Industry 4.0 has little to do with the shop floor of the past. The sensors allow to act upstream on the maintenance needs. The costs of such a preventive intervention are much lower than those which would be linked to a breakdown immobilizing a chain! This evolution is very profitable for those who adopt it.
What is predictive maintenance?
Corrective maintenance consists of repairing failures once they have occurred. It therefore leads to an unscheduled interruption in production. At least take the time to repair and sometimes wait for the delivery of a part that is essential for this repair. This is the least effortful solution, but it can be the most expensive in practice.
Predictive maintenance is the new solution adopted byIndustry 4.0 with IIoT. Thanks to the automation of data collection from these connected sensors and the use of artificial intelligence software, it is possible to determine when failures are likely to occur! This allows technicians to intervene upstream, before a breakdown occurs, and guarantee better availability of the production line.
How useful is predictive maintenance in Industry 4.0?
InIndustry 4.0, predictive maintenance relies heavily on the Internet of Things to detect potential problems. Computer systems can identify what is wrong and trigger a preventive intervention by technicians.
The effectiveness of predictive maintenance relies heavily onartificial intelligence technologies and in particular on machine learning algorithms.
If, for example, an excessive temperature at a specific point on the production line is a sign of material failure, the software will quickly learn about it… and then launch an alert to anticipate the coming problem!
The great strength of these technologies is that they become more and more powerful as they are used. The greater the amount of data available and the greater the history, the better the quality of the prediction and the greater the savings! Adopting predictive maintenance is thus entering a virtuous circle, allowing to improve the availability of the machines over the months and thus the productivity of the company. Knowing the cost that the slightest unexpected interruption can represent (production losses, failure to meet contractual deadlines, etc.), the stakes are worth it!