IBM announced it has acquired a Inventory Optimization company, Oniqua Holdings. With this acquisition IBM expects to expand it’s Asset Optimization Practice focused on mining, oil & gas, transportation, utilities, manufacturing and other asset-intensive industries. The move will enable IBM to help its clients reduce and optimize MRO Inventories, predict when critical parts and equipment might fail so proactive actions can be taken to avoid unplanned downtime.
“Clients are moving from legacy, on-premise offerings to new cloud-based predictive analytics and prescriptive maintenance offerings. But without instant access to the right data, they are still susceptible to critical equipment breakdowns that can cripple their businesses,” said Jay Bellissimo, General Manager, Cognitive Process Transformation, IBM Global Business Services. “By combining the world’s leading asset optimization solution Maximo with the leading MRO Inventory Optimization solution from Oniqua, we will offer a next generation ‘solutions as-a-service’ that let businses easily connect with the data they need so they can forecast equipment failures, optimize spare parts, reduce unplanned downtime and optimize asset maintenance.”
Today, Oniqua’s solution is being used by the world’s leading companies, providing a single view of the truth for MRO spares inventory. Now through this acquisition, IBM adds new capabilities that provide one data source around all company assets to ensure 24/7 operational efficiency. Oniqua, combined with other IBM solutions such as Maximo and Tririga, will provide consistency and data accessibility across the business with a central source of trusted information. As a result, asset-intensive businesses will not only be able to monitor and manage their assets for predictive and proactive maintenance, but also have the assurance that all critical parts are available when they are needed, minimizing operational downtime.
“Bloated MRO spares inventories, surplus and obsolete parts on the shelf, an endless spend on inventory reduction projects and the negative impact a lack of inventory optimization has on unplanned production downtime. As a result, CEOs and CFOs of leading asset-intensive companies are paying more attention than ever to growing spare parts inventory balances, oftentimes totalling billions of dollars. Oniqua’s solution with IBM’s Asset Optimization offerings provides the market with an industry leading platform not offered by any other software company focused on the digital industrial revolution,” said Joe Berti, CEO of Oniqua.
