S2:E27 Internet industrial de las cosas (IIoT) con Graham Fonseca

Graham Fonseca is a Business Unit Manager of Online Solutions at UE Systems!

Summary

In this week's episode of Masterminds in Maintenance, we are excited to have Graham Fonseca, Business Unit Manager of Online Solutions at UE Systems, on the show! Graham and Ryan break down a complicated acronym, IIoT, and discuss its growth journey, stages of adoption, common use cases, and so much more! Listen today!

[Embedded content: https://anchor.fm/upkeep/embed/episodes/S2E27-Industrial-Internet-of-Things-IIoT-with-Graham-Fonseca-epvaqv]

Episode Show Notes

• Where is IIoT at and why was it slow to adopt?

• What's the most common problem to solve with IIoT?

• How do you implement IIoT to be set up for success?

Podcast Platforms

• Anchor FM

• Apple Podcasts

• Spotify

• YouTube

Transcript

0:00:04.1 Ryan Chan: Welcome to Masterminds In Maintenance, a podcast for those with new ideas in maintenance. I'm your host, Ryan, I'm the CEO and founder of UpKeep. Each week I will be meeting with a guest who's had an idea for how to shake things up in the maintenance and reliability industry; sometimes the idea failed, sometimes it made their business more successful, and other times their idea revolutionized an entire industry. Today, I'm really excited to have Graham Fonseca here on the show. Graham is the business unit manager of online solutions at UE Systems. Welcome to the show, Graham. I'm really excited to have you.

0:00:34.1 Graham Fonseca: Yeah, thanks, Ryan, and I'm excited to be here, my first podcast.

0:00:37.4 RC: It's the best one.

[laughter]

0:00:40.8 RC: The way that we always kick off the show, Graham, is for you to share a little bit more about yourself, your background, and how you were first introduced into this, you know, wonderful field of maintenance and reliability.

0:00:51.7 GF: Back when I graduated I worked for a company called Lakeside Process Controls and, pretty self-explanatory, we controlled processes right, so I sized reg valves and regulators and that kind of thing. Any fluid flowing through our pipes is what I worked with, right, and tried to control. So after a few years in that role, there was an opening on our reliability team. And what really piqued my interest about it was kind of the IIoT aspect of it. And this was, I guess, five years ago now, when IIoT was just kind of a buzzword. People didn't know about it, you'd say it and then people wouldn't know what was going on.

0:01:22.3 GF: And so I thought that's the way the industry was heading, so it really piqued my interest and I applied for the role and joined the team and got introduced into this world of reliability. And so when I started working on these IIoT projects, we partnered with the company, UE Systems, right, and so we were using these ultrasonic sensors, these permanently mounted sensors, to figure out whether there were leaks in valves. And then fast forward five years later, love the technology, love the company, and now I work for UE Systems. And I'm a Business Unit Manager, unfortunate acronym, but really, really great role where I'm trying to bring up the online solutions portion of our business and kind of bring that IIoT aspect of it to ultrasound.

0:02:02.0 RC: Big fan of UE Systems. Graham, you know, like you had mentioned, this whole like acronym around IIoT has been around for, you know, a long time. I feel like I've been hearing that acronym for 10 years. Where do you feel like we are at in that growth journey of IIoT? Have we just started? Are we in the middle? Or do you see like wide mass adoption?

0:02:24.4 GF: My personal belief is we're somewhere still at the beginning of it, where we're trying to get our hands on where it applies, and how to apply it. You know, I think the first application of it was trying to apply IIoT with one system for a whole plant. And I think, now what we're seeing is we have these little piecemeal things where, one company can do part of an IIoT solution, another company can do... You know, if we talk about liability, one company can do ultrasound and one company can do vibration, and one can do infrared. And we can piecemeal these all together. And I think that's the part where we're at now, where we're trying to figure that out and how to get plants into this IIoT world from the ground up, so definitely not, not at the end yet, and definitely still at the early stages, and that's my opinion on it.

0:03:04.8 RC: I know, I completely agree with you. We're just at the very early stages, and it's kind of funny, because I had mentioned, and I think you mentioned too, this terminology and acronym has been thrown around for a very long time now but I still feel like we're at the very, very early stages.

0:03:20.9 GF: For sure.

0:03:21.4 RC: So maybe the question from me to you, Graham, is, why do you feel like it's been so slow to adopt, or why do you feel like we're still at the very early stages?

0:03:30.0 GF: The first thing is, I mean... It's just a complicated acronym to start, there's no reason for there to be two I's in a row for an acronym. But then second of all, I think it's the price point, right? Like at this point, everyone understands or a lot of people will understand power-based storage, power-based platforms, wireless technology, permanently mounted sensors. But it's the price point that's really catching up, where in the past, if we were to, you know, monitor assets and try and to do it remotely and try and build an IIoT platform, it was very expensive, and you wouldn't necessarily wanna do it on any of your equipment. Then we got to a point where we could do it on our critical assets, and now we're getting to a point where we can do it on our balance of plant, and as it become more commonplace in plants, it'll just be more commonplace in people's, I guess, knowledge base, right? People will start to know about it and research different things and want it in their plants as opposed to being scared of it.

