Service organizations play a vital role in helping industry to run smoothly, reliably and cost-effectively. However, customers could enjoy better value and more sustainable operations with a shift in focus. Instead of the traditional approach of paying for maintenance, repair and replacement operations, they can adopt outcome-based models for guaranteed uptime or energy savings. Amit Gupta – Division President, Motion Services, ABB, India in conversation with Manufacturing Today shared the role of service organizations.
How does ABB Motion Services help their customers?
ABB has manufactured and serviced motors & generators for over 130 years, and drives for more than 40 years, across a wide range of industries. Our history of innovation has established our legacy as a credible service partner. In today’s fast-paced world, businesses need to find new and agile ways for smarter maintenance.
Motion Services partners with our customers to proactively manage and service their assets in a strategic way, with plans to match specific needs. Our services include data & advisory, planned & recovery services, modernization & performance improvement services, OneCare agreement and partnered solutions. These flexible and scalable services with global reach and local availability keep customer assets in peak condition while also helping them save energy, maximize uptime, and lower costs of ownership.
What has been the idea behind creating a motion service?
Our Motion service division is driven by the purpose of leveraging innovative ways of service and enhancing customer experience through advanced & intelligent service offerings. We are aware that “one size does not fit all” and our goal is to deliver tailored services to our customers at incredible speed and range. In order to support the large installed base of motors and drives in India, we have two dedicated service workshops with over 60 certified field service engineers serving more than 1000 customers across different industries and applications.
Over the years, we have also built our digitilization portfolio that is changed the way how customers look at service partnerships.Companies are accelerating social and environmental change at unprecedented rates, backed by IoT and AI-powered solutions. It’s no longer just about reliability and uptime. Whether it’s a steel manufacturing plant or a food processing unit, customers can count on us to keep their equipment running at peak performance while also contributing to energy savings and improved safety. We are creating new business models that will serve the future needs of our customers and partners based on digital solutions.
How can new service models help industries maximize uptime, extend product lifecycles, enhance performance and boost energy efficiency?
Service partnerships are critical for the smooth, reliable, and cost-effective operation of businesses. Regardless of the industry in which they operate, If organizations are willing to adopt new outcome-based service models, then they will have guaranteed uptime or energy savings instead of the traditional approach of paying for maintenance, repair, and replacement operations. By sharing their targets, needs, and risks with ABB in advance, our experts can develop the best service regime to support them. Adopting new service models can improve sustainability, with energy efficiency providing a significant opportunity. Remote monitoring of equipment allows us to monitor its performance in real-time and identify the scope for improving energy efficiency. Electric motors, for example, can be upgraded to the highest efficiency levels, such as IE3, IE4 and IE5. Inefficient speed control methods, such as throttling, could be replaced by variable speed drives, which can typically increase energy efficiency by 30–50%. Drives can accomplishes this by adjusting the speed and torque of a motor as it operates to match the system’s load requirements.
What are outcome-based service models? How are you delivering that?
The traditional model where the service provider is paid for their material and work provided on-site is gradually shifting to an outcome-based business model driven by new digital solutions. The pandemic has prompted many organizations to rethink their service strategy with many realizing the importance of remote monitoring capabilities. Predictive maintenance is replacing the reactive maintenance approach. It’s no longer about how quickly we can get people on-site but how we can prepare a strategy to avoid the risk of breakdowns and downtime. Furthermore, customers have also started demanding that their service providers deliver guaranteed levels of reliability, availability, and productivity. The economic benefit of this new approach is that solution porviders like ABB already have the in-depth knowledge and expertise to optimize their products’ lifecycle and performance. Therefore, they can ensure smooth running of the plants, rather than the asset owner, as is the case currently.
In what areas can you aid an organization or a business with your services?
Our service agreements are flexible to match customer needs and can include training, spare parts, extensions and retrofits, upgrades, replacements, condition monitoring, predictive maintenance, and repairs. We offer modernization solutions that help in extending lifetime and enhance performance of our customer’s aging assets by upgrading, retrofitting, or replacing them with the latest technology. An example of this is our Slip power recovery systems(SPRS) for slip ring motors, that provides excellent torque and speed control and aids in recovering power from the rotor and feeds it back to power system, thus avoiding wastage of energy.
Our digital monitoring capabilities deliver insights and anticipate maintenance issues before they occur. Customer assets will automatically alert when they need a service. This means customers can minimize downtime and be smarter about when to plan maintenance and what parts to replace. In India, we are continuously monitoring more than 1400+ critical drives and motors through our remote monitoring center located in Bengaluru. Motion Services experts are available 24×7 and pride themselves on giving local, fast and expert advice regardless of the business size, industry, and requirements.
Is there any stage of a business that you have been unable to provide a service? If yes, are you planning on introducing one? Why/why not?
For our drives and motors, we provide end-to-end life cycle managemnet and services.. We would like to contribute more in the data-driven energy appraisals. By offering our Digital Powertrain Energy Appraisal, we can offer expertise and advisory service that delivers energy efficiency insights by leveraging real-time data collected via ABB Ability™ Digital Powertrain connected assets.