Mobile Maintenance Archives - Sigga Technologies

Sigga Introduces Advanced GPS Functionality for SAP PM Users in its Empower EAM Platform

Posted on June 4, 2024June 24, 2024 by sigga

Sigga, a leading provider of Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solutions¹, is proud to announce the latest enhancements to its Empower EAM platform, including integrated GPS functionality. This new feature elevates asset management for industrial companies by enabling users to efficiently organize and execute work orders based on geographic proximity. Other key elements in the latest upgrade continue to advance Empower EAM as the leading and most trusted connected worker solution in the SAP ecosystem.

With the integration of GPS capabilities, Empower EAM users can now benefit from several powerful features:
• Geographic Work Order Sorting: Users can sort work orders by the distance between workers and assets, enhancing efficiency and responsiveness.

• Asset and Equipment Filtering: The platform allows users to sort and filter assets and equipment by location, providing a clear view of what’s in a geographic range.

• Map Display and Navigation: Work orders can now be displayed on a map, with built-in directions to guide workers to their destinations seamlessly.

• Position and Duration Recording: Users can record their position and time duration at any given location, ensuring accurate tracking and reporting.

• More Customizable Interface: The platform includes the ability to easily customize button sizes, enhancing user experience and flexibility.

Egberto Leal, Sigga’s R&D Director, emphasized the innovative nature of Empower EAM’s new features. “Sigga’s platform enables organizations to add GPS functionality to any Empower module without the need for additional customizations or code. Users can see on a map where the nearest work orders are, track their time at the location, and it automatically syncs back to SAP. These updates are readily available in the latest version of Empower,” Leal stated.

Sigga’s introduction of GPS functionality within the Empower EAM platform represents a significant advancement in enterprise asset management. By leveraging these new features, organizations can enhance their efficiency, accuracy, and overall asset management strategies.

Sigga has a longstanding reputation for delivering robust EAM solutions that optimize maintenance operations and improve asset performance. The addition of GPS functionality to the Empower EAM platform reflects Sigga’s commitment to innovation and continuous improvement, ensuring that clients have access to cutting-edge tools that drive operational excellence.

Discover how Sigga’s innovative solutions can transform your asset management approach.

About Sigga:
With 20+ years of experience, Sigga Technologies is a market leader in transforming maintenance operations at asset-intensive companies. Sigga applications are flexible, modern, and digitally connected to accelerate digital transformation. Its mobile maintenance and planning & scheduling tools help companies remove maintenance inefficiencies, optimize maintenance planning and scheduling, and quickly adapt to changing business needs over time and across locations.

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SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see https://www.sap.com/copyright for additional trademark information and notices. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.

Empower™ 3.0 from Sigga Technologies Achieves SAP® Certified Integration with RISE with SAP S/4HANA® Cloud

Posted on March 25, 2024 by Carlos Paranhos

Houston, Texas – March 25, 2024 – Sigga Technologies, a global Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software provider, announced today that its mobile maintenance application, Sigga EAM Empower™ 3.0, has achieved SAP® certification as integrated with RISE with SAP S/4HANA® Cloud.

“We are thrilled to receive this certification for Empower™ 3.0. It’s a culmination of the depth in our technology, proven SAP expertise, and commitment to our customers in asset-intensive industries like Manufacturing, Oil and Gas, Chemicals, Food and Beverage, Mining and Metals, and more. Unlike other solutions, Sigga is focused on companies using SAP. That means our team is dedicated to delivering innovative solutions that increase workforce productivity and asset reliability.” says Rohan Bairat, CEO at Sigga.

Empower™ is an intuitive, no-code mobile application that extends the functionalities of the SAP PM module and replaces printed documents and manual data entry. The platform puts SAP PM in the palm of technicians’ hands, increasing workforce productivity and lowering operational costs.

Mobile solutions like Empower™ provide the agility maintenance organizations need as they pivot to become more digital.

The SAP Integration and Certification Center (SAP ICC) has certified that the integration software for Sigga EAM Empower™ 3.0 integrates with RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud using standard integration technologies.

You can take a self-guided tour of Empower™ here.

About Sigga
With 20+ years of experience, Sigga Technologies is a market leader in transforming maintenance operations at asset-intensive companies. Sigga applications are flexible, modern, and digitally connected to accelerate digital transformation. Its mobile maintenance and planning & scheduling tools help companies remove maintenance inefficiencies, optimize maintenance planning and scheduling, and quickly adapt to changing business needs over time and across locations.

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Mobile Workforce Solutions Can Help Attract Gen Z Workers

Posted on March 22, 2023June 11, 2024 by Matt Sickler

Plant maintenance organizations continue to face a shortage of skilled labor. Readily available technology such as mobile workforce management solutions may be the key to attracting the younger generations like Gen Z workers to skilled trades needed for maintenance and repair jobs. Modernizing day-to-day work tools not only supports the workstyles of today’s workforce but will also drive efficiencies to get more work done with your limited staffing.

Continue reading “Mobile Workforce Solutions Can Help Attract Gen Z Workers”

3 Ways Mobile Processes Improves Safety for Plant Operations

Posted on March 8, 2023 by Matt Sickler

Creating a safe working environment for the maintenance team and production workforce is a priority for every organization. Safe workplaces protect workers from physical harm, and they also protect organizations from the hefty price tags of an OSHA compliance fine.

Continue reading “3 Ways Mobile Processes Improves Safety for Plant Operations”

Reduce Downtime and Safety Risks With Operator Rounds and Inspections

Posted on February 22, 2023October 7, 2024 by Matt Sickler

Operator rounds and preventive maintenance inspections are critical to reducing risks, pre-empting potential failures, and to meet stringent compliance regulations. Today’s challenging environment has made it increasingly difficult for operators and technicians to effectively perform these core preventive tasks. Chief among them is a growing labor shortage that has made it hard for employers to find and fill open positions in operations with qualified workers.

