The Smart Maintenance Model

and the Technologies

that Enable It

For manufacturers and supply chain management experts, maintenance is a natural and unavoidable part of doing business. Keeping the myriad machines, tools, pieces of equipment, and vehicles running at optimal performance takes a dedicated effort. The effort is crucial to business success, however, as downtime in any single component within an operation can lead to costly delays and missed deadlines.

Traditionally, maintenance has been handled in a reactive manner by manufacturing and supply chain organizations. When a machine or piece of equipment breaks down, it gets fixed. When a vehicle needs new fluids, they are replaced. It’s as simple as that.

While this may have been an effective approach in years past, reactive maintenance has its weak points. In a truly reactive maintenance approach, issues aren’t addressed until they become a problem, which leads to downtime and added cost.

For that reason, many manufacturers and supply chain management firms have turned to a smart maintenance model.

We’ve already discussed the first approach in the smart maintenance model – reactive maintenance. This approach requires the least amount of technology and planning but is an integral part of an overall maintenance plan. After all, no amount of forecasting or planning can predict every event – issues are bound to arise. In those cases, reactive maintenance shines.

Reactive maintenance is also a viable approach for tools and equipment that are involved in the manufacturing process, but their function isn’t critical to production. Use this approach with small items, those that are unlikely to fail, and any redundant or inexpensive items.

Reactive maintenance has been popular for so long because it is the least costly form or maintenance and requires very little supporting technology or background effort. Simply train workers to spot issues and maintain an inventory of repair parts to support the reactive maintenance approach.

Remote condition-based maintenance builds on the principles of the preventive approach by incorporating wireless sensors or cameras into a system that provides maintenance managers with real-time data on equipment status.

Offering the sophistication and accuracy needed to maintain even the most complex and valuable pieces of machinery and equipment, this approach can be used to monitor items that can fail without notice, as well as those that have defined operational parameters such as temperature, pressure, and air flow.

Supporting a remote condition-based maintenance program requires technology, including remote sensors and a software solution that provides data capture, notification, analytics, and reporting features. This approach also requires trained maintenance experts who can address issues identified by the system.

The highest level of smart maintenance, cognitive maintenance automates much of the maintenance process. Using smart sensors, a cognitive maintenance solution can identify an issue, inform the maintenance manager, order any necessary replacement parts, and schedule the repair, all without the input of a staff member.

Cognitive maintenance is ideal in high production facilities with numerous machines or components.

This approach does require the highest level of technological support, including an application capable of capturing and analyzing data, notifying maintenance experts, and placing automated parts orders. An ERP solution with intelligent learning capabilities is an ideal foundation for cognitive maintenance.