Ingredion Indianapolis: How Spartakus APM Transformed Maintenance and Reliability Practices

Ingredion is a global leader in ingredient solutions, with more than 15 site in North America and 12 000 employees worldwide, serving industries ranging from food and beverage to pharmaceuticals and industrial applications. At its Indianapolis facility, Ingredion faced a challenge common across large-scale operations: how to ensure asset reliability and maintenance efficiency in a complex, fast-paced production environment.

To address these challenges, Ingredion Indianapolis partnered with Spartakus APM (Asset Performance Management). The collaboration provided a platform to streamline reliability decision, improve visibility into asset health, and drive stronger industrial reliability outcomes across the facility.

This business case explores Ingredion’s indianapolis journey with Spartakus APM, from the initial challenges and preparation steps to the implementation, benefits realized, and lessons learned. It demonstrates how a large manufacturer successfully transformed its maintenance and reliability practices into a data-driven, sustainable program.

The Challenge: Why Ingredion Needed Change

Before Spartakus APM, maintenance at Ingredion Indianapolis relied heavily on paper-based processes. Work orders, inspections, and anomaly tracking were fragmented and non-standardized, creating inefficiencies and limiting the effectiveness of maintenance activities.

A major obstacle was the lack of visibility. Operation managers and maintenance leaders had no clear way to compare what was planned against what had been executed. This gap made it difficult to measure maintenance compliance, follow up on incomplete tasks, or evaluate why certain activities were not completed.

Tracking anomalies and monitoring asset health across multiple departments was another significant pain point. Without a structured, centralized system, prioritizing maintenance needs and managing shutdowns was more guesswork than data-driven decision-making.

For technicians on the ground, paperwork added unnecessary friction. Manual forms, redundant data entry, and inconsistent processes drained time and created frustration. Instead of focusing on problem-solving and proactive maintenance, technicians found themselves bogged down in administrative work.

The Turning Point: Preparing for Spartakus APM

Ingredion recognized early that technology alone would not solve these problems. For Spartakus APM to deliver real value, the facility first needed to strengthen its maintenance foundations.

The Indianapolis site launched a series of PMO (Preventive maintenance optimization) exercises aimed at improving reliability practices and standardizing workflows. This groundwork ensured that once the digital system was in place, it would have clean, structured data and well-defined processes to build upon.

Key elements of this preparation included:

• Asset Criticality Ranking (ACR): Prioritizing assets based on their importance to safety, production, and cost.
• Asset hierarchy: Building a structured, standardized model of equipment relationships.
• Defined failure modes: Documenting how each asset could fail and ensuring maintenance tasks addressed these risks.

Equally important was fostering a business culture of reliability. Leadership recognized that technician engagement and operational buy-in would be critical for sustainable change. By involving both management and technicians from the beginning, Ingredion created a foundation for long-term success with Spartakus APM.

Buy-in of Spartakus APM at Ingredion Indianapolis

For Thomas Cunningham, PCM and Reliability Manager, one of the early wins for Spartakus APM was securing operation management buy-in. The platform provided visibility at multiple levels, facility-wide, departmental, and down to specific assets. This transparency allowed leaders to see what work was scheduled, what had been completed, and where gaps existed. For management, this visibility was a stepping stone toward greater accountability and better decision-making.

On the technician side, buy-in came through simplification. By eliminating paperwork and digitizing workflows, Spartakus APM streamlined day-to-day tasks. Technicians no longer had to struggle with redundant forms or unclear instructions. Instead, they could focus on value-added activities, optimizing their time and energy for tasks that truly improved assets reliability.

Key Benefits Realized

Streamlined Anomaly Management

With Spartakus APM, Ingredion Indianapolis gained the ability to capture, track, and prioritize anomalies in real time. Anomalies were no longer hidden in paper logs or siloed spreadsheets but became part of a structured workflow.

The platform also provided overall asset health monitoring, giving leaders a clear view of the facility’s condition at any point in time.

Better Preventive Maintenance Route Effectiveness

The APM allowed Ingredion Indianapolis to evaluate which routes and tasks were genuinely effective. By analyzing performance data, the facility identified “bad actors”, equipment that repeatedly caused downtime, and adjusted maintenance routes to ensure the right failure modes were being addressed.

Informed Shutdown and Prioritization Decisions

One of the most impactful improvements was the ability to make better-informed shutdown decisions. Spartakus APM helped the team distinguish between channels requiring immediate intervention and those that could safely wait. This clarity reduced unnecessary downtime, improved planning, and ensured that shutdowns were strategically aligned with business priorities.

Technician Productivity and Engagement

By removing paperwork and digitizing tasks, Spartakus APM freed technicians from administrative burdens. Their time was optimized, allowing them to concentrate on higher-value work such as root cause analysis and proactive maintenance. As a result, technicians became more engaged and developed a stronger sense of ownership over the asset reliability program.

Lessons Learned from Ingredion’s Journey

Ingredion’s experience underscores an important truth: technology is not a magic bullet. Spartakus APM delivered results because the groundwork was already in place. Maintenance fundamentals, such as ACR, asset hierarchy, and failure mode definition, were established before implementation, ensuring the platform had a solid foundation to build upon.

Another key lesson was the importance of leadership and technician engagement. Without management support, the visibility provided by Spartakus APM would have gone unused. Without technician buy-in, streamlined workflows would have failed to take hold. Success came from aligning both groups around shared goals.

Ingredion’s Advice to Other Organizations Considering Spartakus APM

Ingredion’s biggest advice to peers is simple: strengthen your foundations first. A successful maintenance program requires clear criticality rankings, a structured asset hierarchy, and well-defined failure modes tied to assets.

Spartakus APM enhances these practices, but it does not replace them.

That’s why Spartakus Technologies can also support organizations in building these essential foundations, ensuring that the groundwork is solid before digitalization begins.

Another key lesson is to involve technicians early. Their perspective ensures that the system remains practical, usable, and aligned with real-world challenges. This early engagement not only shapes a better solution but also drives adoption, helping the program deliver value long after implementation.

Conclusion

The journey of Ingredion Indianapolis shows how a manufacturer can move from fragmented, paper-based processes to a streamlined, data-driven maintenance culture. By laying the groundwork with strong maintenance practices and engaging both leadership and technicians, Ingredion ensured that Spartakus APM delivered maximum impact.

The results were clear: improved anomaly management, better route effectiveness, smarter shutdown planning, and a more engaged workforce. The dual benefit of leadership visibility and technician efficiency positioned Ingredion Indianapolis as a leader in maintenance and reliability excellence.

For organizations considering Spartakus APM, Ingredion’s story is proof that when best practices meet the right technology, the outcome is sustainable, long-term reliability success.

Raphael Tremblay,
Spartakus Technologies
[email protected]