Partnering with OEMs for Performance: Turning Equipment Suppliers into Reliability Allies

0:00

Tara Holwegner
Hello, listeners, and welcome to another episode of Get Smartr, an LCE podcast. Today, we’re talking about a relationship that’s often overlooked and underused in maintenance and reliability: building a partnership with original equipment manufacturers, OEMs. OEMs can be more than just equipment suppliers, transactional. When managed well, they become strategic partners who help you improve performance, reliability, and total lifecycle asset value. But getting there takes the right approach, and sometimes the right help.

At LCE, we’ve supported sites around the world in developing maintenance and reliability strategies, vendor partnerships, and performance-based OEM programs that deliver results. So today we’re going to dig in and explore what that looks like in practice and how to make the most of your OEM relationships.

I’m joined today by Bruce Wesner, Senior Managing Principal at LCE, and he’s back as a guest on another episode of our podcast. Bruce has over 40 years of experience in maintenance, engineering, and operations management. He’s led major operational reliability transformations and worked with OEMs across various industries. He’s here today to share his perspective with us. So welcome, Bruce, again to the podcast.

01:26

Bruce Wesner
Glad to be here, Tara. This is always fun.

01:28

Tara Holwegner
Yes, you have a great story to tell, and I think our listeners are going to get a lot out of this episode. So in your experience, what makes the difference between a transactional, vendor-supplier-based OEM relationship and a true performance partnership?

01:48

Bruce Wesner
Well, that’s a great question. A transactional OEM, in my book, is somebody who just wants to sell the piece of equipment, get it in your building, and basically it’s the new owner’s job to figure it out. What are the maintenance requirements, the reliability requirements? I’d call it a vanilla piece of equipment, off the shelf. That’s the transaction they make. We buy it, and we just need to figure out what’s critical for performance and to support the business needs. So I think it’s kind of “sell it and forget it” in some cases. The OEM really washes their hands of it.

02:24

Tara Holwegner
Yeah, there you go. You got it now.

02:44

Bruce Wesner
With a performance partnership, it’s a collaborative effort. You’ve got to get all the stakeholders in the conversation, part of it from the very beginning. When you’re doing all of the design reviews, what are the business expectations for that piece of equipment? Many times it’s a sizable investment, and having those conversations up front means folks are all on the same page. They understand what the deliverables are going to be for that piece of equipment beyond just the piece of equipment itself. We’ve got to come into it designing for reliability. We’ve got to design for maintainability. We design for performance, and we design for the safety features we need to make sure are built in to take care of our operators and the folks who are going to be standing in front to deliver high quality.

03:XX

Tara Holwegner
Yeah, I’m sure the operating environment also has to be taken into consideration, right?

04:00

Bruce Wesner
Right, right. Having information come before the asset reaches the new owner is so critical. Too many times, I’ve seen organizations that were chasing it after the equipment was delivered, still trying to get an understanding of how to maintain it, what the reliability expectations are, whether they have the right PMs in the system in order to maintain it.

The other side of it is the operator side. What does an operator need to do, day in and day out, to take care of that piece of equipment? Operations owns the assets. They have to engage to a level that assures they know how that piece of equipment is performing.

So it’s so critical to work that performance partnership from an OEM standpoint. That’s the differentiator in order to get the most return on your investment from a customer perspective. And then having ongoing dialogue with the OEMs beyond that, it’s not just a one-and-done. We’ve got to have those ongoing partnership conversations where we’re sharing data, where we’re having continuous improvement conversations, to make sure that even if we’re achieving acceptable levels of yield off a piece of equipment, we ask what more we can do to be even better. That’s the differentiator.

