PROsmart™
Processing Magazine's Breakthrough Product of the Year

Our team won. She's completely cured. I love you.

Three little words can say it all, as researchers from the ITT Industrial Products Group discovered when they conducted Voice of the Customer interviews. The overriding need VOC-alized by customers was expressed in just three words: "Extend equipment life."

The mandate became a mantra driving development of an advanced technology called PROsmart™, introduced just last month. The new technology dramatically advances what's known in industrial circles as "predictive condition monitoring" (three not so little words).

PROsmart combines hardware and software, developed totally in-house, to continuously monitor rotating equipment, such as pumps, motors, compressors, fans and mixers. When equipment functions -- speed, temperature, vibration, oil levels, leakage, etc. -- fall outside pre-set parameters, PROsmart sends out an alert.

"By identifying, diagnosing and signaling potential equipment problems before they result in breakdowns, plants can reduce downtime and maintenance costs that eat into profitability," explains Patrick Yehl, Marketing Manager, Industrial Products Group.

The alert, along with a trend report on the equipment, can be accessed at all times from any location via a password-protected homepage. The alarm can also come by email, cell phone, text message or pager. "We can notify you any way you want, whether you’re in your backyard or on the beach," says Gene Sabini, Director of Research, Industrial Products Group.

PROsmart is smarter than your average equipment monitor. Competing systems typically keep track of only two variables, vibration and temperature. Because it was developed in-house, it's also the most cost-effective solution on the market. "We can offer our system at prices significantly lower than the competition -- and ours can do a lot more," says Sabini.

The many pro's of PROsmart have been recognized by major publications in the industry. It won Processing magazine's "Breakthrough Product of the Year" award for 2004. Plant Engineering named it a best-products finalist because "It extends equipment life, eliminates expensive walk-arounds by personnel, provides true predictive analysis, and consolidates data for equipment optimization."

The Stage-Gate process played an indispensable role in PROsmart's creation, says Sabini. "It's a stringent process that forces you to come up with the best product because your gate deliverables have to be right every step of the way -- from initial concept, business case and design, right through to testing and market launch."