The Silent Saboteur is the subject of Schneider's latest report, the personification of all the unexplained malfunctions and glitches that disrupt industrial operations.
A nefarious trickster, his mission is to undermine performance, reliability, and safety at every turn. Beyond the obvious impacts of his machinations — disruption, downtime, and reputational damage — companies that allow the Saboteur to run rampant are jeopardising their ability to succeed in a complex and competitive future.
Like Roald Dahl’s infamous Gremlins in the Machine, the Saboteur lurks anywhere there is oversight, in the shadows so to speak, exploiting blind spots where engineers lack visibility. He tinkers with systems, creates inefficiencies, downtime, and, at his most destructive, the potential for catastrophic business-ending events.
In my second blog following the report’s launch, I’ll explore some of the case studies that didn’t quite make the cut for the report. If there’s time, I’ll also discuss how smart technology could have exposed the culprit before the damage was done.
I would have gotten away with it too…
When choosing case studies for the Saboteur report, our criteria were simple: they had to be compelling. We ended up choosing two: one from Nestlé, where a short circuit in a main substation resulted in a 14-hour shutdown costing around $588,000, and another from a global food and beverage operator where a single misaligned screw caused a literal explosion, again leading to significant downtime.
In both cases, it took downtime for these businesses to implement smart technologies in their operations, though both were dabbling. Make sure to check out the full report to see just how damaging the Saboteur can be when unchecked.
For businesses operating under extreme conditions, the risk of downtime is too great to ignore. That’s why this case study ended up on the cutting room floor: they knew the risks, implemented smart technology early, and added resilience to their operations without any risk — but that hardly makes for good reading.
Off the coast of Africa, this customer is one of the top seven oil and gas players globally. Their oil platform operates like a self-contained city, powered by the very fossil fuel it extracts, alone and isolated. Given oil’s high combustibility, even the smallest spark could ignite disaster. A stray spark in the wrong conditions would not only halt operations but damage critical infrastructure too, and in a worst-case scenario, cost lives.
Understandably, this oil giant is particularly concerned about stray sparks. Prior to working with Schneider, the platform’s electrical circuits — which all run the risk of sparking when damaged, frayed, or overloaded, and in the presence of gases or dust — were monitored using thermal cameras. A useful solution for the industry for many years, it is one with limitations. Thanks to the introduction of smart technologies, tiny thermal sensors can now be deployed throughout the network, increasing coverage. These sensors are also able to measure current flow to predict average temperatures, while data is monitored remotely by Schneider’s Connected Services Hub.
In 2021, one fuse started running dangerously hot — 16 degrees above normal. The culprit? A misassembled fuse that would have gone unnoticed without digital surveillance. Schneider’s experts noticed the anomaly, alerted the client, and the crisis was averted, avoiding downtime and danger.
Why did we choose not to include this case study in the final report? The case was open and shut, and the Saboteur was foiled. Whereas, in the report, he wins out.
This case study didn’t highlight a failure but rather a near-miss. Still, the story is an important lesson in proactive risk mitigation. And that’s what, ultimately, Schneider is looking for.
When the Saboteur targets home ground
Another case study left on the cutting room floor came from Schneider itself.
Our Bantam factory in Indonesia is one of the world’s most advanced flagship manufacturing facilities. In 2019, it was recognised as a Fourth Industrial Revolution Lighthouse by the World Economic Forum, making it an industry leader in Industry 4.0 and smart technologies. It produces 11 lines of Schneider’s power and automation products and is a showcase for manufacturers across Asia.
But it wasn’t always so. Prior to becoming a smart factory and Industry 4.0 leader, the Bantam team faced challenges around visibility and operational performance. It was these challenges that were the catalyst for its digital transformation. The team decided that oversight of plant efficiency wasn’t quite as comprehensive as needed, and data on equipment failures lacked the granularity needed to pinpoint root causes.
Management wanted deeper insights to reduce downtime and inefficiency, so the team embarked on an overhaul of its digital systems, integrating IoT, smart-connected machinery, and Schneider’s EcoStruxure platform alongside external software where needed, transforming Bantam into a showcase for manufacturers across Asia.
The results were significant. Within one year, the factory reduced machine downtime by 44%. Thanks to the new digital performance management tools, operational efficiency rose by 12%, employee engagement increased by 5%, and defect-reduction initiatives cut scrap costs by 40% on critical machines. And, thanks to the integrated supply chain approach, it boosted suppliers’ service rates by 70%.
Here's the point: the Saboteur isn’t always looking for catastrophic disruption. He’s often just as happy eroding efficiency and the bottom line, making headaches for managers who can’t quite work out why one machine keeps breaking down, why they’re struggling to meet outputs, and why costs keep spiralling higher.
What the Saboteur teaches us
When we think about smart technologies, customers often first focus on avoiding disruption. While that’s important, the bigger picture is that greater visibility transforms everything: safety risks, emergency repairs, halted operations, staff pressure, and reputational risks. Just as the Saboteur was allowed to run rampant compounds over time, so too do smart technologies improve over time, thanks to the proliferation of data and finding new ways of working.
The key message I want to get across (in this blog and the report) is that smart technologies aren’t just about preventing catastrophic downtime. That’s part of it, but the real value lies in building resilience and agility. In industries where margins are thin and competitors are aggressive, businesses shouldn’t be left scrambling to find where things have gone wrong.
And once the Saboteur is out of the way, the path to peak performance is wide open.