Your trucks belong on the road, and their job is to move around and make you money. So, to do that, you need to take care of it. Routine stops for maintenance, good driving habits, and quality fuel are all responsible for the health of your truck. As an owner-operator, you need to keep an eye on these things so that your vehicles keep moving and you continue making money.
However, there is another element that you might not usually cover. This concept is related to preventive maintenance, but we know it as predictive maintenance.
What Is Predictive Maintenance?
While preventive care helps you figure out when a particular part is going wrong to stop it or repair it beforehand, well, predictive maintenance takes it a step further. It is like looking for signs and foretelling which part needs replacing before breaking down. This is an advanced form of science.
These two maintenances work side by side. The preventive side happens on a schedule, and you identify any parts that need replacement. On the contrary, predictive maintenance used data to estimate when things may head south.
How Does It work?
This is like a complex process where you make educated guesses. You can guess which parts will wear out soon and fail before others. Also, to make these guesses, you need to have historical data. For the most accurate predictions, you can get help from the manufacturer’s data and data from other trucks. You can get an idea of when a particular part will have to be replaced.
For instance: Eight 2019 trucks from a particular company needed to replace their left axles before hitting the 20,000 mark. It means that the ninth truck that has reached 19,000 miles will likely need an axle replacement soon. Using this information, you can replace the part well within time. Also, you avoid any unscheduled stops for repair.
Can You Prevent And Predict?
In a perfect world, you can take along both predictive and preventive maintenance to keep your fleet safe. You take your vehicle for regular checks and replace any oil changes done. However, you don’t usually schedule your predictive maintenance. You will get an alert whenever a task comes up.
You might ask, when will the alert happen? Repair and maintenance records are crucial for predictive analysis.
Software For Predictive Maintenance:
There is specific software that can keep track of vehicle maintenance. You can collect records for each truck and model over time. You can later use these records to make predictions. Your mechanic can know when a specific part will need to be replaced. You can even get a part sorted during your regular maintenance checks.
FAQS
Q: What is the difference between predictive and preventive maintenance?
Preventive maintenance keeps parts in good condition but does not take the state of a component or process into account. However, with predictive maintenance, you can identify repairs and make them happen during machine operation to address an actual problem.
Q: What are the advantages of predictive maintenance?
There are many benefits of predictive maintenance, which include:
- Reduction of unscheduled equipment downtime caused by equipment or system failure;
- Increased labor utilization;
- Enhanced production capacity;
- Reduced maintenance costs;
- Increased lifespan of the equipment.
Conclusion:
Preventive maintenance is a new feature. It will keep evolving, so we have new ways to maintain our fleet. If you’re a fleet owner, you should look into it and invest in software that keeps your fleet in A1 condition all year round.
Also Read: How To Increase Truck Fuel Efficiency?