Despite these challenges, organizations have failed to modernize and continue to rely on inefficient paper-based forms for operator rounds. Conducting inspections on paper creates more work for over worked teams from printing and distributing forms to excessive data entry for updating maintenance & safety records. In this article, we will explore some of these challenges and look at effective operator rounds software to improve compliance while reducing resources required for inspections.

The Importance of Operator Rounds and Preventive Maintenance Inspections

Operator rounds and preventive maintenance inspections are proactive procedures involving the routine inspection of the production environment to ensure that equipment is fully operational and in safe working condition. Preventive maintenance inspections are part of a proactive maintenance program to identify signs of wear and implement a corrective action to avoid a breakdown.

In most organizations, inspection processes consist of several core steps. First, engineers create checklists for every operational asset. These forms tell operators and technicians the steps and tasks to conduct a thorough inspection. Next, the assigned worker conducts the operator rounds. During their rounds, they identify any potential issues, make minor adjustments, and record their findings on the forms. Finally, they submit the forms to support personnel or enter the data themselves into the organization’s ERP system. From here, notifications are created for issues found to trigger a corrective maintenance work order.

In addition to ensuring that assets are working safely and properly, operator rounds are also conducted as an oversight of the working environment such as ensuring that walkways, stairways, and exit doors are clear of obstacles, that personal protective equipment is available and being utilized, and that there are no fire hazards. Industrial workplaces are subject to stringent safety compliance requirements like OSHA. If employers fail to satisfy these requirements (as proven by the records of completed operator rounds) they can receive stiff fines and face other regulatory sanctions and penalties.

In the U.S. alone, manufacturers pay $19,564 per employee on average to comply with federal regulations, almost twice as much as the per-employee costs shouldered by all firms. NAM.org

Inhibitors to the Execution of Operator Rounds

While these routine inspections seem simple, today’s organizations struggle to keep up with the ever growing list of safety and compliance regulations given the growing shortage of skilled labor to conduct the work.

41% of respondents say the key challenge to improving maintenance is lack of resources or staff. Plant Engineering

As employers continue to be challenged to fill open positions in operations and maintenance, the situation leads them to prioritize urgent tasks over preventive work and allow short-cuts in processes to complete proper inspections. Without preventive maintenance and inspections, the situation results in more breakdowns and unplanned downtime, which to resolve takes further precedence over preventive tasks. This creates a downward negative spiral of growing reactive work that is difficult to turnaround.

Operator rounds and preventive maintenance inspections will continue to play critical roles in helping to avoid unplanned downtime while keeping workplaces safe and in compliance with industry regulations. To overcome the inhibitors, organizations need to embrace technologies that will increase the efficiency of these routine tasks.

Replacing Paper-Based Processes

Organizations in every major industry have turned to technology to overcome resource challenges. While industrial maintenance organizations have been slow to adapt, more and more are adopting user-friendly technologies to automate work tasks and replace paper-based processes.

Mobile operator rounds software eliminates the need to manually print and distribute checklists. Operators and maintenance technicians can easily conduct an inspection, record their findings, and immediately notify management of any issues identified during their rounds. This notification allows a timely repair to be scheduled and avoid unplanned downtime.

Moreover, the added step of removing manual data entry improves the data accuracy and completeness of data with the ERP system for compliance reporting.

The Complexity of Inspection Processes

No two assets are the same and the inspection routines are dynamic. Regulations are constantly changing forcing modifications to the operator rounds checklists to ensure compliance to new requirements are well documented. Plus, reliability engineers, through Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), are constantly identifying new early warning signs of potential failure to be checked in an inspection.

Although hard-coding inspections into an operator rounds software program may seem less adaptive than paper for the dynamic nature of inspection processes, it is time to look at current software capabilities. Today, there is software that is designed with the flexibility to be easily modified as quickly as your requirements change. A mobile app on a no-code platform can make it easy for any authorized user to make custom checklists and deploy to the workers without requiring costly software customization developers. Here’s a real-world example to illustrate the new opportunity.

Custom Requirements Easily Met

A manufacturer came to us to streamline their unique equipment inspection process. To meet compliance regulations, they were required to time stamp every inspection item on their checklists. And with their complex equipment, each checklist contained over 100 operations. They were conducting the inspections using paper checklists and then manually updating SAP. The process to open each inspection order in SAP and placing a time stamp on each operation took longer than actually performing the inspection itself.

We worked with this manufacturer to modify the Sigga mobile maintenance app which is built on a no-code platform. The app was easily customized to meet their compliance requirements without requiring expensive developers. The mobile app now allows a technician to conduct their inspection rounds with a digital tool. After completing an equipment inspection, they can select multiple operations within the app and instantly perform a mass update to SAP for the items that were good. Continuing, they could individually select the operations with issues and document the problems. The later action automatically opens notifications within SAP PM.

As a result of adopting the Sigga mobile EAM solution the manufacturer saw significant time savings and improved adherence to compliance regulations from the quality and completeness of the data captured. In addition, issues are now addressed faster reducing the risks of breakdowns.

Streamline Your Operator Rounds and Preventive Maintenance Inspections

Let us show you how you can easily digitize your unique inspection processes. Our mobile maintenance app is used by over 70,000 users improving technician productivity and data quality in SAP. This mobile app is now available on a no-code platform to make it fast and easy to adapt the software to your processes at any time. With the flexibility of current technology, there are no more excuses to fully digitize your operator rounds and preventive maintenance processes.

Sigga Mobile Maintenance

See how your unique processes can be digitized!