There’s a lot, from the maintenance technician standpoint, that comes into having all the right players involved and engaged. The maintenance techs have got to be collecting information for us when they go out to work on equipment, so we can learn from what they’re seeing and doing to take care of that piece of equipment. How much time are they spending, what materials are they using to keep it going? We’ve got to live by our data, because if we don’t have that data,

06:26

Bruce Wesner
how do we know where we need to focus our time and attention? So using that data in a reliability engineering organization is so critical. Where are my bad actors? What do I need to do to get more performance and focus on the few things that are going to create success in how we utilize that piece of equipment and take care of our customers?

So getting the right KPIs, truly doing a follow-the-money exercise, time and money and materials, because that could tell us a story. Maybe there are things we didn’t discuss, didn’t incorporate into the maintenance and reliability plan, that we need to come back and re-engage on and take to that next level of capability.

So again, sharing that data back with the OEMs: if we make them better, they need to make us better at the same time. It’s a balancing act, a give and take. That’s kind of my view of the world.

07:40

Tara Holwegner
I love that, and it’s almost expanding the value stream for the OEM, because you are a customer as an organization purchasing a piece of their equipment, but ultimately it’s expanding that to say, “Hey, OEM, there are other customers who are also your customers.” Our customers, Bruce, your organization’s customers and stakeholders, externally and internally, are also a piece of this story for the OEM, so it expands beyond just your one relationship and touches a lot more people. When you can share that data, that failure information or feedback from the operators, and have that true partnership, they can expand that line of vision all the way to the end user, whether that’s somebody using medicine, eating a food product, or flying on an airplane. It’s the whole ecosystem, and everybody benefits if they work together.

It’s really enlightening. Although asset owners rely heavily on OEM recommendations, they struggle, and this is what I was talking about earlier, with considering their operating environment. It’s a vanilla machine if you just buy it off the shelf, but what “colors” are we going to add once it enters my operating environment? Give me some examples of how reliability teams can tailor OEM guidance to their specific processes and environments, because I’m sure GMP environments are very harsh, with certain production processes. Share some examples with me.

09:51

Bruce Wesner
Well, I look at it as a three-legged stool. Clients and customers engage Life Cycle Engineering to come in and be one of those legs, to help challenge the teams to think more broadly and more advanced. So the three-legged stool is really the OEM, the asset owner, and then us as Life Cycle Engineering, in order to build that asset management program, policy, and processes that the organization can take and engage into their maintenance management system.

Focusing on a few essential things creates a much more efficient factory acceptance test, so that you’re able to turn that equipment over and get it online to get a return on the investment the company has made. All of this needs to be delivered in advance, and I can’t say that enough.

10:32

Tara Holwegner
No, yeah.

10:49

Bruce Wesner
It’s got to be proactively fed to the new owner of that piece of equipment so they can get it into their system, do some training with people across different skill areas, the maintenance team, the reliability team, the operating team, so that they know what’s coming. They’re ready for it when the asset hits the ground and gets placed. And when we’re doing factory acceptance testing, it’s a much more efficient, much more beneficial process.

So integrating condition monitoring into it, that’s part of the Industry 4.0 focus: we’ve got to be looking way down the road to really understand what’s coming at us. The better we are at addressing things proactively, the less reactive we need to be.

I think the other one, and this is really the secret sauce, goes back to my comment about operations owning the assets. Operators who stand and operate a piece of high-level technology day in and day out know more about that piece of equipment, a lot of times, than most people because they’re there. They know how it sounds, they know how it smells, they know what it should look like.

Having them do an activity we call operator care plans actually gives us more feedback, because they’re the tip of the spear out there in the process with that piece of equipment. They can report earlier, since they’re at ground zero, back to the engineering team, so that if something isn’t quite right, you’re much better off addressing it proactively than reactively: lower cost, and potentially safer, because you’re not putting people at risk. Getting that feedback and integrating it back into your maintenance management system gives us a holistic view of asset performance. We not only have the engineering and reliability side, we also have the operations side, with skin in the game from their perspective.

12:54

Tara Holwegner
Mm-hmm.

13:16

Tara Holwegner
Right, right. So that’s the asset owner leg of the stool, but even within that one leg there are different components that need to work together. How early is early? Are we talking about this before you’ve actually purchased the asset, or how early do you think?

