iTanks pitch breakfast with Gemba partners and Open IJ

The day starts early in the Stoomhal in Wormer. Prior to the Gemba Relationship Day, there is a pitch breakfast at half past seven from iTanks, with Gemba partners Merrem & la Porte and Vector Eyes and Gemba customer Open IJ.

Merrem & la Porte talks about a joint solution for cathodic protection. Vector Eyes about the deployment of its document solution and IBM Maximo Application Suite (IBM MAS) at petrochemical company Koole. Both inspiring pitches of a few minutes, which invite a visit to their stand later that day. Open IJ concludes the breakfast with an intriguing preview of its 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 asset management challenges?

Their role will change anyway: the digital asset manager of the future understands physical assets, but also regulations and sustainability. Because those are also challenges that organizations have to deal with. And how do they 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 with it.

Data, drones, and visual inspection

From the first dashboards with gauges 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 of IBM describes the path and shows where we are now. How can we capture and process data more intelligently? 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 checks 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 is 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 is Philippe Kemps of Open IJ’s turn. He tells how Open IJ supports the maintenance of the impressive sea lock near IJmuiden with IBM MAS. Open IJ can thus realize one platform for processing all maintenance data, also using 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

Bedrijven die net zoals Open IJ stappen in de richting van asset performance management (APM) willen zetten met IBM MAS, hoeven dat niet alleen te doen. Behalve dat ze terechtkunnen bij Gemba zelf, is het ook mogelijk een beroep te doen op aanvullende diensten van Gemba-partners. Een voorbeeld daarvan is MaxGrip. Jeroen Tasseron van het consultancybedrijf legt uit hoe MaxGrip en Gemba samen organisaties helpen asset performance management optimaal in te richten.

Sustainability: ESG and CSRD

Ronald Teijken of IBM discusses 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). Because 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

Last speaker is Daniel Kolobaric of Gemba customer Stedin. He joined Gemba to Maximo World in Phoenix last summer and shares 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 concludes after his visit to Maximo World. He mentions, among other things, the user-friendly licensing 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 is an opportunity to chat. And anyone who has not yet visited the stands of IBM and Gemba partners Vector Eyes, Merrem & la Porte and MaxGrip during the lunch break can 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.