Category:
Predictive vs. Preventive Maintenance: Pros and Cons
Reactive maintenance is neither sustainable nor cost-effective. However, finding a suitable replacement can prove challenging, especially if you’re unaware of common industrial maintenance methods like preventative and predictive maintenance.
Use the guide below to discover the difference between predictive vs. preventative maintenance and how you can incorporate elements of both approaches into your company’s processes.
What Is Predictive Maintenance?
As one of the most dynamic industrial maintenance methods, predictive maintenance measures the real-life conditions of heavy-duty machinery and equipment to inform maintenance and repairs. Any predictive maintenance protocol aims to optimize the slim margin between equipment functionality and failure.
This condition-monitoring approach requires sensors to gather and transmit data to a linked software program, which compiles and analyzes the results to uncover trends that help inform future maintenance.
Each sensor relies on the Internet of Things to transmit data regarding temperature, sound, vibration, lubrication, and other characteristics.
However, maintenance technicians must still identify and program predictive maintenance software to monitor machinery conditions based on approved parameters. The software then uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, and digital twins to develop optimal maintenance protocols.
Admittedly, predictive maintenance is a resource-intensive way to approach required maintenance, despite increased downtime. Investing in the sensors and infrastructure necessary to perform predictive maintenance can be significant, but the expense is often worth it with a long-term view. Companies only need to spend money on repairs if and when the software advises, based on its measurement of the machinery’s condition.
Pros
Predictive maintenance can be beneficial in a variety of ways:
- Less downtime
- Reduced material and labor costs
- Increased asset longevity
- Maintenance completed based on existing real-life conditions
- Optimizes operational spending for the highest ROI
- Protects employees from unsafe conditions
- Ensures compliance with industry regulations
Cons
That said, there are some noteworthy pitfalls of predictive maintenance:
- Represents a significant upfront technological investment
- A complex approach to maintenance that often requires a learning curve
- Requires vast amounts of data that can be challenging to manipulate
- Often requires additional employee training regarding protocols
- Equipment can still fail unexpectedly
- Reliance on technology
What Is Preventive Maintenance?
Preventive maintenance, sometimes called preventive maintenance, aims to identify and address problems among heavy-duty equipment and machinery before failure to reduce unplanned and significantly costly downtime.
Most preventive maintenance procedures use historical data or a manufacturer’s recommendations as a starting point for scheduled maintenance. However, maintenance intervals can also be time or usage-based to accommodate machines with varying needs.
Time-based maintenance intervals incorporate a fixed schedule of planned downtime based on the number of days, weeks, or months that go by. Maintaining a machine based on use involves tracking operating hours or production cycles, which can help reduce overmaintenance. However, both metrics fail to link maintenance to the machine’s condition.
While implementing predictive maintenance is not always feasible, preventative maintenance remains a viable option. In some cases, preventative maintenance is enough to ensure equipment performance and longevity until the cost of such machinery is absorbed into the business.
Pros
Preventive maintenance has a handful of great advantages, like the following:
- Reduces unexpected downtime
- Extends equipment lifespan
- Maximizes scheduled downtime and corresponding maintenance costs
- Enhances workplace safety
- Enables business owners to anticipate and account for predictable maintenance costs
- Low upfront investment
- Ensures regulatory compliance
Cons
That said, preventive maintenance can also have some downsides:
- Requires accurate record-keeping practices by machine operators
- Can lead to overmaintenance and resource waste
- High probability of excess labor and materials costs
- Potential for unplanned downtime remains
Predictive vs. Preventive Maintenance: Which Is Right for You?
Although preventative and predictive maintenance are both forms of scheduled maintenance, it’s common for businesses to implement both methods into their overall maintenance strategy. In fact, preventative maintenance often forms the foundation upon which more complex predictive maintenance protocols are built.
Below, explore ideal circumstances for a predictive and preventative approach to industry maintenance.
Why Choose Predictive Maintenance?
Should the cost of replacing a particular piece of heavy-duty equipment or machinery far outweigh the resources required to implement predictive maintenance, the choice is clear. Despite sizable upfront costs, predictive maintenance plays a significant role in a company’s long-term goals regarding equipment care, productivity, and profitability.
However, predictive maintenance often requires employing an experienced professional to manage the vast amounts of data and deploy any insights uncovered through advanced analysis.
When setting up predictive maintenance procedures, start by identifying equipment that cannot be easily replaced. Continue to perform preventative maintenance while gathering data on operating conditions, leveraging a digital twin to play out various scenarios and identify the optimal maintenance strategy. Adjust maintenance protocols as needed, updating parameters for continual optimization.
Why Implement Preventive Maintenance?
Preventative maintenance ensures companies are adequately caring for the assets vital to their success by scheduling downtime and repairs based on manufacturer recommendations or historical data. If machinery isn’t necessarily costly to replace, or the company owns one or more of the same machine, preventative maintenance should suffice.
However, it’s up to individual companies to determine the return on investment in balancing overmaintenance with the significant amount of resources necessary for more advanced maintenance strategies.
The same tried-and-true formula for preventative maintenance makes implementing this approach straightforward. Maintenance managers start by identifying key maintenance intervals and protocols for equipment and scheduling maintenance accordingly. Observations throughout the maintenance process help inform future repairs.
Support Key Maintenance Protocols
Here at Cadence, we recognize the vital role high-quality products and services play in critical maintenance practices across both industries and individual companies. Our promise to deliver value at every turn extends from stocking only the best brands to injecting safety and integrity into everything we do.
Call us at 336-629-2061 to learn more about how our highly trained and experienced employees keep America moving.
Sources:
internet of things - Glossary | CSRC
AI-Generated Digital Twins: Shaping the Future of Business | Columbia Business School