What is Mobile Enterprise Asset Management Software?

Posted on January 25, 2023 by Matt Sickler

Have you ever questioned what is a Mobile EAM app and why do you need it? Mobile EAM spelled out is Mobile Enterprise Asset Management — not to be confused with SAP Enterprise Asset Management Software. Confused? You are not alone. In this article, we will clarify terms and how going mobile significantly improves key processes within maintenance operations with SAP.

See How Mobile Enterprise Asset Management Software for SAP Improves Productivity

What is the difference between EAM and Mobile Enterprise Asset Management software?

Traditional Maintenance Processes Without a Mobile EAM Solution

What Mobile EAM Apps Can Do For You

The Benefit Impact for Your Organization

What You Should Consider When Selecting a Mobile EAM App

Sigga Mobile EAM solutions

What is the difference between EAM and Mobile Enterprise Asset Management Software?

To start, let’s cover some definitions to frame the operational processes impacted by Mobile Enterprise Asset Management software.

Mobile Enterprise Asset Management. According to Wikipedia, “Mobile enterprise asset management (or mobile EAM) refers to the mobile extension of work processes for maintenance, operations, and repair of corporate or public-entity physical assets, equipment, buildings, and grounds. It involves management of work orders (planned, break/fix or service requests) via communication between a mobilized workforce and computer systems to maintain an organization’s facilities, structures, and other assets.”To put this in further context, a Mobile EAM app is an add-on to an organization’s Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software (such as SAP) in order to manage work digitally by connecting the front-end worker to SAP through a mobile app.
Enterprise Asset Management. As described by SAP, here is the full breadth of what an EAM is designed to cover: “Enterprise asset management (EAM) incorporates the management and maintenance of physical assets owned by a company throughout the entire lifecycle of an asset, from capital planning, procurement, installation, performance, maintenance, compliance, risk management, through to asset disposal. EAM software helps organizations to plan, optimize, execute, and track the necessary activities, priorities, skills, materials, tools, and information associated with an asset. Failure to manage and maintain enterprise assets can lead to unplanned downtime, suboptimal asset performance, and supply shortages. Some organizations also rely on EAM systems to demonstrate compliance with regulatory bodies to preclude liability if a failure occurs.”

Adding a mobile interface to specific functions, greatly improves the efficiency of working with and maintaining the data within SAP overall. To understand the impact, consider the process steps of traditional maintenance management without a mobile solution.

Traditional Processes Without a Mobile EAM Solution

Traditional processes start with work order assignments that are planned and scheduled using spreadsheets with data pulled from the EAM system. After checking parts inventories and production schedules (i.e. the best timing to conduct maintenance tasks), schedulers assign tasks to specific technicians and create a daily or weekly schedule.

With technicians assigned, work orders are printed, collated with printed work instructions, and physically distributed to technicians. Technicians proceed to the work locations, complete their tasks, and manually capture notes on the paperwork orders. At the end of the work shift, they return the paperwork orders to be individually entered back into the EAM system through manual data entry, work order by work order.

If a technician discovers an issue while conducting an inspection, they find someone to create a notification in the EAM if urgent or make a note on the current work order to enter the information into the EAM system later. If they don’t have the parts they need, it’s an extra trip to the warehouse. The result?

Extra steps and delays in problem-solving
Tedious duplicate data entry
Poor data quality in the EAM system
Unnecessary use of paper & printing costs

Now, let’s take a look at how these workflows are improved with a mobile device and EAM app:

Order management. Work orders are dispatched to technicians digitally wherever they are at completely replacing the paper-based work order process (cut printing costs). The interface is simple and intuitive to the technician allowing him/her to complete their tasks and provide work order status updates real-time to SAP PM (cut duplicate data entry). Orders can be approved, closed, appended, redistributed, all from within the app based on user roles and authority for the process steps (increase responsiveness to inevitable changes).

Notification management. Like work orders, notifications can be approved, updated, turned into work orders, and assigned to a technician. When a new issue is discovered, the technician can immediately create a notification on the go, allowing the organization to immediately act on the problem if urgent (increase responsiveness to inevitable changes).

Capture measurement readings. A cornerstone to advanced maintenance process such as predictive or condition-based maintenance is the capture of quality data for analysis. A Mobile EAM app makes it easy for the technician to capture sensor and equipment status details while conducting rounds. Data is structured to support analysis and decision making for asset management (improve data quality). Read more about the importance of data integrity for maintenance operations.

Worker communication. Management and maintenance technicians can stay in constant communication to coordinate schedule changes (increase responsiveness to inevitable changes).

Access to historical data and asset information for scheduled maintenance tasks. With immediate access to instructions, manuals, parts availability, and illustrations, maintenance technicians have the information they need at their fingertips to complete a planned or unplanned task(cutting extra steps to retrieve information) and no excuses for following instructions (improving safety).

Maintain equipment records. While in the field or in the plant, Technicians can update the master data records for assets and equipment due to moves, new installation, or asset removal (improve data quality).

Time tracking and workforce management. Track the time it takes to complete maintenance tasks – manually (or with some solutions automatically based on proximity to the job site). Validate work hours, measure wrench time for KPIs, and use the information to improve job planning and scheduling in the future (improve data quality).

Reporting. Capture the data to report on key metrics such as Wrench Time, Maintenance Effectiveness, and downtime measures such as OEE, MTTR and MTBF. Plus, gain easy access to the information needed to continually improve processes and achieve more advanced levels of asset maintenance strategies such as Reliability Centered Maintenance, condition-based maintenance, and predictive maintenance.

The Benefit Impact for Your Organization

Going paperless and keeping technicians in the field or plant with immediate access to information results in optimized asset performance and utilization while minimizing operations and maintenance costs. Read more about the breadth of benefits of going paperless.

