IBM and its business partners deliver intelligent equipment maintenance to automotive companies with IBM Maximo.

IBM® recently announced a collaboration with business partner Beijing Shuto Technology Co., Ltd. (Shuto Technology) to help joint venture original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in China obtain information in an accurate and cost-effective manner. This is for field technicians. This makes our customers’ equipment repair work more efficient and improves the reliability of their equipment.

Founded in 2006, Shuto Technology is China’s leading asset management solutions provider focused on helping industry-leading enterprises build asset operation and management platforms and strengthen their core competitiveness through digitalization. With its professional capabilities and rich accumulation in the asset management field, Shuto provides full-stack asset management (EAM) services to hundreds of industry-leading companies. Shuto also combines IBM Maximo® best practices with international standards (e.g. ISO55000), various business, process and data standards, management strategies and KPI systems covering the asset lifecycle to best practice asset management (EAM) across a variety of industries. forms.

In today’s automotive industry, which is experiencing rapid growth and fierce market competition,Improve equipment reliability, reduce maintenance costs and improve production quality It has become a top priority. However, for large automotive companies, traditional equipment management and maintenance methods face many challenges, including:

• Technical difficulties in maintenance: As automotive technology and processes continue to change, maintenance technology is also continuously being upgraded. Maintenance workers must spend a lot of energy checking equipment data to understand and learn new technologies, which not only reduces maintenance efficiency but also reduces employee satisfaction and loyalty.

• Equipment maintenance costs are high: Due to the large number of automotive parts, maintenance personnel must be familiar with more comprehensive failure analysis and diagnosis capabilities, which requires a large investment in human, material and financial resources. This makes it more difficult to transfer existing skills in activating talent.

• unstable maintenance quality: Traditional maintenance approaches rely on personal experience and competency of maintenance workers. Due to lack of professional technical guidance and unstable maintenance quality, frequent breakdowns occur, making it difficult to investigate the root cause. The stability and lifespan of the equipment are reduced, making it prone to production quality problems such as low yield.

To meet these challenges, China’s major joint venture automotive companies need a holistic approach to: Achieve quick access to equipment knowledge, intelligent fault diagnosis and expert online guidance, making the maintenance process standardized, intelligent and transparent. Likewise, the venture is exploring ways to reduce costs and increase efficiency while increasing user satisfaction and enhancing the comprehensive benefits of enterprise asset management.

Based on the AI-based capabilities of IBM Maximo Application Suite (MAS), Shuto Technology joins hands with IBM Client Success Team and IBM China Development Lab to support intelligent knowledge mapping for maintenance tasks, AI intelligent maintenance diagnostics, and AR remote maintenance. Provides: Turned this automotive company into an AI-powered EAM assistant.

With the introduction of these functions, maintenance personnel can receive all-round support and guidance, allowing them to quickly and accurately find problems and provide solutions, as well as provide immediate support from remote experts through AR augmented reality technology, enabling maintenance personnel to digitally You can improve your work. Average mean time to repair (MTTR) across -man capabilities 25% Dramatically reduce enterprise equipment operating and maintenance costs while improving maintenance efficiency.

Specifically, the Intelligent Maintenance Assistant (Maximo Assist) in the IBM Maximo Application Suite can provide businesses with the following capabilities:

• Intelligent Maintenance Knowledge Graph: The intelligent maintenance knowledge graph function utilizes AI technology by importing equipment documents, and uses the knowledge extraction function to build an expert search knowledge graph, providing a fast and accurate knowledge base, and enabling field staff to provide independent solutions to technical problems. We support you in providing this. , provides quick access to equipment and maintenance information.

• AI intelligent maintenance diagnosis: AI Intelligent Maintenance and Diagnosis uses AI technology and intelligent diagnosis models to guide technicians to diagnose faults in the form of questions and answers. Likewise, AI diagnostic model analysis provides the probability of failure and establishes a quick and accurate maintenance plan. At the same time, the diagnostic process enhances the accuracy of model analysis through AI’s powerful self-learning ability and is continuously improved through use and feedback.

