NI develops the ActiveUptime

27/09/2022

NI has launched ActiveUptime, a Maintenance-as-a-Service (MaaS) solution for condition monitoring and predictive maintenance of test equipment and test facilities. This turnkey solution is tailored to the user’s environment and provides the information needed to proactively monitor system health and prevent critical test equipment from failing. As part of the ongoing service, a dedicated technician from NI’s maintenance team will remotely monitor system health, provide support and adapt the solution based on the customer’s needs. This solution advances the user’s capabilities to proactively predict outages before they happen.

Equipment failure accounts for 42% of unplanned downtime costs and an estimated annual US$50 billion (approximately £40.8 billion) in losses globally to manufacturers, yet 52% of manufacturers report using spreadsheets to monitor and manage equipment. ActiveUptime delivers a ready-to-use service that includes the hardware and software necessary to collect valuable environmental and system data and edge-based preprocessing to speed-up data collection, aggregation and movement. The outcome-specific dashboards for both condition monitoring and predictive maintenance monitor system health in real time and identify critical areas needing attention, thereby eliminating the disruption caused by unexpected equipment failures.

“One of the key challenges faced by manufacturers is having visibility into physical systems to keep them running smoothly and avoiding any reputation-damaging product failures,” said Josh Mueller, SVP & GM of NI’s Portfolio Business Unit. “ActiveUptime provides the most accurate picture of these systems. With the assistance of our maintenance experts, our customers get to the root of the problem quickly, achieve fast resolution and implement measures to prevent it from happening again.”

ActiveUptime delivers the monitoring tools needed by maintenance teams, from intelligent environmental sensor boards and optimised data processing to intuitive real-time dashboards and predictive modelling, with the addition of having maintenance experts at the ready. The complete service can be up and running in days rather than months, turning a test into a strategic asset.

“Predictive maintenance and CM are becoming key pillars in the broader digital transformation of manufacturing,” Josh explained. “Real-time continuous monitoring maximises total asset uptime, reduces the costly expense of spares and optimises maintenance costs by moving from time-based to usage-based maintenance.”