Preventive vs Predictive Maintenance
Maintenance is a very common word that everybody thinks he knows about. You carry out regular servicing of your car or motorcycle to keep it running in top condition as you know that you may face problems without their maintenance. Similarly you get the air conditioning system of your home checked and serviced periodically to have the comfort of air conditioner. There are many types of maintenance such as run to failure maintenance (RTF), preventive maintenance (PM), corrective maintenance (CM), improvement maintenance (IM), and predictive maintenance (PDM). We will confine ourselves to preventive and predictive maintenance in this article and try to find out the differences between the two.
The basic objective of both preventive and predictive maintenance is to carry out a series of tasks that maintain production equipment and plant utility systems in top condition so that they are always ready to start up and run and there are no unplanned shut downs.
What is Preventive Maintenance?
It refers to set of activities that are carried out on plant and machinery before the occurrence of a failure. Preventive maintenance is necessary to protect and to prevent any degradation in the efficiency of the operating system. Preventive maintenance is characterized by periodic intervals that are predetermined and are performed with prescribed criteria so as to minimize any future failure. Preventive maintenance is very important part of maintenance in any production unit. It is not just its proper scheduling and following the procedures that are outlined but also the skills of those involved in preventive maintenance that result in a high level of maintenance. Preventive maintenance helps in avoiding failures that would cause unnecessary losses.
What is Predictive Maintenance?
As the name implies, predictive maintenance is a set of activities that are carried out after observing signs of degradation or impending failure. This kind of maintenance helps in avoiding abrupt and sudden failures that could result in heavy losses. Predictive maintenance also helps in maximizing the life of the equipment at the same time serves as a warning to the management to makes certain changes or buy new machinery altogether. Predictive maintenance can be either condition based or based upon statistical data pertaining to working of machinery. Both types require continuous monitoring of equipment and machinery.
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In brief: Preventive Maintenance vs Predictive Maintenance • While both preventive and predictive maintenance have the same objective of preventing any losses to the company and to keep the plant and machinery running in top condition, they differ in approach and requirements • Preventive maintenance is carried out at regular intervals whereas predictive maintenance is based upon the condition of the equipment that needs to be monitored all the time • Preventive maintenance is carried out when the machinery is in the shut down condition while predictive maintenance is done with the plant in running condition • Predictive maintenance relies heavily on information and its correct interpretation
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