That is the top line finding of a report published by lubricants giant Castrol and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.
The report, entitled 'Predictive maintenance: Is the timing right for predictive maintenance in the manufacturing sector?' was developed in conjunction with Castrol's strategic investment arm, Castrol InnoVentures.
The report finds that energy companies have, on average, eliminated 75% of breakdowns through predictive maintenance programs.
It details the cost benefits of increasing predictive maintenance, demonstrating that the average cost for power plants operating a predictive maintenance programme on their pumps is $9/hp per annum, compared to $18/hp per annum for reactive maintenance and $13/ hp per annum for preventative maintenance.
Furthermore, in growing recognition of its value, manufacturers have expressed an appetite to increase the time spent on predictive maintenance solutions from 15% to 33%, while correspondingly reducing spend on reactive and preventative maintenance.
"Maintenance is increasingly seen as a strategic business function by manufacturers looking for new opportunities to drive efficiency and lower costs," comments Bryan Rabenau, Castrol innoVentures territory leader.
"Advanced predictive maintenance technologies present a powerful tool to aid manufacturers in easing their maintenance burdens, increasing facilities' overall productivity and profitability," he continues.
"However, unlike other industries that have realised measurable benefits, this is yet to be commonplace in manufacturing – for a number of key reasons," he adds.
However, Rabenau says this is changing. "Increasing uptake will require entrepreneurial predictive maintenance providers to adapt their solutions to meet the varied and complex dynamics of manufacturing operations."
Predictive maintenance solutions flag a greater number of issues than software employing simpler techniques such as condition monitoring, he says.
As such, they can provide diagnostic insight as well as prioritising issues by severity and suggesting actionable measures that can be taken to prevent impending failures.
"The technology represents a developing trend in maintenance strategy that is already providing measureable customer benefits on a wide range of metrics to sectors that share notable synergies with manufacturing, including oil and gas, wind, power generation and aerospace," says Rabenau.
"Based on the considerable cost and efficiency savings that have been realised in adjacent industries, we believe it is only a matter of time before an accessible predictive maintenance solution is developed for the manufacturing sector," he adds.
To read the complete report, go to the link below.