Advanced Maintenance Strategies, Technologies, and Industry 4.0 Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of advanced maintenance strategies, focusing on the evolution of maintenance practices, from first to third generation approaches. It examines the role of technology, including AI and automation, in supporting these strategies, such as condition monitoring and reliability-centered maintenance, and explores their applications across various industries. The report also identifies key enablers and barriers to the adoption of modern maintenance techniques. Furthermore, it delves into Industry 4.0, outlining its components and how they can be utilized to develop predictive maintenance strategies, enhancing efficiency and productivity in manufacturing processes. The report offers a comprehensive overview of the subject, supported by literature and real-world examples.

Advanced Maintenance

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Review of the development of modern maintenance practices.......................................................1
1.1 How technology has supported the use of modern maintenance practices......................1
1.2 In which industry sector the maintenance strategy is used...............................................3
1.3 Key Enablers and Barriers to the Adoption of Modern Maintenance Strategies.............4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Detailed Overview of Industry 4......................................................................................6
2.2 Brief Overview of Nine Components...............................................................................7
2.3 Components could be used in Developing Predictive Maintenance Strategy and Benefits..8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
The main aim of the industrial maintenance is to keep their plants assets in good working
condition at the low possible cost. Maintenance practices have evolved over a period of time.
The report will analyse certain maintenance practices that have been evolved in the time
practices such as Condition monitoring and Reliability centred maintenance (Guillén and et.al.,
2016) . The report will also analyse the the role technology under these maintenance strategy
along with the barrier and enabler of the same. Further the report will highlight literature and
detailed overview of the industry along with the nine components that could be used to support
the development of predictive maintenance strategy.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
Review of the development of modern maintenance practices.
1.1 How technology has supported the use of modern maintenance practices.
Maintenance have evolved in terms of both as profession and as corporates practices. As
a profession it is not only related with domain of trades people it also involves engineers and
planners to manager maintenance practices. The maintenance have now been seen as an integral
part of the businesses as it plays an significant impact on the corporate profitability. Over the last
50 years the techniques for performing maintenance have changed (Civerchia and et.a., 2017) .
The subsequent generation of maintenance professionals have resulted in addition of more
proactive maintenance elements of maintenance strategy.
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1. Second generation - (1945-1979) - Involved adoption of planned maintenance time
based approach which involved adoption of practices such as Total productive
maintenance which is a philosophy of manufacturer that focuses on the effective
relationship among the workers to equipment and it also involves elimination of waste.
The TPM focusses on improving the company by improving the it's personal and its
equipments (Tamura and et. al., 2017). Technology is playing an important role in the
development and adoption of such technologies. With the use of technology such as
artificial intelligence algorithm that manager can analyse and make decision in the
process which make this technology advantageous fro the production line automation and
also with the sue of technology the machines will be more automated that will help the
manger to improve monitoring and will also help in easy dashboard access. As under
TPM operators are trained to claim ownership over machines. Which will make the
operation less complex and making the ownership suggested by TPM much simple and
therefore more accessible to workers.
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2. Third generation maintenance(1980s-present) - Condition monitoring(CM) It involves
regular monitoring of the condition of the business plant and equipments as part of
maintenance programme which will result in higher reliability and efficiency (Slevin and
et.al., 2015) . As the modern technology have provide different tools to manger that can
help them to monitor the conditions such as by using computer that can provide
information about different work processes. Or they can use modern tools such as
thermography in order to find out about the motors, pumps and compressors etc
temperature. Along with there are different technologies that are vibration analysis,
ultrasonic analysis and motor current signature analysis that helps the manager to
establishing the same.
3. Reliability centred maintenance - It is the process that ensure that systems continue to
perform as per user requirements in their current context. By successfully establishment
of this maintenance practices the manger will be able to provide machine uptime and it
will lead to grater understanding of the level of risk that the business is managing (Naşcu
and et.al., 2015) . The entire process of reliability centred maintenance involves
examining the ways the system can fail and technology will assists the manger in the
identification root cause of the failure as it will provide valuable data information to the
manner.
1.2 In which industry sector the maintenance strategy is used
The maintenance practice that are used in modern world are total productive maintenance
and reliability centred maintenance that are being used in different industry such as
 Total productive maintenance - It was created in the Japan it is based upon the
American concept of preventive maintenance. TPM was born within Nippondesnso a
components supplier to Toyota in 1969 the aim was to supply Toyota on a just in time
basis (Kim and et. al., 2014). It has been used in various industry field, but is mostly used
in Japanese industrial companies such as auto mobile companies as they tent to get
benefited from implementing company wide term activities that will help them to
increase the availability of existing equipment and also reducing manufacturing cost and
reducing the investment cost.
