In any industry, operational excellence depends on several factors, one of which is an efficient and reliable maintenance strategy.
Whether you are self-reliant and carry out maintenance activities yourself or rely on service partners to actively perform service activities, sometimes you need more than just spare parts to maintain smooth operations during the life cycle of your installed base.
ABB understands the importance of effective and rapid support and is continuously striving to improve its services to provide a better customer experience. This approach is part of ABB’s core values, as it believes in long-term relationships with its customers.
ABB believes that after-sale support is a key differentiator for its products. Even a great product that contains all the features required by a consumer still requires exceptional after-sale services for total customer satisfaction.
It is essential that service needs and requests are addressed in the best possible way long after the sale has been concluded.
At ABB Measurement & Analytics, service personnel feel a strong sense of responsibility for their customers' needs and are committed to meeting unique service requirements to the fullest extent possible.
ABB’s service support is designed to help customers find the right support specific to the lifecycle phase of the installed base and the unique maintenance strategy in place so customers are always clear about how to restart operations.
In keeping with their motto “Measurement made easy”, ABB has launched a service agreement that can be tailored to the exact requirements of customers, referred to as the Measurement Care Agreement.
Customers define which services require support, and ABB combines them into one agreement.
ABB's approach is based on a combination of operational experience and technical expertise. This modular service agreement is organized into three categories to help identify the support customers need: rapid response, lifecycle management, and performance improvement.
Image Credit: ABB Measurement & Analytics
Rapid Response
Unexpected downtime in any operational environment is expensive and exposes potential safety risks. For example, in case of an energy shortage, gas power plants are used to quickly fill the energy gap, as such facilities can quickly be put online. In the event of unplanned downtime, the gas turbine cannot be fired up, risking a breakdown of the entire energy system of a cluster.
This is why it is crucial to have a maintenance strategy in place to address and resolve any issues quickly and effectively. Such a strategy could involve having spare parts on-site and having access to 24/7 on-site support, or it could rely on access to remote support and the ability to connect to experts across the globe to guide in-house service engineers to fix the problem.
Lifecycle Management
Achieving operational excellence requires well maintained, reliable technology to maximize the lifecycle of any device, spare parts management being one requirement.
Regular inspection and diagnostics of an installed base may lead to improved preventative maintenance strategies. Thus, a service partner committed to taking care of assets is crucial.
The same applies to self-maintainers, but finding the right spare part can be a particular challenge. Access to tools such as ABB's My Measurement Assistant enables users to identify required spare parts and easily request quotes via the innovative web application.
An added benefit of relying on ABB Service engineers is that they can map all devices while they are on-site, and afterward, a deep analysis of the lifecycle status of each device can be carried out. From this analysis, the customer is provided with various options and recommendations on how to maximize the lifecycle of the installed base.
Performance Improvement
Connected field services are the future of unleashing operational excellence. Applying digital, cloud-based, and on-premise technologies helps optimize service strategies.
Predictive maintenance solutions and early warning systems can prevent unplanned downtime and delayed responses to restarting operations.
ABB believes that your service provider's commitment and trust are paramount and that a long-term relationship and trust need to be nurtured.
Providing services in many areas is tangible, such as field service, remote support, or repairs. ABB invests in service enablers, service processes, and the latest service tools and systems to ensure the highest availability of spare parts and that employees are skilled with the latest service knowledge.
Acknowledgments
Produced from materials originally authored by Rainer Benz from ABB Measurement & Analytics.
This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by ABB Measurement & Analytics.
For more information on this source, please visit ABB Measurement & Analytics.