Some examples of real-world results:

Ambev, a part of AB InBev, the largest brewery in the world, reduced their MTTR (Mean Time to Repair) by 79% – from 24 to 5 days – by replacing their paper-based maintenance processes with Sigga’s Mobile EAM solution. Ambev also saved over 7.2 million sheets of paper per year ($360,000), reduced downtime, increased production, and increased the productivity of their technicians and workers by 15%.

Furnas is an electricity generation and transmission organization producing 40% of the energy consumed in Brazil. Furnas improved the utilization of their staff, saving 90,000 hours per year from cutting out administrative activities every month, reallocated 46 staff members to other functions, and reduced their costs by $630,700 annually.

Bunge, a soybean and wheat processing company producing vegetable oil and ethanol, saved 10,000 sheets of paper per month on a volume of 1,370 maintenance orders per day.

Cenibra is a producer of bleached pulp from Eucalyptus fiber. Cenibra improved the process management of contractors and reduced administrative work on a volume of 60,000 maintenance orders and 190,000 inspection rounds conducted by staff and contractors per year.

What You Should Consider When Selecting a Mobile EAM App

User experience features. Not all mobile apps are the same, it is important to dig into the mobile features that support a good user experience for adoption and active use of the app. Considerations include ease-of-use of the interface and app performance as maintenance tasks can require a high volume of data transfer with SAP. In addition, consider the online and offline use especially in operations with locations without connectivity. Does the technician have the information they need while offline and how disruptive is the sync experience when back online? For more aspects to explore, read our article, Top 5 Mobile App Features for Maintenance.

Compatibility considerations. Besides the app compatibility with mobile devices: Android, Apple etc., consider how the app is to be maintained. Updates to mobile operating systems, integration and updates to SAP for that matter, require timely actions to maintain Mobile EAM app security. Read more about this topic in our article, Today’s Build vs Buy Software Decision Factors.

Adjacent solutions. Consider how the Mobile EAM app compliments other connected processes within Enterprise Asset Management, such as planning & scheduling and parts inventory management. These are just some of the processes that can be improved with automation and mobility. For further details, read: Opportunities to optimize SAP PM with added automation.

Adaptability. The flexibility of the Mobile EAM app to be modified to the organizations’ unique processes and updated as needed due to changes in regulations or the environment. What is the process? Costs? How fast can changes be made? Are developer resources required? Explore these factors in our article, New Tech Brings New Flexibility in Mobile Maintenance Apps.

It is an opportunity to streamline important maintenance processes with SAP EAM!

Take the proven step to deploy Mobile EAM Software with SAP. In doing so, you will modernize your industrial maintenance operations and be in a better position to take advantage of the endless stream of technology improvements in maintenance management.

Why Consider Sigga for Mobile Enterprise Asset Management Software?

Here at Sigga, we have a singular focus on the digital transformation of data-intensive maintenance work with asset-intensive industries.It takes dedication and ongoing development to sustain world-class mobile experiences. As a result, our EAM Empower solution is the leading Mobile EAM app for SAP environments. We design our apps to deliver exceptional user experiences to drive adoption and full use of the app. We have also designed our own proprietary, SAP integration technology to deliver Enterprise scale performance for high volumes of data and users.

In addition, we offer a Mobile Warehouse and Inventory solution to extend the mobile use cases and an integrated Planning & Scheduling desktop software solution to further streamline processes and drive efficiencies with SAP.

At Sigga, it is our mission to empower companies to achieve their mobile digital transformation goals by providing best-in-class software technology.

Sigga Solutions

Read more about Sigga EAM Empower mobile app for SAP Enterprise Asset Management.

Get Going with FRACAS

Posted on December 6, 2022 by Matt Sickler

With the shortage of labor and supply chain disruptions, asset reliability needs to be a priority to sustain production levels, create quality products, and maintain productivity for your operations. Yet a survey of 80 large companies found that none were capturing the data required to evaluate and proactively address asset failures. NONE! These companies would be hard-pressed to implement a Failure Reporting Analysis and Corrective Action System (FRACAS).

If you are looking into a FRACAS or in the process of implementation, this article will highlight how to get started and set up your organization for success.

Continue reading “Get Going with FRACAS”

AI Applications for Condition-based Monitoring for EAM

Posted on September 14, 2022 by Matt Sickler

You may have heard about the automation capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) and about the considerable benefits of condition-based monitoring (CBM). Bringing these concepts together holds the promise of further automation in manufacturing and maintenance. Today, we’ll touch on the basics of CBM and AI then speak to the critical steps you can take to be ready for the future of enterprise asset management.

Condition-based Monitoring and AI Applications

Unpredictable equipment and asset failure make up 75% of the causation factors that lead to downtime and considerable financial losses. To mitigate the effects of equipment-related downtime, CBM frameworks – an Industry 4.0 business model – were developed. CBM frameworks involve the use of IIoT sensors, edge devices, and smart machines to monitor the real-time performance of production equipment to detect and automatically trigger an alert if a measure is out of normal range. Of course, the goal is to avert a breakdown event through a maintenance intervention.

AI applications such as machine learning (ML) bring greater efficiency to the analysis of the condition measurements in order to provide further advanced warning of an impending issue. Successful implementation of CBM strategies requires the deployment of both data collection and analytical tools to gain insight into equipment performance.