13:39

Bruce Wesner
Well, you’re going to go through a design iteration with the OEM. You’ll probably start with a pretty standard piece of equipment, and if there’s anything you need to tweak or change with that OEM, it’s done proactively. Once the asset goes into the build process with the OEM, that OEM, before it ever leaves the factory, should have the maintenance and reliability package

13:51

Tara Holwegner
 Mm-hmm.

14:07

Bruce Wesner
ready for the soon-to-be users. That way, even for folks who are going to do factory acceptance testing at the factory where it’s being built, we can assure it’s leaving the factory correctly. We can proactively spend time with the technical folks who are going to be there, getting their eyes on it in their factory, so issues can be addressed in advance.

14:24

Tara Holwegner

Mm.

14:35

Bruce Wesner
Then, after the OEM packages the machine up and ships it to its new home, you’ve already got everything in place. You’re not reacting to it, not trying to build it post-installation. You’ve got it there. It’s just more seamless from a program standpoint.

14:46

Tara Holwegner
Yeah.

15:00

Tara Holwegner
Well, I think this is a great segue into my next question, which is about specifics. So if I’m a maintenance leader and I want to pursue a more strategic partnership with my OEM, what are some things, specifically outside of what we just mentioned about design requirements during the design phase, we should keep in mind besides just purchase price, warranty, contract terms, and so on? What else should we be leaning on our OEM partners for?

15:48

Bruce Wesner
Well, I’d say the better OEMs out there today are looking forward to it. They want to be the best, a leader in their industry. That’s the way it was when I ran engineering for a pretty progressive window and door company: we looked for the best of the best. What’s the best available technology? What’s the best available OEM out there that’s going to partner up and work with us, making sure they’re looking at new AI technology? How do you integrate AI, sensors, into that asset to be the crystal ball and really tell us we’ve got a problem coming in advance? Having OEMs that are willing to step up and consign inventory based on a critical spares list is part of that.

16:25

Tara Holwegner
Mm, mm-hmm.

Tara Holwegner
Yeah.

16:47

Bruce Wesner
Advanced packaging, too. We’ve got to make sure that if you’re buying equipment from halfway around the world, it takes time, and time is money. So you need to make sure you’ve got spare parts strategies, that you’ve got the parts stocked and ready to go. I always challenge our OEMs to come and spend time in the plant post-installation. Again, we do walkabouts with

16:55

Tara Holwegner
Right.

17:16

Bruce Wesner
them to get their eyes on it. They may see things we’re not seeing, or we may see things they’re not used to hearing, and we can share that with them right there, live and in person.

I think the other piece is that there’s technology out there now, especially if you’re working with OEMs that are globally scattered, for remote service. We’ve got AR glasses you can put on, so what you’re looking at, they’re seeing, and they can more rapidly help diagnose a problem and get you back online quicker. Again, having that OEM in the upfront design-for-reliability conversations is always healthy, because

17:49

Tara Holwegner
Sure. Yeah.

18:14

Bruce Wesner
how are we standardizing technologies, making sure that reliability is based on eliminating a lot of buried components and parts? If we can bring that together and run more standardized, it’s all about standardization. That’s what makes the OEM and end-user relationship a true partnership, and most effective.

18:44

Tara Holwegner
Yeah. Yeah. And like you said before, help each other get better at their focus. I think that’s great.

I want to ask a call to action, if you will, for our listeners. If I am a maintenance and reliability leader and I want to strengthen an OEM partnership, I want formalized maintenance plans. Where is the best place for me to get started? We’ve talked a lot about program details, which I’m going to wrap up at the end of this episode. But if I’m listening today and I say, “You know what? I want to do this. I want to get better at this.” Where can I start?

19:36

Bruce Wesner
Well, I think, again, data tells a lot of stories. Being able to share performance dashboards and asset-type information with your OEM partners is critical. We live and die by data because that’s how we know where to focus and what we need to improve.

