Enabling Digitization: How Siemens EP is Using Brightly Software to Enhance Asset Management Across its 12 North American Plants

Improving Visibility Into Asset and Facility Needs

With Asset Essentials and Origin, Siemens now has immediate visibility of all equipment and assets in use across its footprint. While Asset Essentials centralizes data about every facility, piece of equipment, and other critical assets, Origin records the costs of those assets based on downtime, repairs, and replacement costs. The team is using Origin to automatically capture data across the division, so leaders can identify and analyze trends. 

Hayden says, “We are embarking on a five-year footprint plan that includes what equipment we need to build and what our capacities are. Asset Essentials and Origin have expedited that process significantly. We can quickly see how much equipment is available at each location and simplify the process of planning for future needs.” In addition to gaining visibility of all equipment and assets, the software has allowed Hayden and other leaders to quickly see the equipment brands in use at each plant and the performance of various brands. For example, Hayden recently ran a downtime report and found that five suppliers represent 80% of downtime across the company’s footprint. “Now we can focus on those suppliers and work with them to improve the equipment they’re providing to us,” Hayden says. “We expect an increase in output because we’re proactively addressing downtime and keeping equipment in better working order.”

Prioritizing Replacements and Enhancing Funding Requests

Today, the bulk of the customized equipment used by Siemens EP has started to reach its expected life. Origin has made it easy to prioritize which assets need to be replaced first and support funding requests for those replacements. 

“The software recommends a lot to be replaced in the first year and almost nothing in the second year, and we will level it out by prioritizing,” he says. “[Origin] will help us get there.” 

In addition to prioritizing replacements for the coming year, Hayden will also use Origin to execute those plans throughout the year. “Origin has become the source of truth for our division wide system,” he says. “It has allowed us to capture not just labor costs on maintenance but also the cost of asset replacement. It is where the financial piece comes in and allows us to see the true cost of the equipment and simplify the approval process.”

Facilitating Valuable Cross-Departmental Conversations

Asset Essentials and Origin made it easy to run reports on the condition of assets and the number of assets operating beyond their expected life. With that data in hand, Hayden assembled meetings with manufacturing engineers, maintenance professionals, and finance professionals to review the data.

“They all had to get together to review the lists of assets, which has never really happened before,” Hayden says. “It’s unusual to proactively get these groups together and have conversations about how often assets break down and what the data shows should be replaced. We were able to have candid discussions about what should be replaced and what assets need to be on the list for capital expenditures, rather than just making a list of requests for funding based on emotions (current issues or hot topics).”

Those candid discussions among various groups have been one of the most valuable results of implementing the software, Hayden says. The conversations have raised awareness and piqued interest in the data among higher levels of leadership, driving Hayden to add an observer license to Siemens’ software package. 

“Origin allows us to be proactive in capital expenditures in a way we never have been before because we’re able to see all the costs on a per-asset basis and share that visibility with all stakeholders,” Hayden says.