Types of Asset Condition Monitoring

Condition monitoring can be as simple as conducting inspection rounds to take and record measurement readings from pressure sensors, oil levels, temperature gauges, and more. CBM utilizes IIoT devices to take this a step further by replacing the human actions to inspect, capture and evaluate measures against pre-set parameters and trigger the alert. Here’s some common types and uses of asset condition monitoring:

Measurement	Issues Detected	Typical Assets
Vibration	Detect mechanical faults such as imbalance, misalignment, looseness, and bearing failure	Assets with rotating parts such as centrifugal pumps, motors, compressors
Temperature	From simple temperature readings to infrared thermography to catch temperature irregularities which can be caused by a part misalignment or belt issue	>Motors, bearings, gear boxes
Oil level & condition	Testing lubricants & other fluids for level, chemical properties, contamination, viscosity, and foreign particles indicating degradation of the machine surface (ie. iron, silicon, aluminum silicate)	Compressors, gear boxes, transportation vehicles
Sound	Ultrasound testing for a change in the normal operating parameters as the source of the issue can vary widely. It could be anything from leaking gases, under/over lubrication, to improperly seated parts	A wide range of equipment including equipment that has high-pressure fluids
Electrical	Evaluating changes in the electrical parameters including induction, pulse and frequency response, capacitance and resistance.	Motors & other electrical systems

Other asset condition monitoring techniques include electromagnetic, radiation, laser interferometry, motor circuit analysis and more. What’s key in asset condition monitoring is to be deliberate in your choice of assets, what is most important to measure, and how to measure for cost effective results.

Advantages of Condition Monitoring

CBM coordinates maintenance activities based on the asset condition as compared to regularly scheduled preventive maintenance tasks. It also reduces the potential of sudden breakdown. Both of these impacts result in greater efficiency and more cost-effective maintenance practices. In addition:

Improves asset reliability and availability for improved production efficiency
Increases asset performance and longevity
Reduces unplanned downtime

The degree of benefit is driven by the degree of planning, training, and use of technology to assist in the data collection and analysis.

AI in Condition-based Monitoring and Maintenance

Industry 4.0 and 5.0 technologies and data analysis capabilities make CBM truly predictive. That is, you can gain 60 or 90 days advanced warning of a condition changing and even identification of the underlying malfunction. This type of analysis requires a lot of data from a number of measurement systems to be fed to a central database where artificial intelligence is used to analyze the trends. The database structure in SAP S/4HANA has been specifically designed for this purpose.

“S/4HANA provides tools to help companies move from scheduled to predictive maintenance
for more efficient equipment uptime and lower service costs.”

Jim O’Donnell, TechTarget, SAP wants to own intelligent enterprise, but firms have options, >June, 2021

The application of ML brings another level of efficiency. Instead of determining and setting the parameters for each measurement manually, now the models can be generated automatically providing significant time savings for your engineers and technicians.

Additional impacts include:

“The incidence rate of both false alarms (false positives) and missing alarms (false negatives) have been found to be reduced by over 90%. This reduces human engineering efforts in diagnosing machine faults by over 60%, reduces maintenance budgets and improves machine availability by about 10%.”

Dr. Patrick Bangert, algorithmica technologies GmbH, Smart Condition Monitoring Using Machine Learning

Although there are great efficiency advantages of AI and ML for CBM, it can take time to collect the data needed for analysis. Get started with the right foundation.

Getting Started with Condition-based Monitoring Strategies

>1) Structure and Centralize Data Collection

AI, when used correctly to make good decisions quickly, requires that the data is available and accurate. If you have messy master data due to inefficient business processes, then you can’t utilize the data to drive process improvements.

Eliminating any paper based processes by deploying a modern software interface to SAP should be a first step. These systems can help streamline your core maintenance process steps and remove unnecessary work, like manually entering data into SAP, while structuring the data inputs into SAP. As we noted earlier, if you use or will be transitioning to SAP S4/HANA, it is specifically designed to deploy AI and ML for maintenance operations.

2) Capture Current Sensor Data

Your modern-day equipment likely includes a wide range of sensors that can be programmed to feed the central database. Even before you invest in additional IIoT devices, you can already be using the data available to analyze to set triggers for alerts or to determine where you need to invest in additional monitoring capability.

3) Determine Asset Criticality

Prioritize where to invest by reviewing your maintenance history to uncover:

Which critical assets are your “bad actors”? For high ROI, start with your biggest offenders.
Which assets have features that can be monitored? Not all failures are measurable.
Which assets will benefit most from condition-based monitoring techniques? The failure types have measurable degradation that can be recognized early enough to do something to avoid the complete failure event.

4) Practice Reliability Centered Maintenance

Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) takes the approach of identifying the conditions that could potentially result in downtime and then prioritizing failure modalities from a maintenance cost standpoint. With this data, operations can decide what specific actions provide the best return on maintenance spend to prevent those failure modalities from manifesting themselves. As a result of RCM analysis, you will find that certain assets are critical for investment in measuring technologies and using AI, while others should be managed as “run-to-failure” due to the low cost to replace as compared to the cost of applying predictive measures.

5) End-to-end Digital Processes

Responding to CBM alerts requires real-time communication and coordination of the workforce. For maintenance operations, this means replacing paper work orders and notification processes with a mobile device with an interface to SAP. Initially condition monitoring activities will result in a little advanced notice of an impending issue. In these cases, real-time notification is critical to avoid the downtime event. Overtime, with AI and ML results, you can apply true predictive maintenance strategies and see greater forewarning of an issue starting to occur.

Let Us Help You Get Started

Here at Sigga, we have been helping asset-intensive industries with SAP Plant Maintenance drive digital transformation and mobile initiatives in industrial maintenance for 20 years. Our SAP Certified EAM software solutions can help you improve the capture, structure, and quality of the data needed to build condition-based monitoring strategies.

Our EAM Empower mobile EAM application digitizes the entire maintenance process connecting users across your business real-time. It helps your technicians accurately capture and structure the data you’ll need in SAP to determine asset criticality for condition-based monitoring investments.