It’s also important to continue conversations around advances in technology. This world continues to evolve from a technical standpoint. Are we adopting the best available technologies? Are we implementing solutions that will improve asset performance?

Being proactive instead of reactive delivers results, in safety, quality, and equipment availability. Those are really the key areas.

Lastly, we need to continue adapting new AI technologies and tools. Going back to the maintenance management system, is it capable of receiving AI-generated insights and advanced sensor feedback? If you’ve established upper and lower control limits for performance and something starts drifting outside those limits, that information should automatically trigger a notification in the maintenance management or EAM system. That allows your maintenance team to investigate before a failure occurs and ensures you’re using your technical resources effectively.

Those are the areas I believe these relationships need to continue moving toward.

21:33

Tara Holwegner
You have deep experience in this area, including building these strategic partnerships at your own facilities throughout your career. I also think people can lean on outside experts for help. Organizations like Life Cycle Engineering can come in and help build these strategies together.

Bruce, you have a huge network of OEMs you’ve worked with over the years. In your experience, have OEM partners generally been receptive to building more strategic relationships? Or have you found that some still take the attitude of, “I sold it, you bought it, see you later”? What’s been your personal experience?

22:31

Bruce Wesner
I’ve seen both.

The better OEMs, the world-class organizations leading technology within their industries, step up and become true partners. They work alongside their customers to help improve performance.

Others have taken the position of, “We know what we know. We don’t need to be that closely connected.”

What’s interesting is that once you decide you’re no longer purchasing equipment from them, they often become your best friend. Suddenly they want to rebuild that relationship and become part of future equipment decisions.

I look at it this way: if you burn the bridge, you have to learn from it. I’ve seen companies change their approach, and through conversations across my network, I’ve found that many OEMs genuinely want to become stronger partners with end users because it’s a small world. Reputation matters.

Don’t burn the bridge, build the partnership. That’s the key.

23:48

Tara Holwegner
I love that, and I think that’s the perfect place to wrap up.

We covered a lot of ground in this episode, Bruce. Your personal experience, stories, and examples really bring this topic to life and will be valuable for our listeners.

The goal is to make the OEM relationship a strategic partnership that helps everyone improve. For asset owners, that means involving technicians and operators, providing meaningful data to the reliability team, and maintaining a continuous feedback loop with the OEM so improvements can be made over time.

As you described, it’s really a three-legged stool: the OEM, the asset owner, and, when appropriate, outside support from organizations like Life Cycle Engineering to help establish and sustain these partnerships.

It’s all about sharing data. That information helps OEMs contribute in meaningful ways, whether that’s developing inventory consignment programs, improving spare parts strategies, conducting periodic site visits to better understand the operating environment, or recommending equipment improvements.

I also really like the idea of remote support. Many of the best OEMs are located around the world, but today’s technology, whether that’s augmented reality devices or live remote support, allows them to see what your team sees and help diagnose issues much faster.

That kind of collaboration transforms a simple equipment purchase into a true business partnership where both organizations benefit and continue improving together.

Bruce, thank you again for joining us and sharing another chapter of your experience, from your years in industry to your work today helping organizations through Life Cycle Engineering.

Before we sign off, do you have any final thoughts for our listeners?

26:46

Bruce Wesner
Just continue to leverage technology. It’s available, and we can’t be afraid of it. We need to embrace it and make sure we’re getting the maximum value from every investment so we can achieve the levels of performance necessary to stay competitive.

The world is incredibly competitive today, so now is the time to embrace these technologies from the very beginning.

27:15

Tara Holwegner
That’s right. Leverage all of our networks. And remember what we said today: don’t burn the bridge, build the partnership.

Thank you for joining us for another episode, listeners. If you’d like to learn more about this topic, we have additional resources available on LCE.com, and we’ll include helpful links and notes in the episode description.

Until next time, let’s stay Smartr, people.