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Industrial maintenance
The different types of maintenance are used to avoid downtime in machines and equipment. It is up to each company’s maintenance management to analyze which type is most feasible for its business, according to the results the company needs.
Some companies rely on corrective maintenance, acting reactively when an equipment stoppage occurs. No doubt relying solely on this type of maintenance represents a very high risk for the productivity of any business, since, in addition to production downtime, it also generates unexpected costs with parts replacement.
Preventive maintenance is a type that already brings optimization in equipment reliability and availability indices, since it is planned. With well‑structured maintenance plans, preventive maintenance performs regular inspections to prevent defects in machines and equipment. In this way, unexpected equipment downtime can be avoided, which helps prevent losses and reduce maintenance costs.
Predictive maintenance goes a step further than preventive maintenance by detecting failures and identifying abnormal operating conditions before an unplanned shutdown. With this monitoring, it is possible to evaluate the performance and quality indicators of equipment. It can be performed using instruments that anticipate problems and reduce costs associated with potential corrective maintenance.
With the evolution of technology, new techniques are being used in maintenance, and today, a new maintenance concept is already in place: Prescriptive Maintenance.
What is Prescriptive Maintenance?
Prescriptive maintenance goes beyond predicting failures, as predictive maintenance does; it provides recommendations for maintenance actions. It leverages data analysis from equipment to conclude its current condition. After all, it is not enough to simply predict problems: it is necessary to prescribe the solution. It uses current technologies to perform measurements and analyses remotely and in real time. Considered an evolution of predictive maintenance, prescriptive maintenance is a concept that emerged alongside Industry 4.0 and technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
With the application of technologies such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0, prescriptive maintenance uses these innovations to recommend fast and reliable maintenance strategies. This makes it possible to use a much larger volume of data, allowing strategies to be more precise thanks to the greater amount of available information. Decision‑making happens faster and in an automated way.
Prescriptive Maintenance vs. Predictive Maintenance
Prescriptive maintenance may resemble predictive maintenance, but it goes further. It is not limited to merely issuing recommendations; it acts on them. It performs a diagnosis, triggers a work order, and even generates reports after the technician has completed the repairs. All of this is performed through integrated systems and the use of Artificial Intelligence.
In predictive maintenance, instruments can be used to measure pressure, temperature, vibration, voltage, and electric current, among other factors. This makes it possible to systematically verify equipment operating trends and, with the data collected, predict when a defect or failure is likely to occur.
In prescriptive maintenance, the analysis of the collected data is used not only to predict a defect or failure. But also, to recommend which strategies should be adopted to resolve the problems.
Benefits of using Prescriptive Maintenance
For effective maintenance management and asset management, the collected data must be analyzed so that those responsible for planning can make well‑founded decisions. This brings reliability to all processes. When you consider the amount of data available, prescriptive maintenance has an advantage compared to other types of maintenance.
By using prescriptive maintenance, your company will gain benefits such as:
- Shorter decision‑making time
- Real‑time maintenance data and history
- Improvement in equipment downtime indicators
- Increased productivity
- Increased machine availability
- More assertive decision‑making
- Increased reliability
- Cost reduction
- Process automation
- Higher quality of products and processes, among others
In the not‑too‑distant future, production lines will be more automated, and with Industry 4.0 technologies, costs will be lower, bringing a revolution in how maintenance data is obtained and processed.
How to prepare to implement prescriptive maintenance
To implement prescriptive maintenance, it is essential to have proper planning. This planning starts with optimizing the other types of maintenance. Corrective, preventive, and predictive maintenance need to operate properly so that prescriptive maintenance can be effective.
Another important point to consider is that, in order to use prescriptive maintenance, your company must constantly keep up with technological advances. Investing in new technologies is fundamental for the use of this type of maintenance. Therefore, your company needs to keep adapting so that, when the future arrives, your business does not fall behind and lose ground in the market.
Technology in favor of your business
Prescriptive maintenance is indeed an advance that will further automate company processes and optimize costs. With so much real‑time, reliable information, maintenance managers and reliability engineers have the opportunity to work with more solid and specific recommendations for equipment maintenance. The decision algorithm emerges as a powerful tool, allowing CMMS/EAM and other maintenance management software to learn from trends and make suggestions and predictions based on a large volume of data.
The use of these technologies makes a large volume of data available to maintenance systems and, as a result, enables the prescription of highly assertive strategies. For this reason, prescriptive maintenance is considered the future of industrial maintenance. It still has a way to go before its use becomes widespread. With rapid technological advances, companies that do not seek to adapt will lose more and more ground in an increasingly competitive market.
So, had you already heard of Prescriptive Maintenance? Do you still have questions about other types of maintenance or topics related to your maintenance management? Be sure to follow our blog and subscribe to our newsletter to answer all your questions. Follow us on social media, we are on Facebook and Instagram!
