Sept. 25, 2020

From knowledge to successful business

Working together in a field lab offers opportunities and also requires change in the way we work. As Darwin put it, "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

The manufacturing industry is changing rapidly. New production technologies and the further integration of ICT in the entire process of design, manufacture and distribution also offer opportunities for a more effective form of maintenance. An approach that makes failure behavior and wear and tear predictable and maintenance 'just in time'. Sensor technology and data analytics will make maintenance smarter, more sustainable and more efficient, and installation data will guide production. There is still much to be gained here. Only 3% of sensor data in the industry is still used for maintenance purposes. In the Fieldlab, partners work together on 100% predictable maintenance of installations in the manufacturing and process industry.

The field lab partners are organizations together that have complementary skills and resources. Suppliers of sensors that generate data, such as Semiotic Labs through voltage measurements and IJssel Predictive through vibration measurements, for example, work together with organizations that specialize in data analysis and data visualization such as the VU and FACTA. There is also an important role for end users such as Tata Steel's engineers who have the knowledge of the production facilities to interpret and help understand the data generated by the sensors.

This unique combination of knowledge and skills can improve understanding of plant operation and optimization. In the fieldlab, we are also investigating what new business models fit from these types of collaborations, also called ecosystems.

Want to read more about the different ecosystems and working together in them? Then read the blog by Dennis van Kampen of the VU, partner of the Fieldlab.