start with the complete plant, underneath that you might see the Areas then the Equipment’s, then the Modules, Inbound Conveyor, for example, and from there you can go down to the components of that asset”

From searching to finding

That same structure also forms the basis of Part Manager. Until now, spare parts have been managed using a catalogue listing the various parts, including information such as part numbers and descriptions. In the Part Manager, customers can see their assets and look at an exploded view of each machine. The components shown in the drawing correspond to a table containing information such as the part number, quantity and description.

This makes it easier to identify exactly which part is needed. Milan also knows the alternative from everyday practice. “Someone sees that a bearing is broken, takes a picture and says: this is the one we need. And then our guys need to ask: where exactly are you, what am I actually looking at? If you’re unlucky, there are three different bearings in that machine.”

With the Part Manager, customers can find the relevant part, select it and add it to a quote request. The request can then be generated as a PDF, which the customer emails to their Selmers account manager. Keeping that step personal is a deliberate choice. “If it automatically comes in through a FUSE Maintain email address, you lose that conversation with the customer,” Milan says.

A request does not necessarily mean that Selmers simply supplies exactly what is listed. Milan gives the example of a customer requesting one nozzle when there are several in the machine. The account manager can look at what is actually needed and discuss whether it would make sense to replace more than one. In this way, FUSE makes finding and requesting parts easier, while allowing the account manager to advise the customer based on what is required.

Knowing what’s coming

With the Maintenance Manager, Selmers wants to add another layer: not only providing insight into the plant and components of installation, but also into the maintenance they require.

Suppose someone on the shop floor notices during an inspection that a component is worn. This can be recorded, after which the person responsible for maintenance can decide what needs to happen next: is a replacement part required, or should a work order be created?

This brings information from the shop floor together with maintenance planning. Milan: “You combine what is happening in real time on the shop floor with the planning and budget at the level where the decisions are made.” This provides a clearer picture of what is happening within an installation and what maintenance is coming up.

Information where it belongs

The fourth component of FUSE Maintain is the Service Board. Milan compares the concept to a Facebook feed: users with access can post messages and photos and respond to each other. In practice, this type of information is often shared in WhatsApp groups. “Our own guys do it too. On site, you often just have group chats. That makes sense. But something you posted three weeks ago is already way up in the chat. You know how WhatsApp works,” Milan says.

Service Board is designed to link that information to the relevant asset. This makes it possible to see the communication history for each machine. Events and work orders relating to an asset can also be accessed from the same place.

Keeping service personalized

FUSE Maintain makes it easier for customers to access information, manage maintenance and find the right parts. But for Milan, digitalisation does not replace personal service. “Customers need to know they can rely on us. That we know the machines, give honest advice and work together to make sure their installations keep doing what they were built to do.”