Pioneering digital technology company ABB today previewed a new application, at SPS IPC Drives fair, that will help customers achieve higher levels of productivity and improve economic return to meet their performance and quality objectives.

The Asset Management Application is a digital solution that enables process industries to manage and protect their assets through predictive and preventative maintenance to avoid costly failures. Cost effective management becomes a reality through the optimization of workflows and in-depth analysis of results, offering efficient asset management strategies that enable smarter, more informed decisions.

The application offers industrial plants real-time condition monitoring of equipment, connected devices and field devices to reduce unscheduled downtime, prevents equipment failures and optimizes operation and maintenance of the installed base. ABB enables predictive and preventative maintenance by diagnosing asset conditions and predicting looming equipment problems on premise and, for the first time, at an enterprise’s global level. Moreover, the application enables the usage of advanced analytical methods such as machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyze equipment problems and optimize the performance.

As geographically dispersed production sites constantly grow, global connectivity, helped by advanced cloud technologies, is an important feature. It brings added benefits of wider collaboration across teams, management and operations.

ABB Ability™ Edge ensures a secure connection between assets and the cloud, efficiently separating IT and OT. Edge technology can also act as a platform for applications to give customers the option to operate solely on premise rather than in the cloud.

In the case of a problem, users can make informed and quick decisions, based on clear recommendations. Actions range from immediate attention to scheduling maintenance in the near future and the identification of issues that can be resolved during its routine maintenance of equipment. The application is available for basic instrumentation equipment across all processing and manufacturing industries, for detailed assets such as motor transformers or circuit breakers and complex electrical or rotating equipment, and mechanical handling equipment such as conveyor belts. By providing a precise cause of any equipment problems, the application also enables speedy identification and recovery, further reducing costs.

“One of our priorities when developing the Asset Management App was to provide customers with complete control over knowledge of the process. In doing so we will, for the first time, give them the flexibility to quickly create their own asset models from the intelligence they gather.” says Neil Shah, Global Product Manager for Device Management & Asset Optimization at ABB. “Asset analysis, including root-cause analysis, is another key factor in helping customers to remain competitive in today’s industrial markets.”

The Asset Management Application will be launched in the second half of 2019. It sits within ABB Ability™, ABB’s digital offering, which includes more than 210 Industrial Internet solutions and an Industrial Internet technology platform and cloud infrastructure. Drawing on insights across 20 plus industries and more than 40 years of experience in digital technology, ABB Ability™ helps customers to develop new processes and advance existing processes by providing insights and by optimizing planning and controlling for real-time operations. The results can flow into control systems such as ABB Ability™ System 800xA and ABB Ability™ Symphony Plus to improve key performance metrics of plants and assets.

With over 70 million connected devices, more than 70,000 digital control systems and 6,000 enterprise software solutions, ABBis a trusted leader in creating digital solutions for customers in the industrial space.

Dashboard view of Asset Health KPIs
ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a pioneering technology leader in power grids, electrification products, industrial automation and robotics and motion, serving customers in utilities, industry and transport & infrastructure globally. Continuing a history of innovation spanning more than 130 years, ABB today is writing the future of industrial digitalization with two clear value propositions: bringing electricity from any power plant to any plug and automating industries from natural resources to finished products. As title partner in ABB Formula E, the fully electric international FIA motorsport class, ABB is pushing the boundaries of e-mobility to contribute to a sustainable future. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 147,000 employees. www.abb.com