Features & Benefits

Maintenance Mega-Trends

Two major “maintenance mega-trends” have been taking place over recent decades:

1)  New technology has dramatically increased the complexity of most ship systems

2) The skilled maintenance labor pool has continued to shrink, caused by the rapid increase in systems complexity, workforce attrition, and manning reductions to cut operating expense.

These mega-trends will continue into the foreseeable future.

Increased complexity of ship systems, particularly the automation, has made equipment failure detection more difficult, more time consuming, and more technically sophisticated. The situation is likely to become more acute as even more complex, high-tech ship systems are introduced into the world fleets.

Software Technology Innovations

Software agents can be rapidly integrated into existing shipboard computer networks, adding significant capability and value to machinery automation systems. The agents can serve as virtual maintenance team members whose job is to oversee the health of these advanced systems, much like the anti-virus software that protects your computer by working unobtrusively in the background. This capability will become increasingly important as ship systems become too complicated for the crew to fix. This has already happened with automobiles, which are now far too complex for the typical owner to troubleshoot and maintain.

DEXTER Features

DEXTER leverages the latest software agent technology to provide these key features:

• continuously monitors critical shipboard machinery in real-time
• detects abnormal equipment behavior
• isolates probable fault conditions based on symptoms occurring
• identifies impending failures at the earliest possible time
• predicts remaining useful equipment life

DEXTER Benefits

DEXTER serves as an expert assistant for equipment health monitoring, no matter how complex the machinery plant, providing the following benefits:

• Reduce unexpected breakdowns that really hurt your profits
• Reduced downtime – maximize the productivity of your assets
• Faster troubleshooting
• Reduced maintenance costs
• Reduced fuel and operating cost through higher efficiency
• Reduced carbon and GHG emissions
• Improved crew productivity via automated diagnostics and prognostics

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DEXTER – How It Works>>