In our next exhibitor interview, we are joined by Michael Bernhard, Senior Solutions Architect at AssetWatch, to share exclusive insights into the industry.

Manufacturing facilities worldwide face common challenges: stressed equipment, unplanned downtime, strained personnel, managing multiple vendors, and overwhelming data.

AssetWatch solves these challenges with an end-to-end condition monitoring solution that provides a comprehensive view of your asset health– from a single monitoring point to an enterprise level view. They bundle wireless sensors, the communication network, cutting-edge software, and expert engineers all for one low monthly subscription.

 

What do you think sets your company apart from your competitors?

The experts on our team that become an extension of your team. Every facility will have a dedicated team including a solutions architect, a customer success manager and a condition monitoring engineer (CME) to ensure that the program is easy to use and successful. The CME is tasked with interpreting your data and providing prescriptive and actionable insights, so you know exactly where to start when an anomaly occurs.

 

Are there any new technology developments that your company is working on at the moment?

We recently added an oil analysis solution to our platform, further strengthening your ability to own your asset health. The vibration, temperature and oil analysis data are coupled with machine learning, and it’s all in one place. The days of disparate information and static PDFs are over.

 

What are the biggest challenges facing the industry today, and how can this be overcome?

We often hear from customers about not having enough team members to monitor every asset in a facility which adds stress to the team, the equipment and unfortunately, the budget. This can be overcome by implementing a solution that helps identify, and more importantly prioritize, asset risks, so the team is optimizing their time.

 

How do you see the sector developing in the next five to ten years?

In the next five to ten years, I think everyone will be using machine learning and AI to predict asset risks. It’s being adopted in the marketplace now, and the sooner it’s implemented, the higher the cost savings will be for a company.

 

What are you most looking forward to at this year’s show?

We’re going to be in the extrusion hall, so I'm interested in learning more about the challenges that extrusion companies are facing. While we’re at the show, it’ll also be great to learn about how predictive could help in compounding, recycling and polymer testing too. 

 

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AssetWatch will be exhibiting at the Plastic Extrusion World Expo.