Sigga Planning & Scheduling provides the management tools for the effective deployment of preventive and predictive maintenance strategies. Together these solutions form an effective foundation for real-time coordination of maintenance activities as a result of your condition-based monitoring investments.

Learn how you can take your preventive maintenance program to the next level!

Cloud SaaS – The Agile Edge to SAP EAM

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Matt Sickler

The transition from SAP’s conventional ERP solution to S/4 HANA brings diverse positive changes to the table including improved performance, better security, and embraces third-party cloud-based SaaS applications. SAP fully recognizes the value of third-party solutions to deliver a superior user experience. When these solutions come on a cloud SaaS platform, the result is improved agility and tailored experiences replacing the customizations that in the past hampered the evolution of the SAP core.

This article will discuss these opportunities and more with utilizing cloud-based SaaS applications to simplify use and extend the capabilities of SAP EAM.

The New Relationship of SAP with Cloud SaaS Applications

SAP S/4 HANA leverages SAP’s in-memory computing technology, SAP HANA, to empower organizations with more powerful tools to manage data and to drive data analytics. This focussed role for SAP S4/HANA can be traced to a few crucial causation factors – the widespread implementation of digital transformation initiatives, the move to industry 4.0, and the growing need to increase agility and adapt to rapidly changing conditions. And what roles do these factors play?

Although 70% of enterprises may have adopted digitized data-capturing and aggregation processes such as an ERP like SAP, true digital transformation strategies are designed to achieve much more. The goal of the transformation process involves streamlining the ability to gain data-driven insights, automate repetitive tasks, enable front end-users with mobile devices, and to simplify decision-making. This leads to the next crucial factor in the equation.

The fourth industrial revolution is expected to leverage data-driven analytics to automate front-end operational processes and facilitate the application of organizational strategies such as predictive maintenance. Although SAP simplifies the collection of data, prior to SAP S4/HANA the ERP did not provide a user-friendly interface nor seamless support for third-party applications.

Keeping data in silos defeats the analytics capabilities of an enterprise-wide information system. So, SAP’s strategy is to provide seamless support for cloud-based third-party applications allowing your organization to implement industry 4.0 business models and robust end-to-end digital transformation strategies supported by the power of the SAP backend.

Lastly, due to the growth in cloud SaaS applications, SAP saw the opportunity to solve issues they had with customizations. That is, they could push any customizations customers desired to the application layer of the technology stack freeing the core SAP system to operate faster, manage more data, and provide real-time, cross-business insights.

The Evolution of SAP and Third-Party solutions

SAP’s older ERPs such as ECC provided multiple challenging scenarios for organizations using these solutions to capture data and manage operational workflows. Conducting ECC version upgrades, software integrations, and customizing the ERP required extensive technical know-how. Every upgrade and customization project needed extensive recalibration to ensure legacy codes and existing functionalities functioned as expected within the system. Hence, customization projects required professionals with extensive expertise in the interdependencies within the ERP.

As a result, utilizing third-party applications within traditional SAP ecosystems was a difficult proposition. The integration process required an extensive impact assessment before deploying. The assessment process generally involved evaluating the possibility of interface compatibility issues and data fidelity making the integration of third-party applications a complex, time-consuming, and expensive activity.

According to SAP, “SAP recognizes the need to complement its applications with best-in-class cloud SaaS solutions for the most critical lines of business”. Hence, with S/4 HANA, SAP provided opportunities for third-party cloud SaaS providers to develop intelligent and intuitive applications to deliver real-time connected end-user experiences including the use of mobile devices. As a consequence, SAP vastly improved the integration process.

With S/4 HANA, SAP turned their focus to their core business functions while embracing the agility Cloud SaaS solutions could provide. This arrangement ensures S/4 HANA continues to serve as a powerful in-memory computing resource for large data sets leaving Cloud SaaS applications to drive its front-end user experiences for the management of diverse workflows.

Agility Through Cloud SaaS Applications

In addition to recognizing the value of enabling a wide network of cloud SaaS solutions for a breadth of user experiences, SAP is taking advantage of the agility of cloud SaaS solutions. That is, the ability for these solutions to handle the customizations that were once done in the past within the core ERP system itself.

“A modern approach to customization is one that offers a high degree of flexibility while maintaining the integrity of the core. Developing customizations on a development platform that is tightly linked to the core application capabilities yields the same benefits as customizations yet does not disturb the integrity of the core so necessary to ensure continuous innovations get delivered at the pace of business. All new modern SaaS based applications follow this approach. This extensions and platform-based approach to customization enables companies to provide an “agile edge” without disrupting the core. Companies can continue to add new capabilities that reflect their uniqueness in the marketplace without having to customize their core ERP code and lower ensuing risks and costs. A win-win in all regards!” SAP Blog

For companies who have migrated to SAP S/4HANA, you probably already have realized the limitations of the SAP system to encompass your customizations from the prior version. As such, you are likely dealing with the vanilla workflows. If you are in this situation, or migrating to SAP S4/Hana, it is important to consider third-party cloud SaaS applications now that can address your unique needs.

Leveraging Cloud SaaS Solutions to Optimize SAP EAM

Enterprises utilizing SAP S/4 HANA to optimize business processes and cross ERP data insights can take advantage of Cloud SaaS EAM solutions to collect the data to fuel the built-in intelligent technologies such as AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics.

Although SAP now offers an S/4 HANA Manufacturing suite, its solution focuses on capturing IoT data and facilitating collaboration leaving many opportunities for further digitization of workflows and providing better front end-user experiences within operations. For example, a Cloud SaaS application built for user experiences to conduct asset maintenance or developing optimized schedules can utilize and update the SAP core database while delivering superior end-user experiences with real-time access to the SAP data.