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 Reliability centred maintenance - It identifies the functions of the company which are
most crucial and then it tent to seeks to optimize the business maintenance strategies in
order to minimise the system failure and increase the equipment reliability and
availability (Guo and et.al., 2016) . It is was developed in the airline industry in the 60's
but with the modern days the the strategy tent to explode in the other industry as well for
instance it was used in army and the American navy in the 70's. Along with it expanded
in the other industry such as railway and chemical industry. As the strategy expanded in
several industry because it helped the manger in minimising the system failure and it
facilitated the increase in the equipment reliability and availability in the business
environment.
 Condition monitoring - It is the process which involves monitoring a parameter of
condition of machinery in order to identify significant change which indicate a
developing fault. It is used by different sector of the industry such as construction
industry under the industry manger tent to identify and regularly monitor the condition of
the business plant and equipments in order to identify faults and making ways to
overcome theses (Campos and et.al., 2016) . The condition monitoring techniques are
normally used for evaluating the static plant equipment such as stem boilers, piping and
heat exchanger that can help the manger of different industries such as chemical industry
as they have different plants and they tent to maintain heat level at different processes.
1.3 Key Enablers and Barriers to the Adoption of Modern Maintenance Strategies.
The discussion of enablers and barriers to the adoption of modern maintenance strategies
is provided as under:
Enablers to the Adoption of Modern Maintenance Strategies :
The key enablers enhancing the adoption of modern maintenance strategies is discussed
as under:
1. Cost Effectiveness : Achieving cost effectiveness can be a reason for the adoption of
modern maintenance strategies (Xia and et. al., 2015). As the company is incurring huge
costs so to reduce the cost and increase the profit, cost effectiveness is a key enabler to
the adoption of modern maintenance techniques.
2. Reduction in Wastage : It is also another reason which works as an adoption to the
modern maintenance strategies. In some countries the government is imposing heavy
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taxes and fines on the companies as the waste released by them is harming the
environment. So in order to avoid the bad interference of government in the working of
the company it is important to reduce the wastage and hence it is an enabler to adoption
of modern maintenance strategies.
Barriers to Modern Maintenance Strategies :
The barriers which may arise during the process of adoption of techniques related to
modern maintenance strategies are discussed as under:
1. Standards/ Procedures : Standards and procedures laid down by the companies are also
not easy to follow and becomes a reason for the non adoption of newly laid procedures
(Lazakis and et.al., 2016) . So it is important for every organisation to make choice of the
standards and procedures laid down by them whether they are suitable to the employees
or not.
2. Rigidity of Employees : Another reason which came as a barrier to the adoption of
modern maintenance strategies is the rigidity of employees. When employees working in
an environment where they are not free to present their views or the workplace is stuck to
a single method of working than it makes them rigid and they do not accept the changes
easily.
3. Improper Communication : The chances of non adoption of modern maintenance
strategies could also arise due to improper communication in between the employees and
management. As the management fails to connect to their employees and do not able to
deliver the message to them in the right way so it also leads to passing of wrong or
misleading information among them which also acts as an barrier to the adoption of
modern maintenance strategies.
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In order to avoid all these barriers it is important for the organisations to enact good upon
the work and employees so that their motivation could help in the growth and development of the
company (Jiang and et.al., 2016) .
TASK 2
2.1 Detailed Overview of Industry 4
Industry 4 refers to the current trends of technology i.e. automation and data exchange
which are used by the manufacturing firms for improving the manufacturing process. This
technology includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things, cloud computing, cognitive
computing etc. Industry 4 is also known as the fourth industrial revolution. Industry 4 is useful
for the manufacturing firms as it support the concept of "smart factory". The smart factories
includes cyber-physical systems which monitors the physical processes and taken the decisions
based on the virtual copy of the physical world. By using the IoT i.e. Internet of Things, cyber-
physical systems can communicate and cooperate with each other.
According to the Bernard Marr, (2018) implementing the industry 4 is a major issue
faced by the various companies as they are in denial of how this technology can impact the
business or they are struggling for finding the talent or knowledge for implementing the
technology in their business operations. However, some of the companies are using the industry
4 for implementing the changes in the organisation as well as for preparing the company for
future in which the smart machines can improve the productivity and profitability of the
company (Oh and et.al., 2016) . There are various reasons for implementing the industry 4 in the
business operations of an organisation which can support the firms in manufacturing their
products properly. Some of these are as follows:
1. Big data : This technology is useful for the firm in determining the errors by analysing
data through the technological equipments which is also cost and time effective. For
example: An African gold mine found new ways for capturing the data from the sensors
regarding the unsuspected fluctuations in oxygen levels during leaching which leads to
increase in yield by 3.7 percent which are worth up to $20 million annually (Pour and
Hashim, 2012).
