Understanding APM and system monitoring

We titled this chapter around APM which is the ability to monitor and assess the performance of your equipment and processes across the factory floor. Unhealthy assets can contribute to a wide array of issues across the manufacturing process, from unexpected downtime to reduced productivity and output quality. Organizations can measure asset performance, availability, and quality using Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) metrics; however, knowing what is going on at the equipment level takes a deeper approach to understanding. Any specific asset within your manufacturing environment contributes to your factory’s overall efficiency and productivity. The goal is to enhance efficiency by monitoring, maintaining, and possibly improving each piece of equipment within the chain.

We examined Figure 8.1 early in Chapter 1 of this book, Welcome to the Revolution, and looked at how we can incrementally progress maintenance initiatives for our...