Use Case

Prevent equipment downtime with proactive maintenance


Unexpected equipment failure disrupts production and hurts your bottom line. Zebra’s proactive maintenance solution empowers technicians to monitor equipment’s health in real-time and address potential issues before they cause costly downtime.

Proactive Maintenance in Manufacturing with Zebra Technologies

The problem of unplanned downtime

In manufacturing, equipment can fail without warning, bringing production to a sudden and costly halt. A critical piece of machinery, like a foam injection molding machine, can exceed its preset operational threshold without anyone knowing. This silent problem, if left unchecked, can escalate into a complete breakdown, leading to significant and unplanned downtime that impacts the entire production line.

The consequences of unexpected equipment failure are severe. Unplanned downtime directly translates to lost revenue, missed production targets, and increased operational costs. Teams must scramble to diagnose the problem and make emergency repairs, leading to further inefficiencies and potential delays across the entire supply chain.

The proactive equipment maintenance solution

Zebra’s solution empowers technicians to move from a reactive to a proactive maintenance model. By integrating rugged mobile devices and tablets with intelligent software, teams can monitor equipment health, receive instant alerts, and execute repairs efficiently, preventing failures before they happen and maximizing equipment uptime.

Potential benefits

By empowering your maintenance teams with real-time data and connected devices, you can shift from fighting fires to preventing them, achieving tangible improvements in uptime, costs, and overall efficiency.

Decreased equipment mean time to repair (MTTR)

by giving technicians instant alerts and on-the-spot diagnostics that drastically reduce the time critical machinery is offline

Reduced maintenance costs

result from proactive monitoring that prevents major breakdowns and Zebra's durable devices that offer a longer lifecycle and lower total cost of ownership

Improved production efficiency

as out-of-bound conditions are addressed before they stop the line to ensure long-term equipment reliability and highly productive operations

 

 

How the solution works

Preventing Unplanned Downtime with Zebra's Proactive Maintenance Solution

Conduct mobile maintenance rounds

By replacing paper checklists with Zebra ET4 tablets, field and factory technicians can automate data capture, eliminate manual errors, and run on-the-spot machinery diagnostics. Whether checking daily work orders or monitoring machine health, they get the information they need in real time. If a technician inspecting a machine enters a bad reading, the tablet instantly flags the issue and triggers an on-screen alert, so that out-of-bound conditions can be handled immediately. Plus, the shared accessory family enables seamless deployment of different ET4 series models across diverse workflows and staff roles.

Efficient Mobile Maintenance Rounds with Zebra ET4 Tablets

Generate and accept work orders instantly

The TC7 Series mobile computer empowers maintenance specialists to take immediate action on high-priority work orders flagged by technicians. Equipped with push-to-talk and secure text messaging for instant communication, the TC7 Series acts as the primary link that keeps the team connected and ensures assignments are accepted at the moment they are received in the tool room.

Deploy and complete the repair

Technicians can use Workcloud Sync on their ET4 Series tablet to validate their work with a photo and instantly close the work order. Beyond simple validation, the platform enables real-time task management, allowing technicians to create, prioritize, and distribute to-dos while maintaining full visibility into completion status. It also streamlines team collaboration through multimedia-rich messaging and the ability to share recorded videos.

Maximize ROI with predictable operations

Investing in Zebra's proactive maintenance solution provides a direct return by minimizing unplanned downtime and its associated costs. This leads to more predictable operations, higher output, and a stronger bottom line.

Note:

Use case figures and savings estimates are illustrative only and may be derived from customer data, projections, or controlled testing. They do not represent guaranteed results, and actual outcomes will vary by application; customers should consult a Zebra sales representative to evaluate their specific environment.