While many unfamiliar with the way businesses operate would assume that a successful business can be attributed to a striving board of directors, the truth is it’s often the maintenance that these businesses conduct that keep their manufacturing operations alive. How do these most successful businesses go about determining which maintenance strategy is right for them, though? This post will breakdown this decision making, which is typically between two major maintenance strategies: preventive and predictive maintenance.

The principal maintenance strategy that has been used for some time is preventive maintenance. This approach utilizes a calendar-driven strategy to determine when pieces of equipment in an organization’s fleet should be worked on. In most cases, different elements of the equipment are what deem the intervals in which maintenance are required. For example, an older piece of equipment that runs more frequently will likely require more regular maintenance than a newer piece of equipment that runs half as long.

Predictive maintenance, on the other hand, is a much more dynamic approach that manufacturing organizations have been taking in recent years. This strategy uses real time data collected from a fleet’s equipment to determine the most optimal maintenance schedule. Unlike preventive maintenance, this would mean that certain pieces of equipment wouldn’t need such regular maintenance compared to the rest of a fleet. Maintaining this equipment as needed is much more effective, but the downside of these systems are the exuberant costs associated with their implementation.

The one advantage that predictive maintenance has gathered over preventive maintenance in recent years is its ability to be implemented into an organization’s operations. As the number of technologies compatible with the Internet of Things continues to increase, the more likely that more sophisticated equipment will become compatible with these systems. Once these systems are implemented, they are able to capture, report and analyze the performance data of any piece of equipment. In addition to performance data, external data that could have some form of impact on a piece of equipment’s life span is also collected. This information allows businesses to get a much clearer indication on when equipment will require specific maintenance, leading to increases efficiency and decreased downtime for the most important pieces of equipment in an organization’s fleet.

Let it be known, however, that predictive maintenance isn’t always the best choice for your organization. No matter what maintenance strategy your organization uses, there will always be some sort of unexpected downtime. Not to mention, regardless of an organization’s preference, sometimes the barriers to entry for predictive maintenance systems are just too high. Aside from the cost for the systems themselves, there will also be the cost of training your employees to work alongside these systems.

If you feel as though there’s still more to learn about these two varying maintenance strategies, be sure to spend some time checking out the infographic included alongside this post for a further breakdown. Infographic courtesy of Industrial Service Solutions.