ARTICLE
Predictive maintenance is a sophisticated approach that enables businesses to proactively detect and prevent equipment failures before they occur, leading to significant time and cost savings.
Unplanned downtime happens when there is an unexpected failure or shutdown of a machine, equipment, or process in an industry. Due to the disruptions in cost, quality, and time of production, unplanned downtime can significantly impact the bottom line of organizations and businesses. Forbes estimates that unplanned downtime can cost industrial manufacturers up to $50 billion a year.
Companies are battling the need to increase production while lowering operational costs and improving worker safety. With diverse & complex equipment often placed in remote and hard-to-reach locations, the ability to meet these goals with frequent monitoring is a huge challenge. Solving these issues has led organizations to implement innovative strategies and tactics.
What is Predictive Maintenance?
Predictive Maintenance is a proactive maintenance strategy that uses data analysis, machine learning algorithms, and IoT technology to predict when a given piece of equipment is likely to fail. This data-driven approach is intended to optimize maintenance schedules, minimize unexpected downtime, reduce maintenance costs, and improve safety and reliability of equipment. In short, predictive maintenance helps to identify and prevent equipment failures before they happen, ultimately saving time and money for businesses.
How does Predictive Maintenance improve plant operations?
Early Detection of Potential Problems
Predictive Maintenance uses wireless Industrial IoT sensors and machine learning algorithms to detect early warning signs of equipment failure. By measuring vibrational, acoustic, temperature, and humidity trends, issues can be identified before they escalate, allowing for proactive maintenance.
Better Inventory Management
Predictive Maintenance allows plants and factories to optimize every maintenance opportunity and plan for the future by helping maintenance & reliability teams to better manage their spare parts inventory. Proactive maintenance prediction informs when parts will be needed, helping companies to avoid running out of stock and reducing the need to keep excess inventory on hand.
Reduced Costs
By catching problems early and addressing them proactively, Predictive Maintenance can reduce the need for costly emergency repairs. Moreover, well-maintained and efficient running machines consume less energy, helping to reduce and maintain overall plant energy expenditures.
Increased Equipment Reliability
Predictive Maintenance as a proactive strategy ensures that equipment sets are operating at their peak performance levels, reducing the likelihood of unexpected failures and downtime, thereby ensuring your plant is producing at an optimal, reliable level.
Conclusion
Predictive maintenance is a powerful tool that can help reduce unplanned downtime in various industries. By analyzing data from sensors and other sources, Predictive Maintenance identifies potential equipment failures before they occur, allowing for scheduled maintenance. Access to the right data through Predictive Maintenance software can improve decision-making and mitigate risks across the entire organization.
By taking a holistic approach to predictive maintenance that addresses both technical and human factors, companies can significantly reduce the risk of unplanned downtime and maximize the reliability of their equipment.