<p>Companies in the manufacturing, distribution, energy and utility, and oil and gas industries may be interested in a new analytics package recently introduced by IBM. The software and services offering, called Predictive Asset Optimization, aims to forecast when assets in the field--such as trucks, water pipes, or robotic machines--are likely to fail, so that preventive maintenance or preemptive engineering changes can be made, saving the customer millions of dollars.</p><p>Well-run companies have always paid attention to maintenance. But the fact is, in this physical world, stuff happens. Cogs in the wheels of industry get gummed up. Engines will get old and break down. Batches of product will occasionally be unmarketable due to glitches in production. Companies with millions of dollars invested in physical machinery realize that repairs, replacements, and rejects are simply the costs of doing business.</p><p>For more than 100 years, IBM has sold tabulating machines that help companies keep track of their maintenance schedules. The programs weren't any smarter than the technicians, who had their fingers on the pulse of their equipment, and who knew that his big rigs could go so many miles between oil changes or that the bearings on a printing press had to be repacked every so often.</p><p>Now, IBM is saying that it has developed software that may just be smarter than those wily old oil- and ink-stained mechanics.</p><p><a href="http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh040113-story08.html">Keep reading...</a></p>