Chemical Engineering March 2023 - 39

Engineering Practice
Predictive Maintenance Implementation
Five common mistakes associated with implementing predictive maintenance tools
are discussed here, along with five ways to avoid them
Bryan Christiansen
Limble CMMS
P
redictive maintenance (PM)
implementation can be a
daunting task. There are
many factors
to
Maintenance costs
are one of the
most
significant
Forpredicexpenses
for most
businesses.
consider
and many ways that things can go
wrong. Therefore, it is essential to
be aware of the most common mistakes
to avoid them.
Predictive maintenance can turn
into a nightmare without the proper
implementation, leading to high
costs and decreased productivity.
This article discusses the five most
common mistakes made during
predictive maintenance implementation
and gives advice on how to
avoid them.
Most of the mistakes and solutions
covered here slip under the
radar because they are not always
glaringly obvious. However, they can
significantly impact the overall success
of your PM implementation.
Benefits of PM implementation
With the right approach, predictive
maintenance can significantly benefit
a business. PM tools, such as
a computerized maintenance-management
system (CMMS; Figure 1)
have been beneficial in a wide range
of sectors within the chemical process
industries (CPI) and elsewhere,
including manufacturing, transportation,
power generation, healthcare,
construction and oil and gas.
The following are some of the advantages
and benefits achieved with
PM implementation.
Increased equipment efficiency.
The first and most apparent benefit
of predictive maintenance is
that it can help you keep equipment
running at peak efficiency. By
monitoring machines and catching
problems early, plants can avoid
the downtime and inefficiency that
comes with waiting for a break to
happen before fixing it.
Reduced maintenance costs.
tunately,
tive
maintenance
has been proven
to reduce these
costs by identifying
and repairing
equipment failures
before they cause
a breakdown.
Increased production.
Every
company
wants to increase production.
After all, more products mean
more money. However, it's not always
easy, especially if they're working
with a process that's not humming
along nicely. Predictive maintenance
can help increase production by finding
and fixing minor issues before
they turn into big problems.
Decreased downtime. The main
benefit of predictive maintenance is
the decreased downtime it brings
about. With accurate predictions,
companies can schedule their maintenance
activities to minimize the time
that the equipment is unavailable.
This can mean shutting down
equipment for preventive maintenance
during low demand, such as
weekends or nights. This shortens
downtime and helps avoid the inconvenience
and cost of having equipment
unavailable during peak times.
Improved safety and product quality.
Predictive maintenance can help
improve safety by reducing the likelihood
of equipment failures that could
lead to injuries. In addition, because
predictive maintenance can help
identify potential quality issues before
they cause customer problems,
it can also improve product quality.
For example, if a piece of equipment
shows signs of wear, it can be
repaired or replaced before it breaks
down or causes an accident.
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MARCH 2023
Common mistakes & solutions
Every organization wants to get the
most out of its predictive maintenance
implementation, but often,
things can go wrong. Therefore, it is
essential to undertake the best predictive
maintenance techniques and
be aware of the most common mistakes
to avoid them. The following
are the five most common mistakes
and their solutions.
1. Making everything a predictive
task. Predictive maintenance may
thrive in a chemical factory since
chemical plants appear to be the
perfect setting for it. High degrees
of automation and instrumentation
and meticulous maintenance recordkeeping
provide abundant data for
machine-learning algorithms.
Furthermore, most plants seek
consistent operating conditions,
making it easier to detect trends and
patterns. There's the overall equipment
effectiveness (OEE) factor. Improved
reliability can directly and significantly
impact a company's OEE.
However, it is essential not to
make everything a predictive task -
not every condition or problem lends
itself to being predicted. For example,
some problems are so intermittent
that their symptoms may not be
apparent until it's too late to do anything
about them. The data may be
too noisy to glean any insight from
39
Shutterstock
FIGURE 1. With the right approach, predictive maintenance can significantly
benefit a business
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Chemical Engineering March 2023

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