For processors with the ability to exploit it, condition-based monitoring technology is delivering affordable tools that are easier to use.
Food and beverage processors, on the other hand, tend to trail the manufacturing pack when it comes to effective maintenance strategies. Decades of cost cutting that yielded short-term savings have produced programs that more closely resemble triage than predictive maintenance. Tools like infrared thermography and vibration analysis are regarded as too exotic or costly. The absence of solid fundamentals has more often than not produced disappointing results when companies have deployed computerized maintenance management software and enterprise asset management systems.