While preventive maintenance relies on best practices and historical data, predictive maintenance takes measurements from machine operations as they are occurring and uses this data to raise red flags when indications of a problem are noted.

The benefit of predictive maintenance is that it is a proactive approach meaning that is can identify a problem early on for it to be addressed before complete failure. Predictive maintenance can greatly decrease unplanned downtimes when something does ultimately go wrong. It also improves production output will also increasing labor efficiency by decreasing the number of equipment failures and extending the lifespan of the equipment. And while a planned downtime in preventive maintenance may be inconvenient and represents a decrease in overall capacity availability, it’s highly preferable to the unplanned downtime of reactive maintenance, where costs and duration may be unknown until the problem is diagnosed and addressed. For more on this, continue reading below.