IoT Enables Predictive Maintenance

Over the past ten years or so there have been many smart manufacturing initiatives that have promoted the need for production facilities to become much more efficient and effective through the use of technology.

The concept of the connected factory, achieved through the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), is being implemented, which is significantly driving up operational effectiveness, resource utilization and digital visibility of production and process metrics never before thought possible. 

With increased efficiencies, the impact of any equipment failure or unplanned downtime can significantly affect plant operations. However, the concepts of maintain, repair and operate (MRO) are well-rooted in any manufacturing organization, so management will already be very familiar with the steps needed to address such operational challenges.

Planned maintenance of machinery and equipment is still a common process at many manufacturing sites, although the pressures of business agility, process flexibility and keeping downtime costs to a minimum are now demanding a change to this approach. Closely monitoring critical production machinery/assets is essential to maintain the reliable and smooth running of a manufacturing process.

Most engineering maintenance teams recognize the holy grail of maintenance is total productive maintenance (TPM). A system of maintaining and improving the integrity of production through the machines, equipment, and processes that adds demonstrable business value is best served by a predictive maintenance approach and that requires data – lots of it.

A truly predictive system relies on an informed approach for each production asset. Data is gathered and analyzed in real-time, from multiple connected sources (e.g. temperature and vibration sensors) to predict when a failure might occur. Analysis systems and associated algorithms process the data, looking for minor anomalies and potential failure patterns in each and every asset comprising the entire production capability of a site.

Harvesting the data generated by IIoT-enabled machinery is a step in the process towards implementing TPM.

Click through to read this ebook by relayr and learn more about how IIoT can enable predictive maintenance in your plant.