On the way from the factory floor to the executive floor
The last few months, marked by the pandemic, have also shaken up industrial companies and the manufacturing sector. Digitalization was pushed forward, production processes were restructured and new sales channels were developed. Even after the crisis, many things will no longer be the same as before .
In such turbulent times, companies are not only rethinking the efficiency of their production processes for cost reasons. The motto is to achieve more with less effort and still maintain a high level of quality - an important advantage in global competition. In this context, the topic of maintenance also takes on a completely new importance. Many top managers have recognized that modern maintenance measures can not only save money, but also optimize the production process, increase system availability and thus improve operating results and competitiveness.
A development that was long overdue. According to the industry association FVI - Forum Vision Maintenance - maintenance accounts for around 40% of operating costs on average. The Asset Manager market study states that in industrialized nations around 10%-15% of the workforce is engaged in maintenance and facility management tasks. So there are around 40-50 million in Europe. Jobs are directly or indirectly related to the value retention of systems, buildings and infrastructural facilities. Maintenance has always been an economic factor. Now it is also becoming a competitive and location factor!
The perception of the maintenance worker as the colleague in overalls with the oil can is outdated. The tasks of modern maintenance are rather to increase system availability, increase occupational safety, improve machines and processes, optimize system efficiency and ensure cost efficiency. Maintenance therefore has a cross-sectional function in the company and is crucial to economic success. That's why maintenance is increasingly becoming a top priority.
Maintenance is now a high-tech industry. Thanks to modern plant technology and consistent IT structures, production processes can be recorded and controlled more and more holistically. Classic, hierarchical corporate structures, in which the individual departments are only connected through individual interfaces and therefore the flow of information is often inhibited, are becoming obsolete models. They are replaced by flat, continuous structures. The holistic control of the production process enables an efficient, resource-optimized value chain throughout the entire company. And the person responsible for maintenance can be in charge here.
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