What's new in predictive maintenance?: combinations of new and existing technology have changed the face of predictive maintenance

摘要

For more than a decade, predictive maintenance (PdM) has enabled facilities technicians to identify and solve problems before they have a chance to damage equipment. Yet financial woes caused by the recent economic decline have taken less than a year to have a markedly negative effect on the discipline. Operations workers are under pressure to maximize profit in every way, leading to cramped equipment rooms, insufficient maintenance downtime, and inadequate infrastructure. These budgetary constraints have also helped to create an odd mix of overloaded equipment, lightly loaded equipment, and complicated switching. Compressed schedules are allowing Code violations and workmanship problems to creep into new construction. Tight budgets sometimes preclude sound engineering, which usually precludes adequate testing. Increasingly, construction crews are supplied with inadequate training, tools, and documentation to conduct the required testing, all of which makes for a challenging maintenance environment. But new developments like improved test instruments, monitoring equipment, training, software, communications, and procedures can help.