Vibration Analysis---A Proven Technique as a Predictive Maintenance Tool

Predictive maintenance remains a cost-effective means for a maintenance department to resolve plant machinery problems and implement a repair schedule. Quality information is the key factor in designing a successful predictive maintenance program. A strong basis for quality information and an effective methodology for using this information base are two essential program ingredients. When applied with these ingredients in place, predictive maintenance using vibration analysis has achieved meaningful results in successfully diagnosing machinery problems. The benefits of such programs include not only evident cost benefits, such as reducing machinery downtime and production losses, but also the more subtle long-term cost benefits which can result from accurate maintenance scheduling.