• AR remote maintenance support: AR remote maintenance support uses AR augmented reality technology to implement real-time visual sharing and interaction between remote equipment experts and field personnel to provide visual maintenance guidance and technical support while establishing a platform for transferring corporate knowledge through experts. . We build a database and go through the ‘last mile’ of experts to the production site.

Overcome bottlenecks in maintenance efficiency and strengthen existing knowledge systems.

By deploying IBM Maximo Application Suite Intelligent Maintenance Assistant (Maximo Assist), automotive companies have achieved the following benefits:

• Improved information acquisition efficiency: The implementation of the IBM Maximo Application Suite successfully optimized the level of maintenance management at this large automotive company. This has changed the traditional approach to field maintenance, where employees would rush to the data room to look through information. Adopting intelligent positioning of maintenance data across field coverage helps increase transparency, standardize maintenance management, and automate maintenance practices. This top-down approach to standardizing maintenance data and documents provides valuable intangible assets that lay a solid foundation for enterprise knowledge and learning and development (L&D).
• Reduce repair time: The IBM Maximo Application Suite platform can accurately track problems, find the root cause, and provide solutions through a problem response mode called PDCA by building a defect diagnosis model. Additionally, Maximo Assist can navigate precisely to the documentation function corresponding to the defect and repair solution, and allows users to provide feedback and evaluation of the repair solution. Likewise, it can provide best practice repair methods based on historical data and sort the degree of match. In addition to increasing maintenance efficiency and reducing mean time to repair (MTTR), it also provides maintenance personnel with more convenient and accurate solutions to difficult problem solving.
• Strengthening existing IT systems and strengthening capabilities: IBM Maximo Application Suite can seamlessly integrate with customers’ existing work order systems, asset management systems, human resource management (expert databases) and other systems to automatically create maintenance knowledge graphs. At the same time, on-the-fly training of AI models combines maintenance knowledge with work orders and asset business, ensuring equipment maintenance information is accurately, timely and completely reflected in the standard operations of the company’s own asset management platform. Comprehensive maintenance knowledge base. This integrated solution ensures data integration and information sharing within the company and improves data connectivity between systems, improving the efficiency and quality of maintenance operations.
• Building a Four-Pool knowledge system: Considering the inefficient retention of skills and experience, the customer and Shuto Technology created an enabling system to support maintenance skills improvement and personnel training, also known as the “Four Knowledge Pools”.
  • Equipment knowledge pool for knowledge accumulation and inquiry;
  • Equip course pool of learning resources to eliminate skill weaknesses.
  • A talent pool that can quantitatively evaluate the knowledge and technical proficiency of personnel equipped with gamification capabilities
  • A pool of experts that brings together experts from all relevant disciplines to support maintenance guidance for field operators.

Through the creation of “four pools” centered on the “knowledge accumulation – knowledge sharing – skill evaluation – skill inheritance” training model, customers can improve equipment management and staff capabilities, and provide a merit-based motivation mechanism of performance bonuses. Promotion, recognition, and the ‘four major pools’ are the core.

IBM works with business partners to build an intelligent and efficient equipment management ecosystem.

After adopting IBM Maximo Assist, the customer’s increased efficiency in equipment maintenance began to pay off, reducing average repair time from 13 minutes to 9 minutes. In the next phase, Shuto Technology and IBM will continue to deepen and expand the application of the intelligent maintenance assistant and integrate with more information systems of customers (e.g. production systems, IoT platforms, etc.) to optimize data sharing and business synergies. .

At the same time, the two companies will help customers expand the use of Maximo Assist, build an integrated equipment knowledge sharing and management platform, create a pool of experts at the group level, and establish cross-region and plant-to-plant remote maintenance. This is an information and service center.

Zhu Shufeng, General Manager of Shuto Technology, said: “Intelligent digital transformation is the future of the enterprise, and IBM Maximo is the ideal solution to achieve this goal. The successful implementation of this project not only reflects Shuto Technology’s leading position in enterprise asset management, but also highlights our deep understanding and practice of combining innovation and equipment maintenance. Shuto Technology will maintain a close partnership with IBM, accelerate R&D efforts and deployments, and continue to innovate to build a more intelligent and efficient equipment management ecosystem that delivers sustainable growth and added value to our customers.”

Learn more about the IBM Maximo application suite