What is Predictive Maintenance in Buildings? (+ Examples)
Tuesday, 17th May 2022
Building maintenance can be costly and time-consuming. As a result, it’s no surprise that predictive maintenance technologies are booming. In fact, the predictive maintenance market is expected to grow to nearly $14 billion by 2026.
Predictive maintenance technologies are designed to identify potential maintenance issues before they become a problem. And, powered by the rise of smart sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT), they promise to make maintenance smarter, cheaper, and more efficient.
Here, we explore some of the key drivers behind the rise of predictive maintenance—and some of the ways that you can put it to use.
What is predictive maintenance?
Predictive maintenance is a type of proactive maintenance that uses data and IoT technologies to predict when maintenance will be necessary. While it’s often used in manufacturing, transport, and the energy industry to monitor the health of machinery, it’s also increasingly deployed in building maintenance too.
In any building, there’s a lot that needs to be maintained. Of course, there’s cleaning and waste disposal. Yet electrical and water supplies, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and even lawn care or landscape management all need maintenance as well.
As a result, companies develop different maintenance strategies to keep on top of the condition of assets. Typically, there are three strategies that are used:
Reactive maintenance. That’s waiting until equipment fails before fixing it.
Preventive maintenance, a regular check-up of how things are performing to try and stem issues before they happen.
Predictive maintenance (also known as PdM), which uses smart technologies to predict when problems will arise in order to attend to them before they occur.
While reactive maintenance may initially seem the most financially effective, in reality it results in extra costs, due to unplanned downtime and disrupted workflows. There’s a similar problem with preventative maintenance too. While regular check-ins can make maintenance easier, these can be wasteful and inefficient, with maintenance not always actually necessary.
This is exactly the problem predictive maintenance was designed to solve. Through smart monitoring and IoT sensors, predictive maintenance provides a more efficient, cost-effective, and minimally disruptive strategy for maintenance.
What are the benefits of predictive maintenance?
The ultimate goal of predictive maintenance is to reduce the need for disruptive maintenance. It cuts the inefficiencies of preventative maintenance, while reducing the downtime that reactive maintenance demands.
As a result, predictive maintenance can bring major benefits for maintenance teams, buildings, and organisations as a whole:
Cost savings. Keeping manual monitoring to a minimum while still preventing maintenance issues saves money and creates a cost-effective routine. It also reduces the cost of unscheduled downtime.
For example, when Infogrid implemented a smart cleaning solution at a location in London, it reduced maintenance costs by £15,000 per year for every ten bathrooms onsite.
Improving the working environment. Nobody wants the air conditioning breaking down in the middle of a hot summer. Work environments that are well-maintained lead to more comfortable, happier workforces.
This is even more important as workforces are starting to return to the office after pandemic work from home directives. According to Infogrid research, over half of employees (52%) want to see efficient and regular cleaning in the office, while 39% want to see more effective ventilation systems. Predictive maintenance systems can help.
Increasing maintenance effectiveness. Maintenance teams will attend to issues only when they are likely to arise. This means greater efficiency and a smarter use of time and business resources.
This operational efficiency also allows trained technicians to perform added value tasks, rather than ticking off routine condition monitoring. When resources are limited, these efficiencies are vital.
How is predictive maintenance implemented?
Predictive maintenance typically uses smart technology to monitor machine performance, building usage, and environmental quality.
Here’s how it works:
IoT sensors. An IoT sensor device can be fitted onto pipes, doors, windows, temperature control systems, and more, to automatically monitor and maintain the systems that keep buildings ticking.
At Infogrid, we use the world’s smallest IoT sensors, that are minimally disruptive, easy to install, discreet, and able to generate real-time data (and historical data) for maintenance teams.
Artificial intelligence. Predictive maintenance technologies use machine learning and artificial intelligence to better predict when maintenance is needed—whether a new part, troubleshooting, or even a complete replacement.
Real-time smart dashboard. Thanks to our proprietary AI system, we can deliver data from your IoT sensors straight to a smart, user-friendly dashboard. Here, you’ll see actionable, real-time insights on your building health right across your portfolio.
Predictive maintenance: Examples and use cases
Now it’s time to see predictive maintenance in action. Here are three ways you can use predictive maintenance in buildings, to maintain optimal working conditions for all of your users.
Pipe monitoring. One real-life predictive maintenance use case is Infogrid’s pipe monitoring system. By fitting IoT sensors into pipes to monitor water quality, you can track water temperature and contamination risk without lifting a finger.
For one of our clients, these sensors freed up the building’s maintenance staff from regular manual monitoring, while alerting them to any major issues, such as leaks, before they arose. Thanks to our solution, maintenance teams reduced the time they spent on water quality compliance by 81%.
Smart cleaning. Predictive maintenance tools can also be used to implement smart cleaning. By using sensors to monitor footfall, space usage, and user feedback, you can optimise your cleaning schedules to boost efficiency and target most used locations.
For example, we installed sensors for one client to improve cleanliness and maintenance efficiency. The result? There was a significant difference in where and how resources were being assigned compared to manual cleaning schedules.
By ensuring the right people were in the right place at the right time, this successful predictive maintenance program enabled the company to save money, heighten customer satisfaction, and improve employee retention.
Building preservation. Even the oldest buildings can benefit from the newest technologies. At Infogrid, we were called in to help maintain the home of the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet companies, a delicate historic building housing specialist electrical and mechanical equipment.
We deployed water quality detection, leak detection and humidity sensors, saving hundreds of labour hours that would otherwise be spent on manual monitoring. Thanks to our sensors, we were also able to provide valuable data to help maintain specific environmental conditions.
Predictive maintenance with Infogrid
At Infogrid, we use the world’s smartest sensors to provide an efficient and low-cost way to improve your building’s maintenance.
Find out how we can help by booking a demo. Or else, get in touch with us here.
