Gemba Relationship Day: about innovation, sustainability and the role of IBM MAS

Asset management is at a crossroads. And that has everything to do with technological innovation, for example around AI. But also, sustainability is a theme that no one can ignore anymore. It all came up at the Gemba Relationship Day last November 8. Here is a short impression of a successful day, full of knowledge exchange in an informal atmosphere.

14 November 2023 • 15 min read

iTanks pitch breakfast with Gemba partners and Open IJ

The day started early in the Stoomhal in Wormer. Prior to the Gemba Relationship Day, there was a pitch breakfast from iTanks at half past seven, with Gemba partners Merrem & la Porte and Vector Eyes and Gemba customer kennisbank/cases/prestatiemeetsysteem-voor-aanleg-en-onderhoud-zeesluis-ijmuiden/

Merrem & la Porte talked about a joint solution for cathodic protection. Vector Eyes about the use of their document solution and IBM Maximo Application Suite (IBM MAS) at petrochemical company Koole. Both pitches were inspiring and invited to visit their stand later that day. Open IJ concluded the breakfast with an intriguing preview of their extensive presentation that afternoon, about the application of IBM MAS in the management and maintenance of the largest sea lock in the world.

Ready for challenges in asset management?

Jack Lok of Gemba set the stage for the Gemba Relationship Day. Asset management is at a crossroads, he stated. AI, block chain and data determine the future and make completely new things possible. For example, a fault analysis of a pump with AI takes only two hours, instead of a whole day. Asset managers can spend that time on other important things.
Their role is changing anyway: the digital asset manager of the future understands physical assets, but also regulations and sustainability. Because those are also challenges that organizations must deal with. And how do you deal with the growing together of the IT department and the technical department? All aspects that change daily asset management, according to Lok. Anyone who wants to be ready for the future has only one choice: get started.

Data, drones, and visual inspection

From the first dashboards with meters that provide insight into the state of maintenance of assets to generative AI: a considerable path has already been traveled in the use of data within asset management. Data scientist Damiaan Zwietering from IBM described the path and showed where we are now. How can we capture and process data more smartly? And what can we do with the data?

For example, the Danish Sund & Baelt uses drones with IBM MAS to inspect the bridge between Denmark and Sweden and to quickly and safely recognize deviations. Another example is the robot dog Spot, which controls factories with IBM MAS at night. In this way, the engineers are rested the next day and have more time for activities that require human expertise and intelligence. During the lunch break, there was a lot of interest in the demos of both visual inspection applications at the IBM stand.

Open IJ about the deployment of IBM MAS

After lunch, it was Philippe Kemps from Open IJ’s turn. He explained how Open IJ supports the maintenance of the impressive sea lock at IJmuiden with IBM MAS. Open IJ can thus realize one platform for processing all maintenance data, which also uses sensors to monitor assets. A next step is, for example, the purchase of a drone for carrying out inspection work.

Asset performance management and consultancy

Companies that, just like Open IJ, want to take steps towards asset performance management (APM) with IBM MAS do not have to do this alone. In addition to being able to contact Gemba itself, it is also possible to call on additional services from Gemba partners. An example of this is MaxGrip. Jeroen Tasseron of the consultancy company explained how MaxGrip and Gemba together help organizations to optimally organize asset performance management.

Sustainability: ESG and CSRD

Ronald Teijken from IBM discussed the theme of sustainability. Which ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) criteria must organizations meet? And what about the associated reporting obligation, in the form of the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive)? Anyone who wants to meet these obligations on time must start quickly. What does this mean in practice? And how can IBM MAS help in combination with Envision, IBM’s software for sustainability reporting?

Stedin about Maximo World and IBM MAS

The last speaker was Daniel Kolobaric from Gemba customer Stedin. He joined Gemba to Maximo World in Phoenix last summer and shared his most important take-aways. Gemba supports Stedin’s maintenance chains with IBM Maximo and helps the company with the transition to risk-based dynamic maintenance. The switch to IBM MAS is worthwhile in several respects, Kolobaric concluded after his visit to Maximo World. He mentioned, among other things, the user-friendly license model, the ease of SaaS and the many possibilities that IBM MAS offers in supporting Stedin’s maintenance processes.

Valuable knowledge and experience

During the drinks with bitterballen (of course with real Zaanse mayonnaise) there was an opportunity to chat. And anyone who had not yet visited the stands of IBM and Gemba partners Vector Eyes, Merrem & la Porte and MaxGrip during the lunch break could still do so. A great conclusion to a valuable day! Thanks to all participants, speakers and partners for sharing their knowledge and experience. And of course to master of ceremonies Mark Oosterveer, operational director of iTanks, for his professional guidance and the necessary interaction.

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Want to know more about what was said during the Gemba Relationship Day? Request the presentations from Johan Knook, via +31(0)6 50 52 68 23 or j.knook@gemba.nl.

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