Why is Augury’s expanded Guaranteed Diagnostics™ such a game changer? In terms of industrial warranties, it’s a Mars colony compared to the Earth-bound mundanity of satisfaction guarantees, according to Augury’s Head of Product and Portfolio Marketing James Newman.
A colleague recently asked what sparked my passion for guaranteeing results. I was surprised since I had never considered warranties to be a passion. Golf: yes. Irish dance: yes. Warranties: not so much.
But then I realized I had been describing to him Augury’s expanded Guaranteed Diagnostics™ in terms of space travel and its “revolutionary!”. So, I couldn’t argue. And it’s true, my confidence is boosted when I know something works. And I get mad when competitors peddle false promises in the form of supposed “money-back guarantees.”
It’s also true I am very excited about Augury’s expanded Guaranteed Diagnostics™ supported by HSB, a Munich Re company. While other warranties are still metaphorically trying to escape the Earth’s gravity, we’ve already shot past the moon and are happily settled on Mars – with our sights already set on the next frontier.
Sorry, there I go again.
Nuts And Bolts of New Extended Warranty
So, what’s the deal exactly?
Let’s be clear, this is not a full uptime – or production loss – guarantee. No one is there yet because this would involve taking responsibility for peoples’ actions outside of your control. That’s more the Galaxy far far away movie script. But neither is it a simple and terrestrial satisfaction-or-your-money-back guarantee.
Now, we are so confident in our AI-driven capabilities, that we are now also willing to offset part of the resulting production expenses if we don’t flag a machine that ends up failing.
Augury is offering a singular warranty which includes compensation for unwarned repair events to reimburse for machine downtime and production expenses for Critical Rotating (CR) assets – plus we’re expanding eligibility to include all assets we classify as CR assets. Now, it’s not just about covering any repair and replacement that results from a machine breaking down that we should have been able to find – that’s the moon base we were on before. Now, we are so confident in our AI-driven capabilities, that we are now also willing to offset part of the resulting production expenses if we don’t flag a machine that ends up failing.
Usual View: Innovation and Mitigating Risk Don’t Mix
But seriously, it’s an exciting proposition.
For years, technologies – like Machine Health – have promised to reduce your risk and (by extension) change your insurance premium. But in reality, the people who determine your risk – internally or via your insurance company – are essentially anti-unproven-technology. They really have to see it, to believe it since their job, by definition, is to eliminate risk. And hence, they are the people with the least faith in technology.
And new technologies, particularly when they first appear, can be fraught with unknown risk. So, to be fair, it’s realistic for your risk management team to be anti-technology – or at least until the technology is mature enough that it can actually prove it really does mitigate risk. Meanwhile, the job of insurance companies is not to give away money. And we know many insurance companies take this view very, very seriously – to the point where they stop moving with the times.
Your production improvement can’t lie in suspended animation
while you wait to arrive at your new planet.
And that all takes time, time you can’t really afford to waste. Your production improvement can’t lie in suspended animation while you wait to arrive at your new planet.
Boldly Going…
Happily, some insurance companies are realizing they have to become less adversarial and even become partners in championing new technologies. And in my opinion HSB happens to be one of those taking the lead in asking how they can do things differently – and then without needlessly opening their portfolio to risk. Of course, they still have to be selective. For instance, you won’t see any insurance companies partnering with generative AI companies anytime soon. Even for this warranty coverage, we are being very clear about what is being offered; this is a warranty on our diagnostics, not new insurance. Nonetheless, Machine Health has proven itself enough over time for a major company to say: “Yeah, we’re good to partner here.”
But this is not for the faint of heart. Compared to other insurance companies, this is an incredibly brave move. They – forgive the Star Trek reference – are boldly going to where no one has gone before.
In other words, Guaranteed Diagnostics guarantees
you can move at warp speed to improve your Machine Health.
Let’s be clear, however, Guaranteed Diagnostics is NOT insurance. That would be easy, like driving your starship on autopilot. Guaranteed Diagnostics is a warranty that Machine Health works. Yes, that’s obvious, but it’s an important point. This is about knowing without a doubt that the solution provider you are partnering with has your back and a stake in the program’s success. In other words, Guaranteed Diagnostics guarantees you can move at warp speed to improve your Machine Health.
Onward and Upward
So, here’s where we’re at – and we have our sights set even further. As mentioned above, we’re expanding our warranty coverage to more machines. Today, this means all of our current CR machines are eligible. But as we work on new types of machines that will eventually become CR machines, this list will only grow..
We are also planning to expand the category from rotating assets around vibration analysis to cover new types of assets as this program continues to grow – going from single colonies to multiple colonies.
And of course, we are looking very much beyond Machine Health as we start to loop in new data sources to see what types of new insights we can bring together to create more value for our customers…
And get this: we are offering this coverage at no additional cost for a full year to all new logos we sign on.
It’s as if we’re paying their transport costs to Mars. How’s that for a confidence booster?