0:04:21.8 RC: Yeah. No, I definitely see that too. Prices coming down, it's making it more widely accessible and adoptable, gets people's foot in the door and enables them to see the value versus having to spend a million bucks on a small portion of an entire company's rollout.

0:04:38.2 GF: Exactly.

0:04:39.5 RC: I've definitely seen that too. For our listeners, like where do you see, like the first entry point. If I'm a, you know, newer facility manager, wanna get interested in industrial IoT, what's the first use case that you always recommend for someone getting their foot in the door with industrial IoT, like what's the problem that they're trying to solve most commonly?

0:05:02.6 GF: How do we convert the existing technology into a way that it's just more useful, more beneficial and saves us time. I think time is the biggest thing that we focus on, right, and I'll try and relate it to smartphones, right, where when you wanna convert from a flip phone to a smartphone, right, would you rather pull out a map when you have to go somewhere or would you rather just use Google Maps on your smartphone. Would you rather, you know, bring a camera around with you, or would you just have your camera on your phone, like what would you prefer? That's the biggest selling point is like the technology isn't changing, it's just we're giving you a better way to, with IIoT, we're giving you a better way to just digest that and saving you from doing those non-value-added tasks, which essentially saves you time.

0:05:42.9 RC: That's actually really interesting. So what I'm hearing is, you're talking about replacing legacy systems with some sort of, you know, lower cost industrial IoT software that you can monitor a cloud-based system versus a local machine. That's actually very interesting. Are you seeing a lot of companies actually remove out their old systems and replacing them with new ones, or you seeing more redundancy first as the first foot in the door to industry IoT?

0:06:10.3 GF: Yeah, no, that's a really good question. I think it's more redundancy, right. We don't, we don't, you don't wanna replace anything, we don't wanna replace, you know, people with computers, you don't wanna replace old equipment with new. It just has a redundancy, right, so just ultrasound as an example, we still have a use for an ultrasonic gun, where you can use this ultrasonic handheld piece of equipment, you can go around to your assets, you can analyze it, you know, you can get the health of bearings, you can tell if there are leaks, you can monitor [0:06:34.3] ____ all sorts of different things. But the point is, there's other technology out there that can allow you to do all that from your desk, right? And so if you use that as kind of a first pass, then you still have that handheld equipment to go in and say, "Hey, let's monitor this further. Let's analyze this further." So it's really just adding on to it and giving you more tools in your toolbox to become that owner of your own reliability program.

0:06:56.3 RC: That's awesome. Yeah. And again, I think the redundancy just helps a ton, because now you're getting two different systems, you're being able to track more metrics. And it isn't this big project to like, strip everything out, and then replace it with new. You know, it's also... Kind of leads me into this next question, Graham, around like, the timing of this. When is it the right time for companies to start looking at, you know, replacing old systems with, you know, industrial cloud-based remote condition monitoring? Like how do you know when it's the right time? And what are some signs indicators that say, this is probably the right time to make the switch.

0:07:37.2 GF: The way I will answer that, if I take it back to my like smartphone analogy, which I hope it's a good one, I think it's a good one, you know, when's the right time to switch from a flip phone to a smartphone? Like, is there an answer to that? Or is it just when you're ready to approach this new technology, right? Everyone would probably rather save the time than having to go find a map and print it out and write out the directions or the old way we do with printing MapQuest, right, if you ever did that, where you'd Google something and print out all the maps, right?

0:08:06.3 GF: I don't know if there's any indicator, I just think the time is now because the technology is there and the price point is there. It's just when are you ready to bring your reliability program to the next stage? And I guess make it more efficient.

0:08:16.1 RC: The time is now, there's no better time than now.

0:08:18.1 GF: I hope I don't sound too preachy, but I think it's there, right? The technology is there. It's just a matter of just doing it.

0:08:25.0 RC: Yeah. I love it. The whole industrial IoT game is fascinating. We see a lot of projects get kicked up. But we also see a lot of projects fail as well. And so maybe the question here for me to you, Graham, is how would you... And how do you recommend companies implement these types of solutions so that they're set up for success? And what are some reasons why implementations actually fail around industrial IoT?

0:08:56.5 GF: From what I've seen, at least starting too big is the biggest reason why people fail, right? And if you... If you're going to implement a piece of technology into a plant, do you start from implementing it worldwide or nationwide, or whatever it is? Or do you start with one specific plant or even just one specific asset, right? So I think, figuring out that sweet point of how do you implement this technology, and then prove it out, and then talk to the right people who you need to get approvals from and say, "Hey, look, this technology is saving me time or money are keeping us from downtime, or whatever it is." So I think just starting small, or starting at a point where you know it's not overwhelming, and you know you can kind of roll it into your current way you do things without kind of taking up too much time and letting it fall by the wayside.

0:09:37.7 RC: And kind of to that point, too, I think what we've seen, too, is all centered around training. When we see a lot of our customers and people in the industry adopt these new technologies, it's always great when you have the right people to analyze the data. Like ultimately, industrial IoT, it's all about collecting sensor data, but you don't just collect data to collect data, it's to actually take action off of it. A big portion of it is understanding why are we collecting this data and how are we going to use it to inform better decisions.

