The 37th IMC International Maintenance Conference, which started last December 4th in Marco Island, Florida, officially welcomed the 38th IMC 2024 this Thursday, December 7th, by Terrence O'Hanlon, CEO & Publisher of Reliabilityweb.com, the organization responsible for this event. This official closing ceremony of IMC 2023 and welcome to the 38th IMC 2024 invited the entire international asset management community to continue participating in a new edition of this magnificent conference.
This edition of IMC 2023 has been truly extraordinary, as it is one of the most influential events in the industrial maintenance and asset management sector, and is held every year by Reliabilityweb.com, the world's leading organization in the dissemination, teaching and application of reliability culture and sciences to achieve safety, robustness and operational excellence for companies, and to help professionals and investors achieve their goals. For 2024, the central theme will be Intelligent Reliability Leadership, and from now on Reliabilityweb.com advances this theme, with the introduction of One, the new element that will be from now on in the Uptime® Elements™ Framework, and that will be as revolutionary and cutting-edge as all the solutions offered by this organization. Element One enables the development of the "one system" approach that places EAM or CMMS technology at the core of asset management and significantly reduces costs, as well as the time to implement the reliability framework. "With Element One we can make this reliability journey much faster" expressed Terrence O'Hanlon, CEO and publisher of Reliabilityweb.com, in presenting One during the opening activities of the event on December 5.
At the glittering IMC 2023 Closing and IMC 2024 Welcome ceremony, held on December 7, O'Hanlon took the opportunity to comment on the impressive turnout achieved at IMC 2023 with the presence of the industry's most prominent investors, scientists, authors, managers and companies. "We are very pleased to have had all these incredible professionals at this conference, personalities that alone are inspiration and hope, and we hope they will join us at next year's edition, so we look forward to each new opportunity to continue to grow together in this great journey that is reliability. I believe that reliability synthesizes the shared vision of the future world we all want, that safe and reliable place where everyone is included, and that is where we are directing our efforts and what we hope to inspire and share with these conferences and events" - said O'Hanlon, who was accompanied by Maura Abad, Global Relationships Leader of Reliabilityweb.com. The next International Maintenance Conference 38th IMC 2024 will be held on December 16-19 next year.
During four days (including a first day of pre-conference activities), participants enjoyed talks, keynotes, learning sessions, great exhibits, the Uptime Award and Solutions Award, music events, prizes and giveaways, but most of all they had access to deep insights from experts, who were there to share their knowledge and recommendations. Leading companies, scientists, investors, the greatest technological advances, all within reach of all the professionals who attended the conference: it was undoubtedly an enriching and transformative experience.
On this last day of the conference, the Tech Crawl Expo Breakfast was held, an event that brings together the most advanced technologies and innovations, aligned with the Uptime® Elements™ framework, to drive reliability and express all the scientific basis and applied sciences that underpin them and enable their execution. The Tech Crawl is an opportunity to get up close and personal with all the technological advances that drive "knowledge, progress and peak performance", showcasing cutting-edge solutions that unlock the full potential of the reliability framework, as well as sharing impressions, information and experiences among attendees and exhibitors.
The Expo Breakfast Tech Crawl was followed by the keynote "Leading When You Are Not in Charge", given by Clay Scroggins, recognized organizational leader. This keynote was the space to reflect on the impact of leadership, and what this term means in the industry today. Leadership, beyond management positions, involves being able to inspire, influence others and help each team member to explore and develop their full potential. This shift in vision enables the creation of cohesive teams and collaborative experiences, making positive leadership prevail "even in the absence of formal authority." Scroggins, with a long experience in this sector, shared his strategies and insights to awaken leadership in each person and create a significant impact on organizations.
This keynote address was followed by RAP (Reliability, Availability and Performance) talks by distinguished reliability leaders, including Stanley Sommer of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, on topics that highlighted the scope of reliability beyond the industrial, manufacturing and service sectors. The RAP talk "Experiences in Maintaining the State-of-the-Art Infrastructure Needed for Pioneering Scientific Research" allowed Sommer to share his experiences and how these learnings can be applied in other industries as well. Reliability must be present in all areas of industry, manufacturing, services and scientific studies. Hearing first-hand from those who carry out these activities, with the sense of ownership and excellence that reliability brings, is certainly inspiring.
ONE: the new Element for Smart Reliability Leadership
The presentation of Element One, the new element that the Uptime® Elements™ Framework will now feature, was one of the big surprises of IMC 2023, announced on December 5. It is one of Reliabilityweb.com's major contributions to the world of reliability and is directly related to the theme being developed for 2024: Intelligent Reliability Leadership, where Reliability Leadership processes are combined with technology tools. This combination empowers leadership, reliability culture and asset management.
As O'Hanlon explains, "We are at the forefront of an era of transformation where technological advances are an integral part of our practices. Elements of Industry 4.0 are part of the working universe" of asset management, mechanical repairs and the use of advanced technologies such as cloud services and Artificial Intelligence (AI) go hand in hand, indicating the importance of digital tools such as Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) and Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) in maintenance and asset management operations.
The Reliability Leadership Institute has developed a new strategic vision, which integrates Uptime® Elements™ with EAM and CMMS to position them as critical components in asset management and maintenance going forward and will be one of the new guidelines presented in the WEM Project Manager's Guide. EAM and CMMS serve as fundamental connectors of all components of asset management, aligning data, people and culture for optimal management. More than 50% of professionals rely on them as a primary source of asset management data, influencing crucial decision making. These changes are intended to provide systems with functionality that was previously exclusive to stand-alone asset performance management systems. Element One opens up a new phase of maintenance and reliability, making it easier, faster and more accessible to all.
The closing ceremony of the 37th International Maintenance Conference was full of surprises, prizes and gifts for all participants, such as Apple laptops, an Apple iPhone and Beats headphones, amidst a festive atmosphere that served as the launch and inauguration of IMC 2024. This event is characterized by serving as an inspiration and reference for maintenance professionals. Thousands of these professionals have propelled their careers forward after participating in one of these conferences, actively integrating the learning communities created by Reliabilityweb.com, driving reliability projects in their organizations that have begun to make a substantial difference in leadership, safety and sustainability approaches, betting on the creation of stronger and safer industries through the Uptime® Elements™ framework, and understanding the enormous value of reliability culture in building a safer, more inclusive and better world. "We look forward to seeing you all next year, at the new edition of IMC, because this reliability party is for everyone" - said O'Hanlon at the end of t
