The asset management and development industry has had quite a considerable share of highs and lows in its pursuit for relevance in modern-day industrial and residential applications. Largely, that has resulted from delayed collaboration by industry players for products and legislation that will push for continual product and service improvement. There has also been stiff competition among industry leaders, new entrants, and stakeholders.
That has made the industry lag in ideas that could facilitate pushing some innovations mainstream for universally efficient asset development and management process.
It’s time for collaborative contributions
Innovation has been among the slowest in some markets in which asset management is critical. That makes asset development and management incomparable to markets that have been open to embrace, collaborate for, and roll out new technologies such as security solutions and well pumps.
There, therefore, should be a change of perception and willingness to work together to have the industry match up to the pace of other global developments. Without collaborative contribution, there will be much to lose than profits. It is not to say that the industry has not had any innovations, especially in Utah. Nonetheless, there is still a lot more to do to rate innovation in asset development management as substantial.
What will that mean?
Retrospectively, energy efficiency, and safety top the list of areas that attract the most attention, especially when addressing innovation in the development of commercial and industrial assets. That will require these innovations to ensure every part of machine and equipment systems records optimal performance throughout their service life. Typical solutions here include:
Automating failure avoidance and correction
Most of the equipment failures occur at seal faces and in the moving regions. Therefore, automatic self-lubrication should be among the critical features to prioritize in developing equipment with such parts. Smart locking features, on the other hand, will help in preventing further damage as equipment operation stops at the slightest change from the set parameters.
Prioritizing durability and eliminating wastage
All assets should scale up their processes to eliminate water and fuel wastage and reduce operational time, to pass as a high-efficiency product. And that includes assets in residential properties as do those in commercial, industrial applications. Flow meters, and magnetic drive and well pumps should also mirror the same high level of performance. They should come with highly durable leak-proof piston mechanisms and enhanced features for detecting and adjusting accordingly to heat variations, respectively.
Shortening extreme variations
Drastic rotating force variations are characteristic of most industrial systems. Extreme variations in such forces can even cause equipment failures. In applications where there is near-zero monitoring, the damage can be way disastrous that it becomes overly costly to correct. Industrial assets should address this by having features that will moderate extreme variations irrespective of use, especially in least-monitored applications.
As long as the subject of efficiency and sustainability is on the table, innovation remains the most relevant and practical solution. But, whether it is time for the asset development and management industry to now stay its focus on innovation is not the primary question here. Instead, it is whether all industry players are willing to collaborate to create asset development and management solutions that are sustainable and operationally efficient.
