Information meets machine for efficient bus repair — Industry 4.0
Dynamic Maintenance and repair using GRIPS, example
Typically, maintenance and service plans are static and not optimized for individual products. This can lead to waste of scarce resources such as time, money and materials. Not so in GRIPs.
When maintenance plans, interval and material are managed in GRIPS, you can produce dynamic maintenance plans and servicing strategies. Maintenance plans created in GRIPS take into account variable such as time and usage intensity (e.g. for a vehicle, the mileage), since last service, quality of the consumable (e.g. oil and fuel quality) and operation conditions (usage profile). For example, a dynamic maintenance plan for a bus can vary greatly depending on how demanding the operational conditions are: touring cross-country being the least demanding while inter-urban service to arduous or city service being the most demanding on engines, brakes and the body.
Maintenance information is dynamically compiled for different contexts. A bus might come in to a service station for just two hours and an individualized maintenance plan needs to be produced combining all maintenance steps, which have high-quality priority for this vehicle; require similar skills and tools; and for which the material required are already in stock and do not have to be ordered.
The dynamic maintenance capabilities of GRIPS are revolutionizing how maintenance is done. Instead of a predefined static, rigid and expensive maintenance schedule, it is a product’s individual configuration, history and current context (the time the vehicle is available for maintenance, budget for maintenance, etc.) that determine which maintenance task will be performed.
Similar to dynamic maintenance, repair information can also be dynamically produced and individualized in GRIPS. For example, when performing multiple repair steps after an automobile accident, a service technician can combine repair steps which all require, as pre-work, the car to be put on the lift, or which all require a specific, expensive tool (like a diagnostics device), which is available only one in the service station and is therefor in high-demand. Dynamic maintenance and repair make an efficient use of scarce resources and increase customer satisfaction.
Dynamic Diagnostics
Similar to maintenance, most diagnostics and troubleshooting routines today are statically generated. Diagnostic trees produced by Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) are defined by engineers or aftersales specialists, and do not take into consideration any contextual information like time, tools, shared preparation steps, etc., necessary to produce a more effective, relevant and individualized diagnostic procedure on demand. GRIPS manage fault codes, symptoms, causes, links to repairs and feedback from previous diagnostic sessions.
Unlike other content management systems, GRIPS also manages the links to a model of the product’s structural and functional breakdown, as well as the links between components in the two models (e.g. how hardware and software components are related to support different braking system functions: like normal braking, manual braking, assisted braking with ABS / ESPS, etc.) Those functional and structural models are then used to produce context sensitive and efficient diagnostic procedures. Moreover, feedback collected from many diagnostic sessions help to identify the most relevant diagnostic or troubleshooting strategy for an actual problem.
Read more about GRIPS Information Management.
