Industry 4.

0 Techniques as a Maintenance Strategy

Daren Chesworth BEng (Hons) MIET

ResearchGate, Published: January 2019

Reviewer: Pramono, Amanu.

Student ID:22352008
Operation & Supply Chain Management
MME Program, Swiss German University, Indonesia

Abstract
The role of maintenance as a ‘non-value’ activity within an organization has evolved over the last
half-century. Strategically, it has now become one of the most ‘Smart’ thinking areas of
Engineering. This is due to the increased demands by industry to maintain high levels of efficient
production whilst providing feedback on equipment performance. The new Industrial Revolution
(Industry 4.0) has been driven by technology advances in sensor and wireless data transmission,
which has been adopted by those who develop strategies within the organization to provide
unprecedented levels of equipment data. Analyzed correctly, equipment failures are predicted with
greater accuracy which will reduce unplanned machine downtime within a system. This reduction
in downtime will increase There have been four such eras, from Industry 1.0 to Industry 4.0.
Industry 4.0 Automation using smart systems, data and machine learning. Predictive maintenance
could be a solution for poor maintenance strategies that can substantially reduce a plant’s
productive capacity overall efficiencies which in turn will improve organization profits. This paper
builds upon the work of Garg et al (2018) to contemplate whether the more frequently adopted
maintenance strategies (often referred as ‘traditional’) remain applicable. This will then develop
further to contemplate the use of Industry 4.0 tools and if they inclusion into a Maintenance
Management Model and how accessible these new developments are to all
Industries.

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1. Introduction
In today’s ever competitive industries, maintaining high production levels and delivering quality
products on time are the difference between a business succeeding and failing.
Maintenance strategies have been employed to extend equipment/asset lifecycles and prevent
catastrophic failure during operation. These strategies have evolved and become more complex as
the technologies they are based upon have developed through the previous Industrial Revolutions.
It has been suggested by Michael Rüßmann that due to the nine pillars of technological
advancement, this development is due for its latest update with the introduction of the 4th Industrial
Revolution (Industry 4.0).
Industry 4.0 acts as the umbrella term made up of the tools which form its structure, namely,
Cloud Computing, Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), Big Data and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Garg et al (2006) developed a Maintenance Management Model which outlined all the current
maintenance strategies being used by industries at the time of publication, however revolution
continues and since the date of this paper there have been developments due to the exponential
increase in wireless technologies and cloud-based software’s. This paper aims to address the
questions posed by maintenance practitioners from various sectors, being: Why is Industry 4.0
relevant to maintenance engineering? Would the Industry 4.0 tools be suitable for all industry
sectors? Finally, what are the necessary conditions or drivers for this strategy to become
mainstream and warrant inclusion into an updated Maintenance Management Model?

2. Review on Section 2, Objective

The Previous Generation Maintenance Management Model provides a holistic approach to the
techniques used by engineers within a cross section of manufacturing sectors. However, as
technology progresses, techniques are refined and implemented this model quickly finds itself
outdated. This paper aims to provide an up-to-date review of this model’s techniques, suggest an
emerging technology which may warrant inclusion into the paradigm. Finally, this paper will
suggest a model which reflects the findings of the literature.

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3. Review on section 3, Industrial Revolution
The manufacturing industry has progressed through 3 ‘revolutions’ since its beginning during the
early 20th Century. Figure 1 illustrates the development phases of the previous Industrial
Revolutions and their key characteristics along with the 4th iteration.

Figure 1: Industrial Revolution Timeline

4. Review on section 4, Maintenance Management Model

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The costs associated with ensuring equipment operates at their optimum efficiencies is now, more
appropriately considered to be a value creator, rather than the more notorious “necessary evil.
Historically, organizations have used a reactive strategy, that there are two main class of
maintenance strategy which form an umbrella over the sub-categories below. These are Corrective
Maintenance (CM) and Life-Based Maintenance (LBM). There are ten maintenance techniques
which can be used to promote asset lifecycles and reduce unplanned machine downtime.
Maintenance techniques outlined highlight the following as the main strategies used in industry.
• Preventative Maintenance (PM)
• Condition Based Monitoring (CBM)
• Efficiency Centered Maintenance (ECM)
• Risk Based Maintenance (RBM)
• Total Productive Maintenance
• Computerized Maintenance Management System
• Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)
• Predicative Maintenance (PM)
• Outsourcing Maintenance
• Strategic Maintenance Management (SMM)
Due to the practical constraints, this review cannot provide a comprehensive technique of the
complete Maintenance Management Model, this review aims to address the possible
improvements made in just the ‘Maintenance Techniques’ section.

