Aging equipment combined with declining capital investment is pushing manufacturers to invest in plant asset management (PAM) systems. According to a study titled, "Plant Asset Management Systems Worldwide Outlook Study" by ARC Advisory Group, a Dedham, Ma.-based research firm, the worldwide market for PAM systems is expected to grow at 10% over the next five years. The market currently exceeds $1.1 billion and is forecast to hit $1.8 billion by 2009.
"Improving management of capital assets is one of the best ways to increase productivity with little to virtually no production upsets, while meeting the goals and objectives of today's enterprise, " explains Wil Chin, research director at ARC and author of the study.
As PAM systems have the ability to detect infancy failures of new assets and can also improve the efficiency of operations, plants with old and new equipment have adopted PAM. Until now most PAM solutions were designed to monitor rotating and reciprocating equipment. The new PAM infrastructure is able to collect information from intelligent field devices, sensors and other process sources and identify problems and assess the condition of any asset regardless of type. Additionally, more analytical software techniques are available to offer predictive solutions.
For information on the report visit www.arcweb.com/res/pam
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