As we steadily approach ASUG Best Practices: SAP for EAM—occurring later this month—ASUG had an opportunity to sit down with Simon Lee, solution manager for EAM at SAP, to discuss changes and opportunities in the EAM space. Check out our conversation.
ASUG: Tell us about your background and current role at SAP.
Simon: I am a solution manager focusing on our asset performance management solutions. I have been working on this topic for the past 8 years at SAP, first with product development, and now solution management.
ASUG: How would you say the last two years have affected many EAM customers’ technology plans? Why?
Simon: We saw our customers slowing down technology adoption plans in general due to COVID-19, but we have been seeing customers [invest in intelligent] technologies to improve supply chain resiliency.
ASUG: What are some keys to success when creating and implementing a condition-based maintenance (CBM) program?
Simon: People, process, and technology [are] the constant ingredients in all the successful asset performance management projects that I have seen. The right technology for a condition-based program is especially important as it makes a difference in whether your program can scale.
ASUG: What do you consider some common pitfalls that you’d encourage customers to avoid when setting up a CBM program?
Simon: While having the right technology is critical, you will also have to ensure that the right processes, which often have to be reconfigured to take advantage of the technology—and the buy-in from the [relevant] organizations—are in place.
ASUG: In what ways can IoT and cloud solutions help bolster and improve a CBM program?
Simon: IoT and cloud technologies can help provide the leverage to scale from a small project with a few equipment [parts] to successfully incorporating CBM [into] an entire plant or multiple plants.
ASUG: What’s an example of an SAP customer that is leveraging intelligent technologies into its EAM?
Simon: Swiss Federal Railways is a great example of an SAP EAM customer using our solutions for reliability center-based maintenance and [CBM].
ASUG: What future Industry 4.0 developments should we be looking for in the EAM space over the next 3–5 years?
Simon: We expect to see more innovations with AI-based predictive and optimization capabilities in the EAM space; these are the things that our product development teams are working on as well.
ASUG Best Practices: SAP for EAM is happening virtually March 30–31. Register here.