SHARE
Facebook X Pinterest WhatsApp

What You Need to Know About Predictive Maintenance

thumbnail
What You Need to Know About Predictive Maintenance

Predictive maintenance can help your operations flow smoothly, prevent costly downtime, and maintain your equipment. Read on to utilize this technique.

Written By
thumbnail
Eric Whitley
Eric Whitley
Nov 26, 2022

Predictive maintenance can optimize processes and help ensure equipment is ready for use. The technique leverages data analysis tools and methods to identify operational incongruences and potential faults in equipment and processes. With this approach, you can resolve issues before they hinder your organization’s operations.

Using this mechanism allows for streamlined operations with fewer disruptions. This guide will elaborate more on how predictive maintenance can benefit your business.

What Is Predictive Maintenance

Predictive maintenance is a field of data science that uses past performance data to predict future failures. By using this information, companies can plan for and avoid potential downtime. This reduces the cost of repairs and improves the flow of operations by keeping production running smoothly.

In many cases, this approach can be used to identify issues before they cause problems. For example, if a machine is starting to show signs of wear, the technique can be used to schedule a repair before the machine breaks down. This prevents downtime and ensures a smooth flow of production.

Predictive maintenance can also be used to improve the efficiency of operations. By identifying machines that are likely to break down, companies can make changes to their processes to avoid these issues. For example, if a machine is frequently breaking down, the company may decide to run it for shorter periods or make changes to how it is used.

By using data to predict future failures, companies can keep their production running smoothly and avoid potential disruptions.

See also: How Connected Products Enable Predictive Maintenance

Advertisement

The benefits of predictive maintenance

Predictive maintenance has become increasingly popular in recent years as a way to improve equipment reliability and reduce downtime. Here are some of the key benefits:

1. Increased equipment uptime: By scheduling maintenance based on actual equipment conditions rather than on a set schedule, you can minimize unplanned downtime and keep equipment running smoothly.

2. Reduced maintenance costs: Predictive maintenance can help avoid costly repairs by identifying potential problems before they occur.

3. Improved safety: By monitoring equipment conditions, it’s easier to identify potential hazards and take steps to prevent accidents before they happen.

4. Enhanced product quality: By ensuring that equipment is properly maintained, you can minimize defects and improve the quality of products.

5. Environmental benefits: With a reduced need for repairs and replacement parts, predictive maintenance can help save resources and cut down on environmental impact.

6. Improved customer satisfaction: By keeping equipment running smoothly, you can provide customers with a better experience and build loyalty.

7. Increased competitive advantage: Predictive maintenance can give a leg up on the competition by optimizing operations and improving your bottom line.

Advertisement

Predictive maintenance and Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of physical devices, vehicles, and other items that are embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and connectivity tools to connect these objects to the internet. This allows data to be collected and shared.

Predictive maintenance and IoT can be used in conjunction to gather data on equipment usage. This data can be analyzed to determine when repairs or replacements will be needed.

IoT-enabled preventative measures can help improve equipment uptime and extend its lifespan. It can also help reduce repair costs by identifying issues before they become major problems.

The use of these tools can help organizations save money and improve equipment uptime. These technologies can also help to improve safety by preventing accidents and downtime due to equipment failures.

Advertisement

Successfully implemented predictive maintenance examples

Predictive maintenance uses data analytics to predict when equipment is likely to fail. By monitoring data from sensors attached to machinery, businesses can detect potential problems before they occur and take steps to prevent them.

There are a number of businesses that have successfully implemented predictive maintenance programs. Here are two examples:

1) General Electric

General Electric (GE) is a multinational conglomerate with operations in a wide range of industries, including aviation, healthcare, and transportation. The company has been using preventative measures for more than 20 years, and it now has more than 1,000 machines equipped with sensors that collect data for analysis.

GE’s preventative measures program has helped the company avoid millions of dollars in unplanned downtime and repairs. The program also detected a problem with jet engines, so it combined AI with preventative measures and reduced failure by one-third percent. The preventative measures system identified the problem before it caused any damage, and GE was able to make a small adjustment that solved the issue.

2. Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is one of the most well-known companies in the world, and it is no stranger to predictive maintenance. The company has been using predictive analytics for years to improve the efficiency of its operations.

In 2012, Coca-Cola decided to upgrade its vending machines to include predictive maintenance capabilities. The goal was to reduce the number of vending machine breakdowns and improve customer satisfaction.

To do this, Coca-Cola used data from its vending machines to create predictive models. These models were used to identify potential problems with the machines before they occurred.

Advertisement

Tips to get started with predictive maintenance

If you’re considering predictive maintenance for your organization’s asset management strategy, here are some tips to get you started:

Identify the need

Predictive maintenance can help organizations achieve a variety of goals, such as reducing downtime, increasing efficiency, and improving safety. Organizations that wish to meet these objectives can implement this approach.

Select the right data sources

Preventative care relies on data from a variety of sources, including sensors, SCADA systems, and asset management databases. Selecting the right data sources is critical to the success of your preventative care program.

Utilize computerized management systems

CMMS software helps you become more effective by providing accurate and up-to-date information on your assets and maintenance requirements. This allows you to plan and carry out maintenance activities more effectively, resulting in reduced downtime and improved asset performance.

Following these tips will help you get started and improve the effectiveness of your asset management strategy.

Advertisement

Wrapping Up

Predictive maintenance is revolutionizing the manufacturing and industrial sector by increasing efficiency and predictability. It allows businesses to keep their operations flowing smoothly by reducing or even eliminating unplanned downtime.

thumbnail
Eric Whitley

For over 30 years, Eric Whitley has been a noteworthy leader in the Manufacturing space. In addition to the many publications and articles Eric has written on various manufacturing topics, you may know him from his efforts leading the Total Productive Maintenance effort at Autoliv ASP or from his involvement in the Management Certification programs at The Ohio State University, where he served as an adjunct faculty member. After an extensive career as a reliability and business improvement consultant, Eric joined L2L, where he currently serves as the Director of Smart Manufacturing. His role in this position is to help clients learn and implement L2L’s pragmatic and simple approach to corporate digital transformation.  

Recommended for you...

Maintenance That Thinks for Itself. How Agentic AI Is Powering the Next Industrial Uptime Revolution
Leon Lim
Aug 26, 2025
Applied AI: Top 3 Benefits to Complex Industries
Nick King
Dec 15, 2023
Report Outlines Growth, Obstacles of Predictive Maintenance Market
Predictive Maintenance Coming to Connected Vehicles Through AI
David Curry
Apr 13, 2023

Featured Resources from Cloud Data Insights

The Difficult Reality of Implementing Zero Trust Networking
Misbah Rehman
Jan 6, 2026
Cloud Evolution 2026: Strategic Imperatives for Chief Data Officers
Why Network Services Need Automation
The Shared Responsibility Model and Its Impact on Your Security Posture
RT Insights Logo

Analysis and market insights on real-time analytics including Big Data, the IoT, and cognitive computing. Business use cases and technologies are discussed.

Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2026 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.