Case Study: Sund & Bælt achieves automated inspections and extended bridge lifespan with IBM Maximo for Civil Infrastructure

Sund & Bælt finds value in intelligent infrastructure

Sund & Bælt, owner and operator of major Danish infrastructures including the Great Belt Fixed Link, struggled with slow, dangerous and costly manual inspections—often hiring mountaineers and taking up to a month to inspect large concrete areas and corrosion‑prone assets. To digitize asset management and speed inspections, Sund & Bælt chose IBM and its IBM Maximo for Civil Infrastructure solution (part of the IBM Maximo Application Suite).

IBM deployed Maximo (including IBM Maximo Visual Inspection) using drones, mobile access, AI and digital twins to consolidate photos, maintenance records and 3D models and to automate defect detection and work‑order management. As a result, Sund & Bælt eliminated many hazardous manual inspections, expects 15–25% productivity gains in 5–10 years, anticipates more than a 30% reduction in time from incident to repair, projects a 100‑year extension to the Great Belt’s lifespan (saving roughly 750,000 tons of CO2), and can take a more proactive, data‑driven approach to maintenance.

Sund & Bælt

Bjarne Jørgensen

Executive Director of Asset Management and Operations