Heavy machinery and equipment are the backbone of any industry and like all physical objects, they deteriorate, age, and fail. Initially, companies used to perform reactive maintenance, that is, maintenance was done once the equipment failure was reported. This used to cause unplanned downtime. For any industry, an unscheduled, unplanned downtime can cause significant resource crunch and drastically reduce efficiency, production, and hence, profits. To deal with these problems, industries shifted to preventive maintenance.
In preventive maintenance, regular scheduled routine checks are performed at predetermined intervals. Preventive maintenance required keeping a record of equipment and their scheduled maintenance. The third industrial revolution, where computers were introduced into industries, made it easy to maintain and update these records. While preventive maintenance saves the industry from most unplanned downtimes, it still isn't the best alternative...