Modern Service Lifecycle Management For Aftermarket Efficiency and Effectiveness
Service Lifecycle Management (SLM) continues to grow in importance for many businesses, often enabling new business models, as well as increasing profitability and customer loyalty.
An effective, modern SLM solution must incorporate an end-to-end digital thread that spans the diverse service environment. It must provide up-to-date, accurate configuration information of all the mechanical, electrical/electronic, software, and associated document-related components of each asset, as well as the status and history of their operational use.
Effective SLM must also enable an open ecosystem of OEM, customer, and third-party applications and solutions that can work together to deliver effective, quality service of managed assets.
Connect service lifecycle management information using a digital thread throughout the service value chain
A modern service lifecycle management (SLM) solution can enable a company to more effectively drive service planning, improve design for serviceability, and optimize asset in-service use and operations. Foundational to a modern service lifecycle management solution is enabling a digital thread that connects all aspects of service information across the extended service value chain. Typically, service-related information and materials such as technical documentation, initial configurations, spares and kitting, service processes, and more, are created by the asset manufacturers and provided to the appropriate service organizations. Service management applications then assign and manage the service activities and history performed on the asset over time. For any asset, multiple organizations, personnel, and applications may be involved throughout its service life. A modern service lifecycle management solution ensures all this information, and all of these processes are connected.
Service lifecycle management enables up-to-date performance and status of the physical asset
Quickly resolving operational and service problems requires accurate knowledge of an asset’s complete configuration. To maintain the accuracy of the digital twin, the service lifecycle management solution must fully and accurately manage configurations throughout the assets’ lifecycle (e.g., maintaining up-to-date, complete service and as-maintained BOMs). This includes providing the capabilities and tools to capture data from distributed assets and perform appropriate analyses on that data. This enables a company to use asset performance data to proactively manage service activities and optimize spare parts inventory (spares, number, location) required, among other things.
Characteristics of a service lifecycle management solution
To achieve SLM goals, leading SLM solutions are adapting and applying product lifecycle management (PLM) concepts and techniques to the planning, design, production, and operation of long-life assets. A successful service lifecycle management environment must be built on a flexible, adaptable, scalable architecture that enables an enterprise to easily adjust the SLM solution to meet its changing business needs. It must also enable the creation of an open ecosystem of seamless, integrated connectivity to multiple sources of service data and processes, e.g., in-house and third-party service applications and solutions whether run on-premise, in the cloud, or at the edge.