All Member Open Forum

Which predictive tools give the best ROI in your plant?

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Sandesh Patoliya
Head Engineering
Indorama ventures Oxides Ankleshwar Pvt Ltd
Ankleshwar
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With predictive maintenance being a volume business, highest ROI predictive technologies are considered to vibration analysis and temperature monitoring as a starting point. Small reductions in unplanned downtime translate into significant production gains, so vibration provides early detection of rotating equipment issues, while temperature monitoring is a cost-effective way to identify mechanical, electrical, and lubrication-related problems before they impact production. The best ROI ultimately comes from technologies that can be deployed broadly across critical assets and provide actionable data early enough to prevent failures.

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Thomas Povanda
Head of Asset Management and Reliability - Americas
Sanofi Pasteur
Pompton Plains NJ
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1. Oil analysis - Oil is the lifeblood of the machine, and a good lubrication program will do the most to keep equipment from reaching the P-F curve in the first place. At $30-$35 per sample, it's easily affordable.
2. Ultrasound - It's super intuitive to use. The tool needs to be capable of detecting both airborne and structureborne noise. Finding and fixing compressed air leaks will easily pay for the tool and for a few other tools. Using it in contact mode for UE-assisted greasing will help optimize your lubrication program, and it will help identify bearing defects and any other mechanical problems that generate high-frequency vibrations. It can detect a huge range of anomalies.
3. Infrared - Again, super intuitive to use, and can detect a huge range of anomalies, like later-stage bearing defects, malfunctioning steam traps, shaft misalignment, electrical problems, internal hydraulic leaks, plugged heat exchangers... the possibilities are endless. Be sure to get one that allows you to manually control the on-screen temperature span, as this is essential for comparing across different equipment and for tuning out background heat signatures. (The FLIR E6 is my favorite entry-level camera.)
4. Vibration analysis - Powerful, more expensive than other tools, with a steeper learning curve. A key part of a mature condition monitoring program. (Contract or in-house manual routes and/or permanent wired or wireless sensors is a whole separate conversation.)

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Dale Nicholson, PE, CMRP, CRL
Reliability Engineering Mgr
Evonik Corp
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