Maintenance & asset management needs to be more digital and sustainable

In the 'Digital Trends in Maintenance & Asset Management' report, PwC and Mainnovation investigate digital resilience based on five digital trends: mobile maintenance, 3D printing, augmented reality, predictive maintenance and digital twin. Almost 40% of participating European companies say they use mobile maintenance. Other applications lag behind.

Together with PwC expert Annemieke Moerkerken, we discuss not only these and a number of other noteworthy issues from the investigation, but also address the challenges in a world where older workers in particular need to keep up with the digitalisation drive.

'The field of Maintenance & Asset Management is supported by hard-working people of integrity, often with years of experience,' begins Moerkerken, who also originates from that world. 'I found it a very pleasant culture to work in, but it was an old-school culture. In that case, sending out mechanics with a new app on their phones is not sufficient. The younger generation of maintenance engineers should engage this group in the process, by having them help choose which solutions and suppliers they prefer.'

'Especially now that I work from a different perspective, the soft side of digitalisation is an eye-opener,' Moerkerken continues. 'And then I mean communication during change management. This is an aspect that companies tend to forget. In our projects, we therefore provide clear communication materials and accessible training for people in the workplace. In doing so, we always recommend making someone from the leadership team responsible for the communication plan, e.g. the head of technical services. That is very much out of their comfort zone, but by doing so you are forcing the company as a whole to lead by example. As far as I am concerned, communication is not just telling people what you are doing. It also means investigating up front what the end user wants. And then finding the best suited digital solution.'

Regarding the results in the report, Moerkerken sees many opportunities for companies with regard to implementing augmented reality, 3D printing and digital twin. Moerkerken: 'In the report, we identify a usage below 10 per cent among respondents, even though these digital developments are among the most innovative trends.'

It is also striking that the participating companies in South Africa score relatively lower on all five trends compared with their European counterparts. 'The report sows a status quo and provides no insight into long-term trends,' Moerkerken believes. 'A digitally driven sector requires guts, you have to have the courage to be innovative. I think it will be interesting to see how the trends in South Africa develop in the years ahead.'

Another striking conclusion in the report is the fact that the topic of sustainability is on the priority list of participating companies when it comes to digital transformation, but was not listed as a reason for implementing digitalisation. 'Even though digitalisation can actually be a huge accelerator to become more sustainable,' says Moerkerken. She expects that with increasing legislation relating to sustainability, companies will change tack.

'The reporting requirements are definitely going to speed things up, especially with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requiring companies to start making their performance measurable from 2024. That will require digitalisation. Most companies cite uptime improvement and cost reduction as benefits of digitalisation, while their impact is marginal, despite the longstanding emphasis on them. 3D printing will allow you to print only those parts that are badly needed in the future. This will prevent scrap and redundant stock. That is where the sustainable benefits lie!'

PwC and Mainnovation's 'Digital Trends in Maintenance & Asset Management' report covers five digital trends: mobile maintenance (digital apps and mobile technologies), 3D printing (converting a digital model to a physical version), digital twin (virtual version of a physical product), predictive maintenance (predictive maintenance of equipment) and augmented reality (adding a virtual 3D layer to the real world). The online investigation, which was distributed to various industries in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and South Africa (‘an emerging country from a digital perspective’), yielded 127 respondents and revealed the extent to which the industry is adopting or not adopting the trends.