0:10:09.4 GF: For sure.

0:10:10.0 RC: So maybe the question here, Graham, is like for our listeners, what's a good resource for them to learn more about, you know, it's called vibration analysis, where's a good place to learn more about, you know, ultrasound analysis?

0:10:23.4 GF: There are obviously companies out there that that'll help you do it and help you get that expertise in-house. I think the more important part is maybe taking a step back. And you know, if you're bringing this technology in, partnering with a company who can give you those key insights, and teach you those things, right, may not be something... It's you know, we've been doing ultrasound for 50 years, right.

0:10:42.1 GF: So it's not something that's necessarily teachable over like a few days or a week or a year, or whatever it is, it's something that's going to take time. So I think, if you're going to implement this new technology, just partnering with a company that isn't just going to give you a data dump or give you a piece of equipment and say run with it, right? It's partnering with those companies that are going to spend the time with you and then help train you, help you become the owner of your own program.

0:11:02.5 RC: There are tons of resources out there, you don't have to try to go learn it all by yourself, but actually partner with the companies, the actual vendors, obviously one of them being UE Systems, to try to gain knowledge from them and utilize your vendors as a strategic resource to help you, you know, learn more and take better action.

0:11:23.1 GF: Yeah, exactly.

0:11:23.9 RC: You know, Graham, you've been in the industry for a little bit. Now, I'm sure you've learned a ton throughout your time here. What's something you wish more people knew about the maintenance reliability industry?

0:11:36.7 GF: If you ask this question a lot, I'm sure you get this response a lot. But just that it's important. I think, I wish I knew that, I wish more people knew that it was important, it's worthwhile to invest a little bit upfront in reliability rather than put out fires later on, right, and maintenance reliability often is the last little bit of investment. And it's always a hard sell to say, "Look, nothing happened." Like, "Look, nothing failed." And so your wins are just nothing happening. And I think I just wish more people knew that nothing happening is a great thing and a great thing to invest in.

0:12:06.5 RC: I mean, that's such a good point. And we talk about this quite a bit, which is like, if, you know, if maintenance reliability does their job, and does their job really well, no one hears about that.

0:12:19.9 GF: Exactly. Yeah.

0:12:23.8 RC: Maybe to that point, Graham, like, what are some ways that, you know, you've seen your guys' customers and people in the industry really showcase their wins in a positive way. That's not like, hey, something broke, and we fixed it.

0:12:40.3 GF: Yeah, and I think that that really comes down to, you know, a reliability manager who's really, you know, set on proving out their new technology or whatever technology it is that they have, and keeping those use cases, keeping track of, you know, when I implemented this new technology, I saved X amount of time, or I reduced X amount of non-value-added tasks, right, or, over the course of the last year, we had X amount of downtime. And then since we implemented this technology, you know, zero downtime or way less downtime, right? So it's, it's really that and then, and then bringing that to upper management, showing them like look how much you're saving, it affects the bottom line and it affects my employees, and it's making their time more efficient. So it's really those types of things.

0:13:21.5 RC: Awesome. Love the tips, tricks, and recommendations there. Graham, where do you go to continue learning? Where do you go for educational content? Where do you go for new ideas?

0:13:33.5 GF: Anywhere and everywhere. There are a few podcasts that I listen to try to stay up to date on news, you know, set reminders or set alerts in Google, based on keywords. I try to learn something new every day, that's kind of been my goal for 2021, especially being in lockdown. But what else are you going to do anyways? So I've made it a goal to try and read or listen to or, you know, watch the news about something I can do. And what I find is that even if that something new doesn't maybe necessarily directly impact reliability, as I find a lot of the times, you know, if I'm listening to a podcast on, let's say, lifestyle, I'll find ways to relate it back to my work. So, you know, just keeping an open mind and listening to different types of news sources, whether it's podcasts or Google searches, or reading books, whatever it is.

0:14:18.7 RC: I love it. Yeah, learn something new every day. That's a great goal. Graham, can you share with all our listeners all the different ways they can connect with you and follow you on your journey?

0:14:30.1 GF: Yeah, I think for me, it's just LinkedIn. So Graham Fonseca, there actually is another Indian Graham Fonseca who's an engineer on LinkedIn. So just make sure you add the one that works for UE Systems. There are two of us in Canada. So make sure you find the right one.

0:14:46.4 RC: Alright. Thank you so much, again, Graham, for joining us. And thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in to today's Masterminds in Maintenance. My name is Ryan, I'm the CEO and founder of UpKeep. You can also connect with me, very active on LinkedIn, or shoot me an email directly at [email protected]. Lastly, you can find me in the maintenance community on Slack. It's the largest community online for maintenance professionals all around the globe. We host weekly conversations, contests, all centered around maintenance. And I hope that you all join me and us on Slack in the community. I really hope to see you guys next time. And thank you so much again, Graham. I really appreciate it.

0:15:24.7 RC: Yeah. Thanks, Ryan, that was fun.

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