2. Human-machine interfaces : This technology is useful for the firms in improving their
manufacturing process as the humans can collaboratively work with machines in order to
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get better results. For example: Logistics company Knapp AG developed a picking
technology by using the concept of augmented reality in which the picker wears a helmet
for locating the items more quickly and precisely (D’Annibale and et.al., 2017) . Through
this the error rate are reduced by 40 percent, among many other benefits.
2.2 Brief Overview of Nine Components
According to the Adam Robinson, (2019) There are major nine components of industry
for which can be used by the manufacturing firms for improving their production process. These
nine elements are as follows: Big Data and Analytics : These can optimise the quality of production, saves energy, and
improves equipment service. Through this technology, organisations can evaluate the
huge amount of data which is collected through various sources in least possible time
which is useful in taking proper decisions. Autonomous Robots : The robots in the manufacturing sector are evolving for providing
better productivity, becoming more autonomous, flexible, and cooperative. Through the
robots, companies can develop their products effectively as the chances of errors
becomes less while working with the machines. Also these robots are time and cost
efficient. Simulation : 3D simulations of products, materials, and production processes are useful
for the manufacturing firms as they can determine the flaws and errors in the products or
processes which can be improved by taking suitable measures. These simulations
provides the real-time data to mirror the physical world in a virtual model which is
beneficial in improving the quality of the products. Horizontal and Vertical System Integration : This is also essential component for the
manufacturing firms through which they can integrate their different departments such as
engineering, production, and service. Through this integration, companies can improve
their network as well as value chains which is essential in development of new products
or delivering the products to customers effectively. The Industrial Internet of Things : In its report, BCG mentions that today, only some of
a manufacturer’s sensors and machines are networked and make use of embedded
computing. They are typically organized in a vertical automation pyramid in which
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sensors and field devices with limited intelligence and automation controllers feed into an
overarching manufacturing process control system. Cybersecurity : Along with the connectivity and communications protocols that come
with Industry 4.0, says BCG, the need to protect critical industrial systems and
manufacturing lines from cybersecurity threats will increase dramatically. The Cloud : BCG reports that Industry 4.0 will require increased data sharing across sites
and company boundaries. At the same time, the performance of cloud technologies will
improve, achieving reaction times of just several milliseconds. As a result of this
productivity boost, machine data, and functionality will increasingly be deployed to the
cloud. Additive Manufacturing : Companies have just begun to adopt additive manufacturing,
such as 3-D printing, which they are using to prototype and produce individual
components (Tanoue, Atarashi and Honda, 2016).
 Augmented Reality : These systems are currently in their infancy, but in the future,
companies will make much broader use of augmented reality to improve decision making
and work procedures. In the virtual world, operators will learn to interact with machines
by clicking on a cyber-representation.
2.3 Components could be used in Developing Predictive Maintenance Strategy and Benefits
Out of all the nine components, two components are most important and will be helpful
in supporting the development of a predictive maintenance strategy. These are the Big Data
Analytics and Stimulation. It is so because with the help of these two components, companies
will be able to find out the errors or omissions in their products which will be helpful for the
companies to find out the errors within time and also to rectify them. Big Data Analytics will
also be beneficial for the companies as it will become easy for them to analyse the needed data
from as large storage for increasing the efficiency of the organisations and will also help in
making better decisions.
There are many benefits which are provided by this technology such as it reduces the
importance of specialist expertise, functionality based methodology, core team training and also
makes the employees able to learn by doing and practising the things (Ge and et. al., 2014). It
also do possess some other benefits which makes these two technology important for the
companies. As with the help of stimulation, it will become easy for the companies to get accurate
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results as compared to the analytical model. In addition to this, the following also helps in
finding out the unexpected phenomenon occurring in the system than any other methods or
components. Big Data Analytics is also beneficial for the companies as it reduces the cost for the
companies, saves time and also helps in understanding the market conditions impacting upon the
organisation.
CONCLUSION
From the above assignment it has been concluded that technology plays an important role
in supporting the use of modern maintenance technology. In addition to this, it is also concluded
that it is important for the companies to find out the enablers and barriers to the adoption of
modern maintenance strategies. Further it is also concluded that the understanding the current
trends in the market help the company to deal with the current market situations and face the
competition. The nine components are also helpful in the development of a new technology
related to maintenance strategy.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Online
What is Industry 4.0. 2018. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/09/02/what-is-industry-4-0-heres-a-
super-easy-explanation-for-anyone/#5f32d9679788>
[INFOGRAPHIC] 9 Progressive Information Technology Movements Moving Manufacturing
into Industry 4.0. 2018. [Online]. Available Through: <https://cerasis.com/industry-4-0-
and-manufacturing/>
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