In order for a business to operate at full strength, their equipment and machinery will have to be able to stand the test of time. Ensuring the long-term health of any piece of equipment is accomplished through routine maintenance. The way in which organizations maintain their equipment is usually split between two separate methods, preventive and predictive maintenance. Throughout this post, these two methods will be broken down in detail to help organizations easily distinguish between them.
Preventive maintenance is what’s considered the norm, a very traditional approach to maintaining equipment. This approach prioritizes performing routine maintenance on each piece of equipment at scheduled time intervals throughout the year. These intervals vary by equipment and will be predicated on features such as age or run time. Alternatively, the more advanced approach organizations can take is predictive maintenance. In these strategies, organizations employ sophisticated systems that connect with their equipment to collect data that would indicate when they require maintenance. While these systems are excellent at determining what is making a piece of equipment tick, they are much more costly than just going with the grain.
Businesses must be able to differentiate between these two methods in order to decide which is most optimal for their equipment. Despite understanding the two, it will still be a challenge. However, with the help of the resource accompanying this post, it should be made a bit simpler. Within the resource the ways in which each approach can benefit any organization will be detailed. Hopefully with the help of this resource any organization will be informed enough to make a decision between the two maintenance approaches.
For the businesses that have decided to invest into predictive maintenance strategies, there remains some uncertainty. The largest worry tends to come from how these systems would integrate with their equipment. As the IoT technologies that enable these systems continue to connect to more equipment, the easier the integration becomes. More machines means more data, which means the data and analysis that is reported to organizations can become much more accurate. Leading to even less downtime and increased efficiency.
Many businesses will continue to struggle despite their decision between these two maintenance approaches. Owners and managers will have to come to understand the ins-and-outs of completely new systems in the case of predictive maintenance. On top of that, they’ll be required to devise a plan to reeducate their employees regarding the new strategies and how they will impact their positions and their responsibilities. Preventive maintenance approaches can still struggle from unexpected downtime as well. Finding a balance between the issues is what matters most.
Interested in learning more about how these two maintenance approaches operate? Spend some time checking out the infographic included alongside this post. Courtesy of Industrial Service Solutions.