How To Manage Equipment Obsolescence

No one wants expensive unplanned downtime. Here are key steps to avoid it when dealing with obsolete technology.

close up of a toothed gear system. Such systems may be affected by equipment obsolescence.
No one wants downtime because of equipment obsolescence. Keep those gears turning.

Unplanned downtime due to equipment obsolescence.  

It’s a dirty subject no one wants to talk about. And for good reason.  A 2016 study by the Aberdeen Group put downtime costs across industries at a whopping $260,000 per hour, up 60% from 2014 data.  A 2014 Gartner study was even worse: placing the average cost at $336,000/hour.   One lost eight-hour shift could mean a $2.08 million to $2.68 million loss. 

Regardless of who’s right about the costs, eliminating downtime and disruption is a high priority for most businesses.   Yet more than two-thirds of companies don’t have a full understanding of when their equipment should be maintained, upgraded, or replaced.  

While we’re excited about the future of  Industry 4.0 and IIoT, where every machine can self-analyze its needs and tell you what to do before there’s a problem, we also understand most factories and industrial locations aren’t there yet. They likely won’t be for decades as they continue to operate with older systems in place. 

But old doesn’t mean unusable.  Here’s why. 

Continue reading “How To Manage Equipment Obsolescence”

Infographic: Why IIoT is Essential to Manufacturing

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has been described as the basis of the coming Fourth Industrial Revolution, otherwise known as Industry 4.0. IIoT is essential to manufacturing. But why? What benefits does the technology bring to the industry?

IIoT brings connectivity, automation, and data analytics to the factory floor. Embedded or attached sensors gather data, which is then used as the basis of analytics and machine learning processes to create a “smart factory.”

Smart factories employ a number of different technologies, including

  • machine learning to analyze data
  • sensors and other monitoring devices to improve production efficiency through real-time decision making
  • integrated robotics that can work alongside human workers

All of these technologies integrate with or rely on IIoT.

We’ve attached an infographic below to answer the question of what makes IIoT so valuable to manufacturing. If you find it useful, feel free to download and use the high-resolution version available at the end of this article.

Infographic: Why IIoT is Essential to Manufacturing
Why IIoT is Essential to Manufacturing
IIot-Essential-InfographicDownload

If you need to know more about how to bring your legacy equipment into the IIoT age, we’ve written about that.

AX Control, Inc provides industrial automation products and repair services to customers around the world.

AX Control Scholarship Winners Announced

Close up of glasses on an open book. The AX Control Scholarship rewards hard work.
Thank you to everyone who applied for the AX Control Scholarship.

AX Control, Inc is pleased to announce that Zaven Hamazaspyan is the winner of the 2020 AX Control Inc Academic Scholarship. This year’s scholarship is in the amount of $1,000. We chose the winner based upon the strength of a short essay. This focused on a personal account of an ambition he/she had to establish their own business, or of a small business that had impacted their life.

Due to the quality of the essays received, an additional $500 was awarded to a second student. The recipient of this award is Evan Rene MacLaughlin.

Thank you to all the students that participated in this year’s scholarship process. We received essays from around the country, including from students from Ivy League schools like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Applicants also pulled from other competitive schools like NYU, Stanford, Duke, and Johns Hopkins.

Please check back soon for information on our 2021 Scholarship application.