The maintenance revolution: from reactive to preventive

MANY ARGUE analogue is better than digital. For example, vintage analogue synthesisers have a reputation for producing a richer and beautifully noisier sound than their digital counterparts. But in maintenance, doing things the old way in a modern world, has its flaws.

In most cases, maintenance with old or no technology forces you to take a corrective maintenance approach rather than a preventive. Without the ability to discover problems before they arise, maintenance becomes reactive – fixing things after they break.

Apart from urgent, unforeseen machine failures, the downsides to this approach are several. Minor problems can go unnoticed, turning into costly breakdowns. It’s difficult or impossible to schedule. It can increase energy consumption, environmental impact, and even staff risk. 

Corrective maintenance is fine for easy-to-replace or low-cost machines. But not the best for a modern production line with expensive equipment, especially trying to follow recognised asset management standards like ISO 55000. 

However, many managers feel stuck. They’re standing at the edge of Industry 4.0 but are unsure of the best way forward. They might rely on outdated technology, manually exporting massive chunks of data into colourful spreadsheet graphs. While it works, it may not be the most efficient.

And to follow standards, many inevitably veer towards unusual cases due to the complexities that a lack of the proper technologies introduce.

Maintenance standards define the three proactive maintenance pillars as condition-based, planned, and predictive:

• Condition-based maintenance means getting information from an asset to find the right maintenance action at the right time. 
• Planned maintenance means performing jobs according to calendar schedule or operating time. 
• Predictive maintenance is a form of condition-based maintenance, which today often refers to collecting, analysing, and processing measurement data with smart technology to assess the best time to replace oil or a bearing in a unit.

Compared to its reactive counterpart, predictive maintenance aims to remove all unnecessary maintenance activities to keep assets in top shape for their entire life cycle. The approach can effectively help stop breakdowns, improve operational efficiency, and reduce costs. 

And to follow these three pillars according to maintenance standards, Industry 4.0 technology like IoT sensors can help. And when the sensors flawlessly connect to a CMMS platform that can manage work orders, scheduling and inventory, giving you an overview of your entire range of machines – stepping into Industry 4.0 becomes surprisingly easy.

Future-proofing maintenance

Like hammer and nails, the right tools can mean everything. And to improve operational efficiency across the board, the right tools are necessary to solve modern maintenance challenges, especially when adhering to international maintenance standards. 

But there’s an enormous difference between solutions built from and to these standards. While tech-savvy IT people can customise most modern solutions, it’s often an expensive and complex route that doesn’t account for future shifts. 

With a solution purposefully built from all aspects of maintenance standards, like ISO 55000 and EN 13306:2017, you don’t have to think twice about being compliant. Run the maintenance software and use it as intended, and you’re automatically following international best practices – and future-proofing your maintenance practices. And with one single provider for all your smart maintenance solutions, you have one source of truth and one number to call when you need it.

At MaintMaster, we believe Industry 4.0 with preventive maintenance holds incredible opportunities. We are a single provider that built MaintMaster CMMS and connected IoT sensors from every detail in international standards – making both preventive and corrective maintenance a breeze. Welcome to the revolution.

Tom Reames is sales director at MaintMaster

For more information: 

maintmaster.com

Tel: +44 7493328466