When it comes to maintenance in food and beverage processing facilities, we’ve come a long way. Reactive maintenance made its way to preventive maintenance; through sensors and software, predictive maintenance (PdM) helps anticipate equipment issues, giving maintenance teams the data that will allow them to catch breakdowns before they can occur. Take it a step further, and prescriptive maintenance incorporates machine learning and artificial intelligence to prescribe solutions for an optimum result. Given what technology has allowed facilities to do in the way of PdM and beyond, reactive maintenance is in the rearview mirror—and industry should never look back.
PdM allows maintenance to take place when it is least disruptive and most cost-effective, according to Harshad Shah, president and founder of Eagle Technology Inc. He says that its benefits include reduction or near elimination of unscheduled equipment downtime caused by equipment or system failure; increased labor utilization; increased production capacity; reduced maintenance costs; and increased equipment lifespan. “Predictive maintenance ensures that production equipment doesn’t fall below prescribed performance, quality and safety standards,” he says.