5. Updates to the model

5.1 Industry 4.0
With the current exponential rate of change in technologies, ‘Industry 4.0’ is simply the term
used to describe the next phase of these advancements. It embodies the relationship between
hardware and software using Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data
and Cloud Computing. With the use of advanced analytics and machine-2- machine learning
(through fleet connections), hardware can adapt to process fluctuations in real time. A
considerable amount of research has been conducted over the past decade with regards how the
IoT may be used within industry. However, only recently have empirical studies been
conducted. This is down to the establishment of ideas and the building of industrial 4
knowledge, only some of a manufacturer’s sensors and machines are networked and make use
of embedded computing IoT utilizes the developments in technologies within the transducer

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sector together with advanced cloud-based software to produce large amounts of real time data
(Big Data).

5.2 Internet of Things (IoT)

One of the most significant current discussions in maintenance engineering is the Internet of
Things. The IoT provides an industrial network where real-time, reliable data can be streamed
back to a main hub. Each transducer placed upon an asset can be integrated into this network
and provide an access to data previously impractical. The vast quantities of data gathered from
a number of these assets within a system has intuitively been named ‘Big Data.’ Recent
developments in predictive analytics have enabled engineers to predict with more accuracy
asset performance and potential failure times. The IoT’s application within industry is
“beginning to step out of its infancy”, however, this is not likely to continue with large
corporations shifting their maintenance strategy to make the use of these technologies. The
benefits of a networked factory that it allows areas of the business which are usually separated
from operations to be included. This could potentially find “hidden degradation or inefficiency
patterns within machines or manufacturing processes which can lead to informed and effective
maintenance decisions. This is the potential to create value in different sections of a business
chain.

5.3 Cyber Physical Systems (CPS)

The CPS network can be defined as the seamless communication between the hardware of the
asset and the IoT/Big Data Analytics. This closed loop system allows machinery to adapt in
real time to process fluctuations without the need for human interference. One of the
advantages of the CPS is that adaptations are logged and “remembered” by the software. If in
the future a similar set of events is detected then the machine can then apply the modifications
before the same fault occurs, potentially preventing products being produced out of
specification. This can be highlighted by the Cyber-Physical system framework. CPS fleet
machine learning is a new concept which takes the closed loop system a stage further. Similar
machines could learn from each other’s faults and rectifications preventing the same issues
happening again. “This decentralized system with competing targets and contradicting
constraints will generate a holistically optimized system, ensuring only efficient operations
will be conducted.

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5.4 The Impact of the Internet of Things
Recent studies have predicted that the potential number of connected devices by 2020 is
greater than 20 billion with more than 3 trillion dollars being spent on IoT. Large corporations
seem to be the early adopters of the IoT. IoT uptake seems to be on the rise. This is also
confirmed by the UK Business Strategy White Paper (2017) (Etherton 2013) which proposes
huge investment into IoT technologies in order to promote them through manufacturing
industries. A number of case studies have been conducted which prove the concept of a
‘connected’ ecosystem.

5.5 Implementing Industry 4.0 Tools

Asset management has until recently been based upon the simple ‘bath tub’ curve graph. Where
equipment downtime tends to be at the start and end of its lifecycle. To move to gain greater
understanding of equipment failure, Industry 4.0 tools can be used in an asset management
context to build up an asset knowledge base which in turn will lead to greater accuracy in
predicting equipment or component failure. Tailoring the Industry 4.0 tools to suit a
maintenance environment can be a challenge. This is only emphasized since the new methods
of integrating equipment and software could be limited to only modern equipment. Retro-
fitting sensors, wireless transmitters etc. may not always be possible due to the equipment
design or simply that the older assets are not compatible. A possible hypothesis is, that utilizing
IoT along with Big Data analysis is only applicable to those whose infrastructure supports it.
Many smaller businesses who use small parts of techniques from Industries one through to
three cannot begin to move forward with their strategies until the foundations for it have been
put in place. Many industries use aspects of Predictive Maintenance, however to fully exploit
the industry 4.0 potential, multiple techniques are needed, for example; vibration analysis
combined with acoustic, temperature and oil analysis would provide the Cloud Computing
algorithms with sufficient data to make accurate equipment performance forecasts.
Implementing such a myriad of monitoring transducers to a system, along with the added
analysis phases could perhaps be beyond the scope of most industrial plants whom do not have
the budget, knowledge or business strategy to support it. Papers published within the field of
Industry 4.0 in maintenance since 2015 include: Implementing Smart Factory of Industry of
Machine Learning for Predictive Maintenance A Cyber-Physical Systems architecture for
Industry 4.0-based manufacturing systems.

