NTT DATA Business Solutions

NTT DATA Business Solutions | March 20, 2025

SAP Asset Performance Management: A New Era in Digital Asset Management

For industrial enterprises, asset management is crucial for ensuring operational efficiency and keeping costs under control. SAP Asset Performance Management (SAP APM) is a solution designed to address this need by enhancing asset performance, optimizing maintenance processes, and reducing failure risks.

SAP APM is a comprehensive platform that integrates modern technologies to monitor asset health, create smarter maintenance plans and develop predictive maintenance strategies.

SAP Asset Performance Management digital asset management

Key features of SAP Asset Performance Management

SAP APM is equipped with various capabilities to ensure industrial equipment and facilities operate at maximum efficiency:

Asset Health Management: Provides real-time insights into equipment conditions by analyzing sensor and IoT data.
Risk and Reliability Management: Helps prioritize maintenance strategies by assessing the impact and likelihood of failures.
Maintenance Planning and Optimization: Enhances preventive maintenance processes to minimize unplanned downtimes.
Predictive Maintenance: Utilizes machine learning and AI-driven models to anticipate equipment failures and automate maintenance processes.
Technical Asset Structure Explanation: Enables modeling and tracking of assets at the component level, facilitating the development of better maintenance strategies.
Asset Tracking and Collaboration: Simplifies data sharing across different departments and systems to improve decision-making in asset management.

AI-Powered Predictive Maintenance

One of the most significant innovations of SAP APM is its AI-powered predictive maintenance capabilities. By analyzing sensor data through machine learning algorithms, the system can detect early signs of failure and notify maintenance teams in a timely manner. This feature ensures continuous production line operation and helps reduce costs.

AI-Powered Performance Indicators

SAP APM leverages AI-driven analytics to determine optimal performance indicators for specific assets or equipment. This feature empowers maintenance teams and operations managers to make informed decisions to enhance asset efficiency.

Monitoring Asset Health and Performance

Effectively monitoring asset health and overall performance is critical for improving maintenance processes. SAP APM analyzes data from various sources to provide real-time condition assessments. This capability enhances maintenance strategies and increases operational efficiency.

Performance Analytics Explanation

SAP APM utilizes advanced analytics to evaluate asset performance. With these capabilities, businesses can reduce maintenance costs, extend asset lifespans, and ensure the continuity of critical assets.

Text-to-Insight: Natural Language Analysis

SAP APM’s “Text-to-Insight” feature allows users to interact with the system using natural language and instantly obtain information about asset health. Users can access critical insights by asking simple questions to enhance maintenance processes and take action accordingly.

Integration of Asset Management Processes in SAP APM

SAP Asset Performance Management (SAP APM) and SAP S/4HANA provide a robust framework by integrating asset management processes, aligning strategy with execution.

What are the Integration Steps of the Asset Management Process in SAP APM?

Defining Asset Maintenance Strategy: Identifying critical assets and establishing the most suitable maintenance strategy.
Establishing Maintenance Plans and Rules: Creating maintenance rules and plans based on the defined strategy.
Monitoring Asset Health and Demand: Continuously analyzing asset health using IoT and sensor data.
Planning Maintenance Tasks and Resources: Determining the required workforce and equipment for maintenance.
Executing Maintenance: Implementing planned maintenance processes in the field.
Analyzing Asset and Maintenance Performance: Evaluating maintenance efficiency to improve future maintenance processes.

This process is supported by the integration of SAP APM’s analytical and predictive maintenance capabilities with SAP S/4HANA’s operational maintenance management solutions. As a result, businesses can make maintenance processes smarter and more predictable.

Asset Health Monitoring Capabilities and Functions

SAP APM provides a structured process for creating and managing maintenance and service requests. This process includes analyzing asset data, generating insights through AI models, and automatically creating and processing maintenance requests.

Collecting Asset and Performance Data

Sensor data from SAP IoT, SAP Maintenance Management, and service systems, as well as historical maintenance notifications and alerts, are analyzed. Data specialists/scientists process this information to facilitate asset health monitoring.

Generating Insights with AI Models

Anomaly detection and Weibull algorithms are used to calculate the probability of asset failures. Reliability engineers and data scientists utilize these insights to determine maintenance requirements.

Data Utilization and Monitoring

Data is displayed on dashboards and analysis screens to facilitate decision-making. Planners and reliability engineers define rules for automated maintenance processes.

Creating Maintenance Requests

Maintenance and service requests are automatically generated based on predefined rules and manual alerts can also be converted into maintenance requests. Reliability engineers oversee the creation of maintenance requests.

Processing Maintenance Requests

A pool of maintenance requests is created by combining IoT data, manual requests, and routine maintenance plans. Maintenance coordinators (Gate Keepers) evaluate and prioritize all maintenance requests to manage workflows effectively.

Manufacturing Plants: Preventing unexpected failures in production lines through predictive maintenance of equipment.
Energy Sector: Optimizing maintenance processes for turbines and power generation facilities.
Transportation and Logistics: Enhancing asset performance in railway and fleet management.
Mining and Oil & Gas: Monitoring the health of large-scale machinery to minimize operational risks.

With AI integration, SAP APM helps businesses optimize maintenance processes while improving asset management efficiency. AI-driven analytics, predictive maintenance models, and data-driven decision-making mechanisms make SAP APM an integral part of the digital transformation journey.

Companies adopting SAP APM can reduce operational costs, maximize asset performance, and create more reliable and sustainable business processes by mitigating failure risks.

These advancements will enable SAP APM to become an even smarter, more data-driven, and comprehensive solution in the future. With the integration of IoT, big data analytics, and automation technologies, businesses will be able to manage their assets more effectively and gain a competitive edge.

Cansu Tokyüz

Digital Manufacturing Solution Architect

References:

SAP Asset Performance Management | Predictive Maintenance

Discover SAP S/4HANA Asset Management and SAP S/4HANA Service

Managing SAP Asset Performance Management

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As NTT DATA, we are with you on your digital transformation journey with SAP APM solutions. You can contact us to make your asset management smarter and more efficient with the integration of artificial intelligence, IoT and big data analytics.