Predictive Maintenance: The Benefits You Get From It

Predictive maintenance is a type of maintenance that uses data and analytics to predict when equipment is likely to fail. This allows businesses to schedule maintenance before the equipment fails, which can avoid costly downtime and repairs.

Predictive maintenance can be used on a variety of equipment, from manufacturing machinery to HVAC systems.

The benefits of predictive maintenance include improved equipment uptime, reduced maintenance costs, and improved safety.

In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of predictive maintenance in more detail.

What is predictive maintenance?

Predictive maintenance is a strategy that uses data and analytics to predict when equipment is likely to fail. Predictive maintenance focuses on equipment that has a regular, predictable failure trend.

Businesses can then use this information to plan maintenance before the equipment fails. There are several ways that companies can predict when equipment is likely to fail.

The most common methods include condition-based monitoring, change detection, and failure trending. With condition-based monitoring, businesses regularly check equipment for signs of impending failure.

Change detection involves regular sensor readings that can detect subtle changes that indicate equipment is heading towards failure. Failure trending uses historical data to track equipment performance over time and predict when it’s likely to fail.

The benefits of predictive maintenance

Predictive maintenance aims to improve the uptime of equipment, reduce the cost of maintenance, and improve the safety of workers. It can also help businesses comply with regulations related to maintenance, including OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements.

Predictive maintenance allows businesses to schedule maintenance before equipment fails and avoid costly downtime. Predictive maintenance can reduce the cost of maintenance by allowing companies to schedule routine maintenance at off-peak times.

This is especially useful for equipment that requires preventive maintenance, like conveyor belts and pumps. It also allows companies to plan around events that cause high demand for maintenance, like a seasonal rush.

The benefits of predictive maintenance are especially important for businesses that use asset tracking software. Predictive maintenance can also improve safety and reduce the risk of injury. This can be especially important for businesses that need to meet OSHA’s recordkeeping regulations.

Improved equipment uptime

Businesses invest significant amounts of money in equipment, so they want to ensure it’s used as efficiently as possible. Equipment uptime is the percentage of time that equipment is operating, measured in total hours per year.

The benefits of predictive maintenance include improved equipment uptime, which can help businesses save money. This is particularly true for companies that use capital equipment, such as manufacturing plants, warehouses, and delivery vehicles.

Predictive maintenance allows businesses to schedule maintenance before equipment fails, reducing the amount of time it’s out of service.

This can help businesses avoid costly downtime, such as the loss of productivity from workers waiting for equipment to be repaired. It can also reduce the cost of maintenance since businesses can use off-peak times for scheduled work.

Reduced maintenance costs

Predictive maintenance allows businesses to anticipate when equipment will fail and plan for repairs. This allows companies to increase the interval between maintenance visits, which can reduce the cost of maintenance.

Predictive maintenance is often aimed at equipment with a regular failure trend. This includes motors and belts, which are often replaced at the same interval. Companies can also use predictive maintenance to reduce costs related to the wrong type of maintenance.

For example, if workers are routinely replacing a certain part when it’s not necessary. This can lead to additional costs, like the cost of spare parts, or lost productivity as workers wait for repairs.

Improved safety

Safety is a top priority for many businesses, and it’s important to maintain a safe environment. Predictive maintenance can improve safety since it can help businesses avoid using equipment that’s on the verge of failure.

This can reduce the risk of injury associated with an unexpected equipment failure. It can also help businesses meet OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements since it allows companies to document when an injury occurs due to a failed piece of equipment.

Conclusion

Predictive maintenance is a strategy that uses data and analytics to predict when equipment is likely to fail. Companies can then use this information to plan maintenance before the equipment fails. The benefits of predictive maintenance include improved equipment uptime, reduced maintenance costs, and improved safety.