Your DPS system can deal with different topics, that help in improving different aspects of your product and the process in which it is involved. For example it can help the end user performing preventive maintenance operations (topic: health), or the operation manager optimizing the work process (topic: process), or your dealer with the supply of consumables (topic: consumables).
While evaluating the business impact of your DPS system, and even while configuring it, it is helpful to first make a list of all the possible topics you want to consider, then order them by priority, and then deal with one topic at a time.
Typically, each topic is associated with a quality, which can be positive (eg. performance) or negative (eg. consumption), and which can be expressed in a form of customer wish (I want more topic or less topic).
Health
Health is the first topic to think about. And it is the foundation without which nothing would work downstream. Only a product in good health condition is capable of working at the maximum performance and efficiency for which it was designed and enable the customer to achieve the expected outcomes.
Even if related, it is important to separate health from other aspects, such as performance, because they may be the responsibility of different people or teams.
Typical questions around product health:
- is this product in good health condition ?
- is health stable or deteriorating ?
- what is the general health condition of my fleet of products ?
- what are the products in the worst health condition in my fleet ?
Availability (or Uptime)
Another interesting topic, which may be a precondition for the full exploitation of the product, is its availability. Availability is the amount of time the product is available to start operating.
A synonym of Availability is Uptime.
Unavailability (or Downtime)
The opposite of Availability is Unavailability, that is, on the other hand, the amount of time the product is not able to start operating, either because of a failure or ongoing maintenance operations.
A synonym of Unavailability is Downtime.
Productivity
For any product that produces an output, productivity is another relevant topic.
Typical questions around productivity:
- is this product producing the expected amount of output per time unit ?
- is productivity increasing, stable, or decreasing ?
- what are the products that are least productive in my fleet ?
Consumption
Any product consumes something, at least energy. Consumption is therefore another topic of interest.
Efficiency
Absolute consumption may not be much interesting in itself because it varies and it depends on the amount of work done by the product. A more interesting aspect is therefore that of efficiency i.e., consumption related to the amount of work done or amount of output generated by the product.
Typical questions around efficiency:
- is this product working at the expected efficiency ?
- is efficiency increasing, stable, or decreasing ?
- what are the products that are least efficient in my fleet ?
Process
For any product whose work is divided into phases, the process carried out by the product is another relevant topic.
Typical questions around process:
- do the phases have a reasonable duration ?
- are there phases that take longer than normal ?
- on which products in my fleet does the process work worse ?
Spare Parts
If the supplier provides spare parts for their products, spare parts may also be a topic of interest.
Typical questions around spare parts:
- are all the spare parts in this product in good condition ?
- when will I need to replace a spare part ?
- a failure has occurred; what is the spare part needed to repair it ?
Consumables
If the supplier provides consumables for their products, consumables may also be a topic of interest.
Typical questions around consumables:
- does each product have a sufficient level of consumables to ensure its operation ?
- do I have sufficient consumable stock to ensure the operation of the entire fleet of products ?
- when should I replace the next stock of consumables ?
Quality
In addition to productivity and efficiency, often the value generated by the product is in the quality of the end result. Although this is one of the most difficult topics to measure it can be one of the most interesting and valuable to address in a DPS system.
Typical questions around quality:
- is the quality of the output generated by the product good enough ?
- is quality increasing, stable, or decreasing ?
- what products in my fleet generate lower quality?
Sustainability
In certain contexts, the sustainability of the product and the work it does can also be of great value to the end customer. For example, a client with a high environmental impact may be very careful to measure, monitor, and increase the sustainability of its operations.
Consequently, sustainability can also be a topic of interest in a DPS system.
Typical questions around sustainability:
- does this product have a low environmental impact?
- is impact increasing, stable, or decreasing ?
- which products in my fleet have the greatest environmental impact ?
Connection
In a DPS system, the vast majority of functions depend on the connection between the products and the system. For this reason, it is fundamental to measure and monitor of how long and well products are connected.
A reliable connection, ideally 100% of the time, ensures that the information drawn from the data is reliable and corresponds closely to the actual situation. In this context, your decisions are appropriate.
Conversely, if there are long disconnection times, you no longer have the certainty of knowing what happened while the product was disconnected. In this context, you live in the unknown and cannot make decisions.
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