The real-time visibility Cloud SaaS solutions provide means workers are more efficient with their available work hours. Workers have crucial information at their fingertips and decision-makers can track operational KPIs in real-time. Other important benefits of utilizing third-party cloud SaaS applications include:

Leveraging the expertise of SaaS solution companies providing solutions for your functional area
Taking advantage of the specialization required for delivering intuitive mobile user experiences
Leveraging the fact that Cloud SaaS vendors handle security upgrades and continuous app improvements

Choosing a Cloud SaaS Application for EAM

Third-party solutions empower enterprises to take advantage of the opportunities SAP S/4 HANA brings to the table and this starts with choosing the right vendors. Here’s a few questions to ask when choosing a vendor:

Does the solutions provider have industry-specific expertise that relates to your use cases?
What is the vendor’s application track record within your industry?
Are the vendor’s solutions SAP-certified for SAP S/4HANA?
Are the mobile solutions intuitive native apps and provide full online and offline use?
How easy is it to customize the application to your work processes?

Sigga Cloud SaaS Solutions for SAP

At Sigga, we have been working with SAP for the last 20 years. We were one of the first SAP partners to have a product running on the Sybase Unwired Platform, the first partner to perform an SAP Customer Qualification Process, and we become a benchmark SAP ICC partner when it comes to integrating solutions to SAP.

Even today, we continue to be tuned on SAP’s strategies, products, and roadmap, which helps us to certify to each new platform, like SAP S4/HANA, and assist customers in taking advantage of the capabilities of each generation of SAP.

Our latest innovation for SAP is our Sigga EAM Empower mobile app, which is a cloud-based SaaS application. The solution comes on a no-code platform to simplify the process of modifying the app to your unique maintenance requirements without the need for customizations. No need for high-cost professional developers to create your workflows. In addition, we have a no-code SAP integration solution furthering the time and cost benefits. With the technical barriers resolved, you can quickly put our mobile solution in the hands of your technicians and see the power of real-time access and improved data quality in SAP.

See the agility of a cloud SaaS mobile EAM!

8 Tips for Effective Preventive Maintenance Checklists

Posted on April 5, 2022 by Matt Sickler

A checklist can help ensure any task, no matter how simple or complicated, is completed properly. From shopping lists to preventive maintenance procedures, checklists document the items needed to be completed and serve as a guide for the person completing the task.

This article will explain the benefits of creating preventive maintenance checklists and provide eight tips to make sure they are effective.

Why are Preventive Maintenance Checklists Important?

Without a preventive maintenance checklist, technicians must rely on equipment manuals which can be bulky, hard to read and even hard to find. Preventive maintenance checklists standardize the process, so the same steps are taken no matter who is completing the task. Preventive maintenance checklists also increase productivity and safety, while allowing for faster troubleshooting and better planning.

Preventive maintenance checklists can also help companies meet safety and compliance requirements. In industries that are evaluated by regulators, like food production, maintenance checklists can be used to provide a record of completed inspections to auditors.

Most importantly, preventive maintenance checklists help avoid unplanned industrial maintenance. Unplanned maintenance requires technicians to spend more time on the repair due to the need to diagnose the problem, as well as obtain parts and repair instructions. It can also lead to more overtime costs. Indirect impacts include unplanned production downtime, late orders, and customer satisfaction issues.

Tip 1: Organize Resource Materials

Before getting started actually creating preventive maintenance checklists, it’s key to get organized. The first step is to determine which assets actually need checklists. If you have a small number of assets this might not be necessary but can be very useful if dealing with a large number of assets.

Next, collect the operating manuals and equipment documentation for the selected assets. Make sure you also have the latest safety and compliance requirements handy. Lastly, be sure to check past asset performance. Being aware of equipment that fails often can help you outline additional maintenance that may be needed in addition to what the equipment manufacturer recommends.

Tip 2: Choose the Proper Type of Checklist for Each Asset

Once you are organized, you’ll need to decide what type of checklist to create for each asset. Two common types of preventive maintenance checklists are pass/fail and step-by-step. Let’s look at the uses for and examples of each.

Pass/fail Checklists

Simple pass/fail checklists are often used for equipment inspections where technicians are looking for early signs of trouble. Pass/fail checklists can be used to monitor ideal equipment conditions, such as temperature, water pressure, or oil level on a regular basis. For example, a pass/fail checklist could direct technicians to check the oil to ensure it is at an acceptable level. If the oil level is satisfactory, the equipment passes. If not, it fails. In this case, a condition fail could trigger a notification to add more oil to the machine. In other cases, a condition fails, like increased temperature, could be indicative of an impending failure.

Example Pass/Fail Checklist:

Component	Yes	No	N/A	Defect
Electric Lift
Does it turn on/off?
Is there abnormal noise?
Does it go up and down?
Emergency release: Does it work?
Hand control: Do all the buttons work? Are the electrical wires frayed?
Bolts on lift. Are they fastened tightly?
Weld sites. Are there any cracks?

Step-by-Step

On the other hand, step-by-step checklists are often used for tasks that are more involved than just monitoring equipment conditions. Step-by-step checklists should be used for more complex preventive maintenance procedures like changing belts, motors, or other parts of the equipment. The step-by-step checklist details the instructions for completing each step of the task from start to finish. Step-by-step checklists ensure that the same process is followed by each technician and all important steps are completed.

Example Step by Step Checklist:

	Component	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Evaporative Condenser
1	Check condition of drive B-belts. Replace if necessary.
2	Check operation of low water float.
3	Check operation of condenser pan water heater and thermostat.
4	Check ball valve for correct operation, lubricate arm and set for correct water level.
5	Check and lubricate fan shaft bearings and locking collars.
6	Check operation of fan motor. Grease adjusting screw.
7	Check/adjust condenser drives if necessary.

