INTERVIEW WITH ...
solutions , while optimising performance and energy efficiency gains across the entire lifetime of their applications .”
Q . TELL US ABOUT THE IMPACT OF DOWNTIME .
» “ The impact of unplanned downtime for any company is severe . According to ABB calculations , in the food and beverage sector for example , downtime can cost from between US $ 4,000 and US $ 30,000 per hour : a substantial amount when you consider that up to 12 hours can be lost in a single incident if cleanup operations are required . Paper producers , meanwhile , lose up to US $ 25,000 every hour when a key asset breaks down , with the steel industry averaging around US $ 300,000 in losses per critical machine failure . On top of the obvious direct financial costs , downtime also presents businesses with several indirect costs , like reputational damage , health and safety risks , loss of team morale and insurance premium rises .”
Q . WHAT IS AN OUTCOME-BASED SERVICE MODEL ?
» “ Traditionally , service partners charge their customers based on labour and material costs . At best , they may specify a minimum time to fix any failures . Instead , an outcome-based service model is one that shifts the focus towards the intended outcome – such as uptime or energy savings . The service partner charges based on successful delivery of that outcome – for example , certain uptime in a given period . In many ways , outcome-based service models
represent an insurance-style model that lowers or removes the risk of industrial operations away from the business and onto the service provider . Some early adopters see it as an opportunity to ‘ climb the reliability ladder ’.
“ The first step is a reactive maintenance strategy where the business takes the risk of fixing equipment only when it fails . The second step would be to have a predetermined maintenance schedule , which is referred to as a timebased or condition-based strategy . The third step is an outcome-based model where a long-term service partner
18 October 2023