Even if high uptake causes the cost of predictive maintenance systems to drop, the systems will still remain expensive and their usage, restricted to high-cost production machinery. Even though some vendors look to the technical capabilities, future adoption of the systems will primarily depend on the price.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.technicalinsights.frost.com), Advances in Intelligent and Predictive Maintenance Systems, finds that predictive maintenance systems can be grouped together by experienced professionals, but numerous turnkey products are also available even though the cost remains a significant adoption factor in the industry.
The economic benefit of predictive maintenance systems will become apparent only in the end. It will help machine owners save costs on expensive maintenance by giving the service personnel an early warning and preventing unforeseen downtime of machinery. It eliminates the need for periodic checks by alerting the concerned workforce whenever there is a significant deviation from the normal course of functioning
Predictive maintenance systems use various sensors to record physical parameters such as vibration, temperature, pressure and electrical. The parameters are then logged and compared to historical data from the machine in order to check for variations. For instance, a change in the vibration signature could indicate a bearing malfunction. This prompts the personnel to trace and replace the faulty component.
