Hatfield’s favorite talking point about the technologies added to HECO’s portfolio is that they are “built by technicians for technicians.” “Mike Olszewski [founder of Reliability Concepts] is a product development guy at heart. He’s always taking products back to the lab to find out how he can optimize the technology. How can we improve this product’s performance? That is just how his brain works,” Hatfield said. This motor, pump, gearbox, and repair technology provides HECO with a unique opportunity to support customers, share product knowledge, and enhance maintenance and reliability moving forward. The B.A.T. is a laser-based belt alignment system designed to help maintenance teams quickly and accurately align belt-driven equipment. Misaligned belts and pulleys can contribute to premature belt wear, bearing problems, vibration, energy loss, and unplanned downtime. The B.A.T. helps maintenance and reliability teams identify alignment issues more clearly and make corrections more efficiently in the field. The product line includes laser alignment tools and related kits used for belt and pulley alignment across a wide range of industrial applications.

Digi-Belt complements the B.A.T. by helping technicians measure and verify belt tension, giving customers a more complete approach to belt-driven equipment reliability. Additionally, Fin-Loc adds another practical reliability product to the platform, supporting faster and more consistent vibration data collection on equipment with cooling fins. “I am presenting a keynote address at the upcoming RPM Symposium where we will discuss how to connect all this data together and make a significant impact on MRO. We can diagnose an issue, we can fix it, we can replace the components, and then manage equipment inventory as well,” Hatfield said. A Data-Driven Future The end goal with these predictive maintenance acquisitions is to collect all the useful data and provide a technology platform that allows customers to identify all the areas where component failures occur and make the necessary updates. “Vibration says one thing, ultrasound says another, and your repair vendor says a third thing, and these don’t always line up,” Hatfield said. “Right now, it is up to the maintenance team to diagnose all these issues and figure out what to do. We want all that connected in one spot with everything living in one hub. The only way to safely navigate labor issues in manufacturing today is through technology by making smarter decisions.” Today’s MRO teams do not have the lengthy resume and work experience of those retired workers. There is not always a 30-year-old employee anymore that knows everything about the component and knows all the reasons why it did or did not work. Hatfield said new employees need a good set of tools and resources to help solve these challenges. “This is what we’re seeing today—increased adoption of predictive tools across the marketplace. People need assistance, and they want to be successful at their jobs. So, let's get a tool that allows them to do it right from the start,” Hatfield added. The future of component repair will involve doing more with less manpower. We will see staff shrinking, industrial plants consolidating, and manufacturers turning toward IoT solutions to help carry the load. “We’re already at a point where we all have analysis paralysis, right?” Hatfield said. “The future will work best when we can bring all this data together to make quick and cohesive decisions on the shop floor.” He also suggested that AI will continue to provide a blueprint for future MRO technologies. “Most AI platforms for machinery are only seeing this tiny little portion of condition monitoring data. That is not a big enough picture. So once again, connecting all that data together with an AI layer that knows the repair history of the machine, knows if you have a spare, and knows how to catch a component failure before it happens, this is what the data scientists at Skyler are interested in moving forward.” At its core, HECO is still a repair shop. Hatfield said motor and belt alignment is often compared to auto repair, where customers may wonder whether they are receiving the best value. “We want to be as transparent as possible, and that is the best way to run a shop today. Our customers know that. We continue adding tools and product technologies that will strengthen our maintenance strategies moving forward.”