In this blog we will be discussing various aspects of remote machine monitoring technology for predictive maintenance. This topic is very important in the industry. Remote monitoring helps machine users to organize machine maintenance in a proactive way, saving money in the process.
Anybody who uses industrial machines knows that they have to be maintained. What people sometimes don't realize is how much this maintenance costs over the life of a machine. So, let's take a look.
Each machine provides a specific service. When you are buying a pump, your goal is to obtain pumping service from it. The cost of pumping service however is not limited to the cost of the pump but has to include installation, energy cost, cost of maintenance, and, at the end of our pump's life, the cost of disposal. Surprisingly, the cost of maintenance is second only to energy costs and can be up to 35% of the total, leaving the initial cost (the cost of the pump and installation) behind at about 10 % of the total, see the diagram below.
Typical life cycle costs of an industrial pump (source: Hydraulic Institute)
Unfortunately, this is just the cost of regular maintenance activities. It does not include the cost of downtime or additional costs that are usually incurred if a machine fails suddenly. This is a real problem. Due to unexpected failures this cost can be dramatic. In many cases the service has to be restored as soon as possible, leaving little choice but paying extra for parts, labor, overtimes, and lost production capability. And we are not even talking about the cost of poor maintenance.
The answer to the challenge lies in a properly organized predictive maintenance program. The goal of such a program is to monitor health condition of each machine, track developing faults, and repair the machines before they fail. This is easier to say than to do. There are two parts in this endeavor - organizational and technological. We will be talking mostly of the technology part, occasionally touching on how to make it work from the organizational standpoint.
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