Problem
Fixed servicing intervals are simple to plan, but they cost twice. Some equipment is serviced when it doesn’t need it, taking vehicles away from soldiers for no benefit. Other equipment develops problems between services that nobody sees until they put an operation at risk.
The data to do better already existed: oil sample analysis from an external laboratory, sensor readings from vehicle components, usage history and maintenance records. It just lived in different places and arrived in different ways.
Constraints
- Several sources, several owners. Laboratory results, vehicle data, usage and maintenance history each came from a different system.
- A protected network. Results from an external laboratory had to reach a central location inside the Defence protected network environment.
- Growing volumes. As data volumes increased over time, manual handling stopped being viable.
Decision
Vulcan, the Land Engineering Agency’s data engineering and analytics capability, built the Oil Condition Monitoring framework. It integrates the datasets from armoured vehicle components, such as engines and gearboxes, with usage history and maintenance records to evaluate the condition of equipment and automate maintenance actions.
Three automations removed the manual steps:
- Usage and condition metrics are entered directly into the Defence logistics information system, so soldiers spend more time on their primary tasks.
- An automated email service notifies the relevant maintenance authority when a vehicle needs action.
- A Defence web service transmits oil analysis results from the external laboratory to a central location within the protected network environment.
Outcome
- Millions
- of dollars saved in maintenance costs, as reported by Defence
- 3
- automations removing manual data handling
- Increased availability. Eliminating unnecessary maintenance gives soldiers more access to their equipment.
- Improved reliability. Regular monitoring detects and prevents failures early, before they put an operation at risk.
- Lower cost. Defence reports saving millions of dollars in maintenance costs by servicing on condition rather than fixed intervals.
- Recognition. The framework was featured in the Defence Data Strategy 2021–2023 as an example of turning complex technical data into insight for soldiers.
For your team
Condition-based maintenance is a data integration problem before it is an analytics problem. Get the sources flowing automatically first; the decisions follow.
My role
I was the solution architect for Vulcan and led the integrated team that designed and delivered the framework.