For a field service business that relies on large amounts of equipment, choosing the best maintenance program is crucial. This is the kind of industry that needs their machinery to produce, transport, or store their products. And when their equipment breaks down, operations need to stop. And then sales have to stop as well… while costs keep mounting.
Choosing the optimal maintenance program, then, is crucial in order for your business strategy to be successful. The good thing is that nowadays, your field service business can choose between traditional or predictive maintenance. And Synchroteam can always lend you a hand, no matter which one you choose in the end.
Traditional maintenance in field service
A traditional maintenance strategy in the field service business is pretty straightforward. It’s simply a set of scheduled maintenance tasks, done at regular intervals of time. Within this strategy, we would also include the so-called reactive maintenance. This means that when a piece of equipment wears down or breaks altogether, the technicians need to temporarily remove the machine from the production cycle, fix it, and then put it back where it belongs.
Predictive maintenance in field service
Predictive maintenance, on the other hand, is a totally different approach. In this case we’re talking about a proactive strategy. It’s one that focuses on foreseeing issues and forecasting possible equipment failures before they even happen.
The thing is, this kind of strategy may feel a bit more complicated for the average field service business. Its initial adoption involves more work, since you have to install several sensors and use special software in order to analyze the equipment’s performance.
This is totally necessary, though, if we want the system to detect any possible irregularities that could indicate a component breakdown is about to happen. And once the strategy is in place, it can be very efficient at minimizing equipment downtime and preventing any additional damages brought on by the failure of a single piece.
Comparing traditional vs. predictive maintenance strategies
At first sight, it may seem that a predictive maintenance strategy in the field service business area is unquestionably superior to a more conventional maintenance strategy. In fact, when you apply them in an effective way, predictive maintenance solutions can significantly reduce equipment downtime. It’s also a great strategy to cut down the costs involved in fixing your machinery. The decision between standard and predictive maintenance is less straightforward, though, when you take into account the cost of putting a plan in place.
This is mainly because Implementing predictive maintenance solutions might be expensive. The upfront expenses are quite substantial. You will also need to prepare a budget for monitoring and maintaining your predictive maintenance program. This is why predictive maintenance is not always a wise choice for a field service business. In fact, the kind of companies that can benefit the most from predictive maintenance are those which tend to suffer significant losses when equipment is down, or where equipment failure raises safety concerns.
It’s also important to remember that your field service business has other options. That is, if you believe the investment in a complete predictive maintenance program won’t yield a return. Those companies that need alternative maintenance solutions may also want to think about advanced troubleshooting or condition-based maintenance. These work as a kind of “middle ground” between conventional maintenance and predictive maintenance, and can be exactly the solution you’re looking for.
Whatever options you choose in the end, Synchroteam is one of the best field service business management software apps you can count on. Whether it’s traditional or predictive maintenance, it’ll help you control every aspect of your daily workflow. Download the free demo and see for yourself!
Image by Kateryna Babaieva