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 Figure 2: Maintenance Management Model

Table 1 also presents characteristics of four industrial revolutions (from the point of technologies
and principles of taking care of industrial equipment)
Table 1. Correlation between the level of Maintenance and Industrial Revolutions

There are four maintenance value drivers represent the core of the maintenance function in the
organization which are: resource allocation; cost control; asset utilization and health and safety
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(Figure 3). Therefore, each of these value-drivers must be considered by balancing the importance
of maintenance management in the organization and maximize the stakeholders’ value.

Figure 3: The value drivers in maintenance management

6. Why Maintenance Management Model changed?

Industry 4.0 is a key enabler of maintenance strategies. According to the recent “Power of
Industry 4.0 in Asset Management Report” by MPI Group, 58% of maintenance leaders
believe Industry 4.0 is a competitive advantage. The inability to share equipment information
with professionals and applications is seen as the biggest challenge, with 62% of maintenance
leaders reporting machine-to-enterprise IT systems communication needs to improve. There
have been four such eras, from Industry 1.0 to Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 Automation using
smart systems, data and machine learning. Predictive maintenance could be a solution for
poor maintenance strategies that can substantially reduce a plant’s productive capacity.

7. Conclusion
The results of this have found that the tools included in Industry 4.0 (IoT, CPS) do warrant
inclusion into the updated Maintenance Management Model. Improvements in technologies
have meant that transducers, wireless networks and cloud storage are accessible even by
businesses with tight budgets. However, algorithms contained within software, employee
expertise and cyber-security have yet to make this accessible for all. Used in the correct manner,
increased exposure to data could mean a reduction in unplanned machine downtime via
increased equipment performance knowledge. Used incorrectly, this could potentially create a
chaos across a business with varying interpretations of data creating a stalling effect. The
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research has identified areas where more work is needed. Namely, how manufacturing systems
whom have not yet reached the required level of Industry 3.0 can begin to employ aspects of
Industry 4.0 without impacting on the business too much.
Industry 4.0 potentially offers engineers an increased access to data which improves equipment
failure predictions Another potential issue that may occur when attempting to implement
Industry 4.0 techniques within a plant could be more qualitative. Culture within both
management and operators could need to adapt. Moving forwards, it is important to
practitioners that research is carried out on the application of the industry 4.0 tools rather than
solely focusing on its theoretical impact. My work will therefore focus on how industries (whom
are not yet working at the required level to implement these new technologies), bridge between
the hypothetical idea of Industry 4.0 and its practical uses. A potential area for exploration is
the consideration that there are prerequisites that organizations must have in place before
attempting to implement Industry 4.0 tools. These could be in the form of frameworks such as
infrastructure, employee knowledge and organizational culture.

Figure 4. Updated Maintenance Management Model

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8. Reference.
Velmurugan, R.S. & Dhingra, T., 2015. Maintenance strategy selection and its impact
in maintenance function: A conceptual framework. International Journal of
Operations & Production Management, 35(12), pp.1622–1661.
Vodafone, 2016. Vodafone IoT Barometer 2016. , p.40.
Wang, S. et al., 2016. Implementing Smart Factory of Industrie 4.0: An Outlook.
International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, 2016.
Susto, G.A. et al., 2015. Machine learning for predictive maintenance: A multiple
classifier approach. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 11(3), pp.812–820
The role of system dynamics in project management, A comparative Analysis with
tradition methods [4] by Alexander G, Rodrigus (1994)
Peter POOR, Maja TRSTENJAK, Josef BASL and Tihomir OPETUK, Maintenance
ideal model in Industry 4.0 – A transformation strategy roadmap to readiness factor
calculation.

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