Circular asset management THEME 2 Evolutions of themes Extend asset life and build adaptive, circular systems that maximize longevity, reuse and refurbishment, ensuring operational continuity. Asset lifespan Maintenance cost per assetVisibility into asset lifecycle — Digital twins map asset health, energy use and material flows, providing a unified view of utilization and degradation. — These insights guide repair, refurbishment and resource allocation decisions.AI-driven circular optimization — AI optimizes asset lifecycles by balancing cost, carbon and reliability. — Focus remains on maximizing value from individual assets. — Predictive analytics guide repair-vs-replace decisions and embed recovery strategies into maintenance planning.Self-healing, regenerative asset network — Self-learning networks enable closed-loop asset reuse and refurbishment across plants. — Systems reallocate components and resources to sustain operations during disruptions. — Assets become active participants in resilience, co-optimizing with their digital twins to achieve regenerative, net-zero outcomes.NOW (0-2 years) NEAR (3-5 years) NEXT (5+ years) Objectives From reactive maintenance to predictive operations in a 138-year-old distilleryMAINTENANCE | CASE STUDY William Grant & Sons Challenge Solution Impact At their Girvan distillery, William Grant & Sons faced regular unplanned downtime because of heavy reliance on reactive maintenance – 40% of repairs were mid-emergency, rather than proactive fixes. The downtime drained resources and stifled output.Partnering with IFS Nexus Black, the distillery put in place an AI-driven predictive maintenance solution tailored for complex operations. The system combines historical asset data with process flow logic to predict failures before they happen, assess downstream impacts and tell the team what to fix, when and how. Multimodal intelligence means engineers can diagnose problems based on audio, video or vibrations. Continuous learning from fault reports makes the operation more resilient for the future.Once in business-as-usual mode, the distillery estimates: –Annual savings of £8.4 million at this one site because of less unplanned downtime, more first-time fix rates and a more reliable operation.MAINTENANCE Intelligent Industrial Operations Outlook 2026 23