Tip 3: Select the Recommended Frequency for Each Checklist

Not all checklists will need to be completed with the same frequency, so you should decide how often each checklist should be utilized.

Daily preventive maintenance checklists are often used for inspections like checking the temperature on a machine or conducting safety checks between shifts.
Weekly checklists are often used for inspections that don’t need to be completed as frequently as a daily inspection. They may also include a task related to a daily checklist. For example, a daily task may be to check the water level in a machine, the weekly task might be to add water.
Monthly preventive maintenance checklists likely include even more tasks related to the weekly and daily checklists, like emptying and replacing the water in a machine.
Quarterly checklists are often related to inspections by third parties to make sure equipment is meeting safety or industry standards.
Seasonal preventive maintenance checklists are often related to changes needed for different weather conditions, like winterizing equipment or switching the HVAC systems from cooling to heating.
Annual checklists are usually comprised of more complex tasks such as disassembling a machine to make sure all internal components are functioning properly.

Tip 4: Ensure Checklists are Clear and Succinct

Preventive maintenance checklists need to be carefully crafted to provide clear instructions that even a new technician can follow. Assuming the technician knows what do to and providing too little information can prevent the task from being completed properly. On the flip side, too much information may be overwhelming, cause confusion, and slow down the maintenance process.

Preventive maintenance checklists should include all the essential details needed to complete the task but be written as succinctly as possible. Break down long descriptions or processes into multiple, shorter steps. Make sure each step describes an actionable item or remove it from the checklist. After drafting the checklist, review it to ensure all steps are in the proper order.

Tip 5: Ensure Checklists Include All Needed Information

Not only should checklists be written clearly in steps that are easy to understand, but they also need to include all the information a technician will need to complete the job. Preventivemaintenance should include a comprehensive list of tools and parts needed to complete the work.

Remember to include any important safety information such as personal protective equipment (PPE) required and lockout, tag out (LOTO) instructions to ensure the machine cannot be started while maintenance is in process.

Preventive maintenance checklists should also contain the approximate time each task will take, as well as the total time for completing the work. Be sure to include visual aids like photos, videos, and diagrams if appropriate.

Tip 6: Get Input from Several Perspectives

Once you have completed your preventive maintenance checklists, you should seek input from other parties to ensure the lists are understandable and include all necessary steps. Checklists should be reviewed by maintenance planners, maintenance operations, and senior technicians to identify any gaps. Be sure to also consult with production operations, as in many cases, they are the people actually doing the inspections or maintenance procedures from the checklists.

Tip 7: Review Checklists Regularly

After checklists have been finalized, it’s important to review them regularly to make sure they are achieving the goal of detecting problems. Make sure checklists aren’t missing any key steps that could potentially identify an issue. Likewise, ensure that checklists don’t include directions to perform activities that have no impact on identifying or preventing problems. If an asset breaks down immediately after being serviced, the checklist should be reviewed to ensure all necessary maintenance steps were included and that nothing else could have been done to prevent the failure.

Tip 8: Use Software Tools to Make the Job Easier

Utilizing software tools to create preventive maintenance checklists makes the job easier and more efficient. These tools, which can integrate with your SAP Plant Maintenance system can further automate preventive maintenance routines.

Providing a mobile application for technicians and inspectors can improve the access and use of the checklists, plus record results which is especially important to demonstrate compliance with industry regulations. Mobile preventive maintenance checklists can be created and require confirmation of the completion of each step before confirming the completion of the checklist. The details are then stored in SAP for compliance reporting.

Lastly, mobile maintenance apps support the collection and analysis of data on failures to support the continued improvement of preventive maintenance checklists.

Inspection Compliance at a Global Food & Beverage CompanyA Sigga customer required inspections that could include over 100 operations per each piece of equipment. When we first met with the company, they were managing the process on paper with hours spent every week to update each operation individually in SAP with an “ok” or “not ok”. The data entry process often took longer than the inspection itself!

We helped the company implement a mobile maintenance solution and create checklists that could be completed by the inspector and updated in mass to SAP completely cutting out the manual data entry process. For “not ok” operations, a new notification was automatically created in SAP copying the inspection order and text entered by the technician detailing the problem. This process was a quick “customization” to Sigga’s EAM Empower app utilizing our unique no-code software platform.

As you might imagine, the time savings for the organization are significant. In addition, they were able to improve their compliance reporting.

Benefits of Effective Preventive Maintenance Checklists

Effective preventive maintenance checklists allow you to utilize data to turn your maintenance processes from slow and error-prone to efficient and proactive. Checklists can help you fine-tune and improve maintenance schedules, as well as help you make changes quickly if an emergency occurs.

Preventive maintenance checklists can also help you improve maintenance effectiveness ratios and the bottom line. In a presentation entitled “The New Approach to Plant Maintenance,” ABB Reliability Services suggested that one hour of properly performed planned maintenance avoids three hours of repair work. Other industry experts estimate that unplanned maintenance can cost 3X to 9X more than planned maintenance.

Let Us Improve Your Preventive Maintenance Checklist Processes

Our EAM-Empower mobile EAM application digitizes the entire maintenance process connecting users across your business in real-time. It helps your technicians accurately capture the data you’ll need to create effective preventive maintenance checklists.

Using the mobile interface to SAP, technicians can capture inspection results in real-time. In workplaces without connectivity, technicians and inspectors have full access to all the information they need to complete a checklist while offline. The app then automatically syncs when they are back online without user disruption.

Plus, with our no-code platform, you can easily modify the app to meet your unique maintenance and inspection requirements.