A new report from the Manufacturers Alliance Foundation says predictive maintenance programs have a high ROI, but are not well embraced by many manufacturers for their equipment.
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The report notes that adoption of predictive maintenance (PdM) is being held back by the skilled talent shortage as well as outdated systems and thinking. “
The report is based on a survey of 170 manufacturers.
One key take away from that research: While progress is slower than respondents would like, bringing maintenance into the digital age is on virtually every company’s’ roadmap.
Other important findings include:
• Manufacturers see value in PdM strategies (uptime, productivity, quality) and most experience a rapid return on investment. At the same time many struggle to move beyond the pilot phase.
• Adoption is being held back in many cases by talent shortages and changing talent needs. Most companies expect deployment of PdM technologies to increase their need for advanced analytics skill sets. They plan to retain, upskill and redeploy current maintenance staff into other areas of operations, such as continuous improvement activities.
• Outsourcing can provide the means to tap into expert communities quickly, when onsite staff experiences a problem that is novel to them. This approach reduces the dependency on local teams and helps accelerate root cause analysis.
• Change management and training programs go hand-in-hand with adoption of PdM strategies. Shifting to a culture which relies on trusting the data can be a slow process for some companies.
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• PdM technologies are becoming smarter and more feature-rich every day. As adoption expands, so will the body of knowledge that helps companies improve uptime, productivity and quality.
As noted above, most companies report rapid ROI from investments in predictive maintenance. As shown in the graphic below from the report, 90% of companies saw a PdM payback period of less than two years, and 39% reached a payback of one year of less.
Source: Manufacturing Alliance
Still many companies struggle to build a PdM business case – primarily as a result of a lack of knowledge.
“Uncertainty about how to make the business case for starting or scaling up a predictive maintenance regime is stopping many leaders, the report said.
As one operations professional told the researchers, the problem is two-fold: not having a clear understanding of the business case and not knowing how to articulate it.
Acquiring or developing the right talent design and managed PdM is another key issue, the report says.
To get PdM off the ground, Erin Welken of Johnson Controls told the researchers about the value of using a hybrid approach.
“Half of the team is internal, the other half is the consultants. Ideally, the team is partnering and developing a solution together. Once the consultants are gone, you still have a group of people in-house who can continue to enhance and build on what has been created, knowing that technology never stays the same,” Welken noted.
The report concludes by noting that “Companies are learning that they can stop maintenance problems before they start and accrue the benefits both upstream and downstream in their organizations. The most advanced among them have already started.”’
The full report is available from the Manufacturing Alliance here: Predictive Maintenance Strategies Gain Ground
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