Today’s small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMBs) face constant pressure to deliver higher quality products on shorter timelines while keeping costs low. To remain competitive with their peers and larger, more well-established companies, these businesses must maximize production efficiency. All too often, however, equipment failures and unplanned downtime wreak havoc on their attempts to do so.
The impact of equipment downtime is so pronounced because it directly undermines companies’ ability to stay competitive. Unexpected equipment failures cause production delays; put product quality at risk; and increase service, maintenance, and other costs. Such failures also often lead to energy and material waste that thwart companies’ sustainability goals, which can in turn weaken their brand in consumers’ eyes. Naturally, those problems make it nearly impossible to remain competitive in the modern marketplace.
These SMBs can, however, overcome such issues by adopting a more flexible, efficient approach in the form of connected services. Connected services rely on advanced technology to stream and capture asset data in real time, which provides greater visibility into the equipment’s performance and service needs.
Table of Contents
- Traditional Solutions Limit SMBs’ Competitiveness
- Downtime Costs Add Up Quickly
- IIoT Models Address Downtime Concerns
- Connected Services Integrations Simplify Implementation
- Connected Services Also Improve Sustainability
- Summary and Recommendations
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