Smart Maintenance

Repairing a conveyor belt, causing production downtime

Next level smart maintenance

Maintaining machines using a planned strategy at fixed times is a good first step to increase the reliability of machines. It’s a better strategy than a reactive strategy: “we’ll fix it when it breaks”. But the next step is a Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) strategy. This strategy is based on real-time monitoring of critical machine parts. As soon as the conditions are going to be reached, the person responsible for maintenance is informed and maintenance can be carried out in time to prevent downtime.

The goal of a CBM strategy is to detect a problem as quickly as possible (point P in the graph). This gives the maintenance team the opportunity to schedule work at a time that is least disruptive to the production teams. This timely insight can be obtained through the real-time collection of machine data.

Savings to be achieved with a CBM strategy include higher productivity, lower maintenance costs and reduced spare parts inventory.

P-F Curve diagram showing the P-F interval for Condition Based Maintenance

It can seem challenging and expensive to reach the next level of maintenance by adopting a data-driven approach. But as Itho Daalderop has discovered, it doesn’t have to be that way. It can already be realized with small investments. This strategy can also be applied to older machines. The adage for a CBM strategy is to start small and build it up step by step. Here you can discover how Itho Daalderop achieved this.