While the age of Industry 4.0 has dawned and is in full swing, the big world of plant maintenance is also developing in parallel – Maintenance 4.0. This article explains what this is all about and why you can optimize your production and profitability thanks to Maintenance 4.0.
The manufacturing industry has undergone four revolutionary developments in the last few centuries. The introduction of steam and water power, known as Industry 1.0, set the ball rolling. Electricity, which was optimally used for mass production, heralded Industry 2.0. Computer and communication technologies in the manufacturing process marked the next stage of the industrial revolution, Industry 3.0. In today’s predominant Industry 4.0, the time has come for intelligent and autonomous systems that are driven and further developed by enormous data pools and machine learning.
The parallel development of a lesser-known but not unimportant area
Industry 4.0 has become a much better known and widely used trend term. At the same time as Industry 4.0, however, an area that was only familiar to experts from the manufacturing industry has developed massively – Maintenance 4.0. Maintenance here refers to comprehensive plant maintenance and servicing. This area has also developed over the last few decades and has been characterized by milestones. While Maintenance 1.0 involved highly qualified experts who were able to thoroughly inspect and repair the machines, Maintenance 2.0 brought supporting instruments onto the scene with which important parameters could be read out precisely. Maintenance 3.0 brought real-time monitoring into play to provide systematic and programmatic insights into the condition of the system. Now, in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT), unimaginable amounts of sensor data are being collected. Maintenance 4.0 accesses this data and uses algorithms and analytics to detect and even predict failure patterns and suggest appropriate solutions.
Preventive was yesterday, prescriptive is today
Many companies in the manufacturing industry or other branches of industry still take the reactive route when it comes to maintenance and servicing. This is certainly the easiest way, but unfortunately also the most expensive and dangerous. At a time when fast and constantly growing production is required, long downtimes leading to a complete production standstill would have existential consequences for the economy and trade. Production facilities have therefore already taken the first real step towards preventive maintenance, in which the condition and upcoming maintenance of a production line or machine can be analyzed or reported in advance using collected data. Data is essential here, as it provides insights into the condition of the plant or machine and reveals a large number of potential weak points that need to be rectified or optimized.
The ultimate goal, however, is prescriptive maintenance, or Maintenance 4.0, in which systems not only detect technical problems in advance before they even occur, but also advise maintenance personnel on all necessary measures with the aim of preventing further system malfunctions.
The huge optimization through Maintenance 4.0
The benefits of Maintenance 4.0 are enormous. As already mentioned, downtime in production can cause enormous economic damage and an entire chain of industries, retailers and suppliers could suffer massively as a result. Maintenance 4.0 perfectly addresses the primary goal of every manufacturing company: To maintain the optimum operating condition of expensive plant and machinery at all times. Thanks to the perfectly interlinked use of sensor data, longer operating and service lives can be achieved compared to traditional maintenance. The cost reduction is also noticeable, as logically less maintenance has to be carried out – and even if maintenance is required, it is optimally planned and carried out. Accident and health risks are also significantly reduced.
A recent joint study by PwC’s Industries and Innovation division showed that 95% of those who use predictive, digital and sensor-based systems actually experience improvements in these areas. Thanks to this approach, many companies can increase the service life of even older machines by 20%.
Maintenance 4.0 – A technological, but also a cultural change
With the increasing development of Maintenance 4.0 technology, plant operators and decision-makers should analyze where they themselves stand in terms of preventive maintenance in order to develop a future-proof and intelligent strategy that also fits in perfectly with the corporate strategy. Maintenance 4.0 cannot simply be installed in a company like a piece of software. It must be developed step by step in specific, pre-defined areas. Pilot projects on selected systems, for example, could serve this purpose in order to best evaluate the added value or optimization potential in the medium term.
However, Maintenance 4.0 also inevitably involves IT security – an essential topic that demands our full attention in this context. Teams and employees from the most diverse areas must also come together at one table, communicate and have the opportunity to break new ground in the area of maintenance. The amount of data, the technological possibilities and the expertise of employees are virtually infinitely scalable. The term ecosystem is also not far away in this context and once again makes it clear how powerful Maintenance 4.0 is.
The current stage of development in plant maintenance and servicing is therefore much more than just a technological advance. It also challenges every company to introduce new cultures or adopt established cultures. As in other areas, anything is possible – if the decision to do so is consciously made and lived.
About KENEXOS®
With Kreutzpointner Business Software GmbH (KBS for short), Kreutzpointner is setting a significant milestone in the technical development of the entire group of companies. Kreutzpointner Business Software GmbH focuses on the special requirements and digital needs of industrial customers with an independent business model. The operational launch took place in October 2020.
With KENEXOS®, KBS offers corporate customers an individually expandable application platform with its own software products and focuses on the implementation of industrial applications. KENEXOS® offers modern web technology for access via a wide range of end devices and enables integration with existing systems via an API interface. The standard modules include, for example, construction site documentation, task and ticket recording, plant management and maintenance and many more. The application platform is available for in-house installation (on-premise) or as a cloud solution (SaaS).
The ideas and the technical basis for Kreutzpointner Business Software GmbH have been successfully developed in recent years as part of the company-wide “Research & Development” process. In addition to the IT systems division, the new digital unit ideally rounds off Kreutzpointner’s large portfolio.
