So we all know the importance of equipment maintenance, especially on electric motors, but what about predictive maintenance? Is it necessary? As long as you’re performing routine maintenance you should be fine, right? Wrong. Here’s why you need to consider predictive maintenance.

So What Exactly Are We Talking About?

Predictive maintenance is a collection of techniques that have been designed to predict whether or not a piece of equipment will need maintenance.

So, as opposed to performing routine maintenance regardless if it’s needed (or just waiting for the motor to give out), predictive maintenance saves time and money by cluing you in on what's coming your way. Why spend the money and waste the time taking your equipment totally offline for maintenance when you don’t need to?

Is Predictive Maintenance Really Necessary?

Predictive maintenance for your electric motor is only necessary if you are interested in being proactive instead of reactive.

Do you want to be able to control your downtime and your maintenance costs? Do you want an accurate performance analysis, and do you want to be able to increase your productivity by reducing your maintenance time?

If you said “YES PLEASE!” to any of the above, then yes, predictive maintenance is necessary.

It can eliminate those unplanned failures where you are scrambling to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. Even with strict routine maintenance schedules, you can’t always see the disasters that are headed your way.

With predictive maintenance, you can plan and budget for downtime, maintenance, and even equipment replacement. Check out this story from a Kurz customer and find out how predictive maintenance saved them more than $10,000!

How Does It Work?

Predictive motor maintenance occurs when a machine is monitored using trending method tests such as vibration analysis and infrared thermal imaging. This form of testing means that the machine doesn’t have to be torn down to find out its condition. The results can be used to predict future problems and malfunctions. Let’s break down these two tests and find out what they do.

·      Vibration Analysis. This type of test is primarily used for rotating equipment. Rotating equipment creates a vibration signature or frequency. Once a baseline is established, pattern recognition can identify misalignment, imbalance, bearing failures, or looseness.

·      Infrared Analysis. Infrared or handheld thermal imaging will allow the technician to measure the temperature of the equipment. The temperature analysis can reveal if there are issues with airflow, insulation failure, bearing failure, shaft misalignment, or unbalanced voltage.

Try It - You’ll Like It

Kurz makes predictive maintenance easy. With on-staff predictive maintenance technicians, your personalized analysis of your equipment is just a call away. Before you know it a technician like Tina Peerenboom will be at your door ready to put her years of vibration analysis experience to work for you.

Not only will she make you feel at ease with the process, but she will also help you save time and money by eliminating those untimely equipment failures. With Tina’s know-how and the predictive maintenance testing, you’ll finally be in control.