Change and Diversity in the Predictive Maintenance Industry with RDI Technologies’ Iris Products

Paul Barna

What does change look like to you?

“Change” is the most common term used in business vocabulary. We hear it in every board room and CEO annual report. What was done yesterday is not acceptable in today’s business model. “Change” can also be a landmine within an organization, shaking the situation up when it doesn’t need to be. Change what? Do you change the culture of your business? Do you change your technology? What do you change? Is this technology the golden ticket?  

If you change the right thing, at the right time, with a great business case, SUCCESS!  If not, you are on the outside looking in. But change is inevitable, and if we never change, we can never grow. 

Without change, we ultimately stagnate and wither like a grape on a vine. Yes, some can say that the withered grape becomes a prune and is still useful, but how many people go through the same process? 

Ultimately there comes a time when every business is asking “Is what we have to offer relevant?”

As someone with over 29 years of Predictive Maintenance Experience, 10 of those years managing a national service business with hundreds of employees, I know how difficult this question can be to answer. 

Every member of an organization has the task of making a change. Financial, personnel, technology, research and development, customer service, everyone from the top down. 

But what has the greatest return on investment when it comes to putting resources into change? Is it people, technology, process or some other part of your business? Or is it today’s catchphrase, from a contracted consulting firm, or internal project management team that has been identified?  

Past Remedies

Within every industry, a common solution from the executive level down to management has been to get more with less. How do we get more productivity with fewer employees? 

The answer is simple: Utilize the employees in a manner where they are cross-trained to be multi-functioning throughout the business process. This is a great and absolutely necessary way to think in today’s business world, but there’s a flaw with this expectation. This utilization is highly dependent upon the trained individual’s drive, passion, and commitment to the business in which they are employed. This isn’t something you can guarantee or predict.

In today’s world, the most common approach to the business environment is to change by implementing new technology. Business leaders use technology to streamline the process and make today’s employees more efficient and effective and ultimately drive productivity and profit. In most cases, though, the technology implemented is only capable of improving one specific area of the business. What’s even more worrisome, however, is that most technology comes at a huge cost. 

Businesses are expected to spend nearly $4 trillion on IT products this year, but each company’s spending is always related to a budget and how much the business is willing to spend on this technological solution. In my experience as a manager responsible for company spending, this level would have to be less than 1% of an annual budget to even consider the technology as a solution or viable option.

As an executive or manager, we are always looking for a low cost, technological solution, capable of changing multiple departments within the organization. This same technological solution should increase communication levels between complex technical data and personnel from all levels within the organization. 

Does this inexpensive, adaptable, and diverse change mechanism exist for the predictive maintenance industry though?

The answer is yes.

What’s the Solution?

The technological breakthrough is RDI Technologies’ Motion Amplification® software. With patented algorithms and proprietary software, high-definition video recordings turn every pixel into a sensor, allowing the user to see what the human eye is not capable of seeing. Iris systems amplify the actual movement of the measured pixel to levels that are then able to be seen by the human eye. 

This solution has been deployed in a wide range of industries and plant applications including both rotating and stationary equipment, structures, piping, manufacturing processes, quality control, operating deflection shape analysis, research & development, and more. 

The RDI Technologies Iris product lines have successfully been utilized within maintenance and reliability, engineering, research and development, and production departments. The value obtained from the data acquired has improved communication and understanding, allowing for the identification of root cause problems in each department. More importantly, the output of the product is a video, which helps transform complex data into a visible solution. 

No longer are we met with mountains of data and technical information that has to be summed up in paragraphs of observations and recommendations. The data acquired is quantified and can also be exported, if required, via a CSV file, to then be imported into an external software if needed. 

Because of this, the technology can be utilized across several departments within the business. It is not just for condition monitoring personnel. Reliability engineers, maintenance personnel, engineering departments, research and development, and yes even production utilizes the RDI product to see what is moving and how much. 

The overall portability of the system is another important feature, as it can be transported and deployed, just about anywhere that you want to record a video and look for movement. This portability allows the unit to be utilized by all of the departments as mentioned above. The system and software are now able to change how every department can utilize a single technology to truly change how they acquire and process critical data for each department’s needs. 

Next Steps

RDI Technologies Iris product lines have changed the way we can now look at motors, pumps, structures, and more. If we can see it through the camera, we are able to measure the movement, and this is not limited to ferrous metal only. Because this is a visual non-contact technology, we can measure aluminum, stainless steel, wood, concrete, glass, cloth, and more. The ability to now measure things that traditional sensors can’t measure well.

As technology has grown, and processing power has improved at lower costs, the future of RDI Technologies Iris systems is getting brighter each year with advancing software capabilities and features that allow the user to implement the use of the system for new and critical assets in their business. Ultimately, we are able to change the way you can look at things within your business. This change, however, is not limited to just one department. It can be shared with several departments.

Business today has changed to focus on “The Business of the Future” with artificial intelligence driven problem solving and technology leading the way. Change is inevitable.  What do we change? What has the greatest return on investment? That change comes from technologies that improve processes, require simple implementation, and have quick returns on investment like RDI Technologies Iris products.  

Paul J Barna is RDI Technologies’ Southwest and West Sales Manager focused on providing the End-User Customer the software, hardware, training, and support within the RDI Portfolio. His focus is on using his drive, passion, and commitment to ensure that the RDI product, training, and support exceeds the expectations of RDI’s customers. Get in contact with Paul at [email protected].