How Preventive and Predictive Maintenance Is Changing Production

Published by EE Times Europe: Unexpected outages, a frequent problem for most companies, increase the cost and risk of doing business. Maintenance, which is necessary to prevent such outages, comes in two types: reactive and preventive. Performed after an outage has happened, reactive maintenance involves lower upfront costs and fewer staff members. Reactive maintenance does not require planning. However, it makes budgeting, downtime, and overtime pay unpredictable. Energy costs increase, and equipment lifespan shrinks.

The aim of preventive maintenance is to increase production efficiency through regular maintenance of equipment and assets. Although preventive maintenance involves higher upfront costs, more staff members, and more planning, it reduces budgeting and downtime unpredictability. In addition, it reduces energy and payroll costs while increasing equipment life expectancy. According to a study by New Building Institute, reactive maintenance can increase energy use by 30% to 60% and decrease equipment lifespan. In addition, a study by the U.S. Department of Energy Operations and Maintenance reports that preventive maintenance can result in energy savings of as much as 18%.