Within the discrete batch manufacturing sector of British Industry, the level of management awareness in respect of production downtime has increased dramatically following the introduction of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) and other forms of advanced manufacturing technology (AMT). The reason for this high level of concern is the realisation that production losses with this type of equipment can be significantly higher than with equivalent traditional production methods.

Predictive or condition-based maintenance utilises a variety of monitoring techniques to provide a systematic surveillance scheme for production plant and machinery. In so doing, it has the capability of assessing the “health” of the equipment on a continuous or periodic basis, thus allowing the identification of failure trends and the prediction of an optimum time to take appropriate maintenance action. As such, condition-based maintenance is potentially an extremely cost-effective approach to the task of maintaining production systems and some of the benefits which accrue from the adoption of this strategy have already been touched upon. In this section of the guide, a more detailed exposition of the advantages which arise as a consequence of installing condition-based maintenance are given, including some peripheral but significant benefits not normally associated with this methodology.

The effective introduction of condition-based maintenance techniques to a company or organisation which has no previous experience of them is probably the most crucial phase in the implementation of condition monitoring. The section introduces condition-based maintenance programmes and gives general guidance.

The foregoing sections of this guide have attempted to provide an introduction to the application of condition monitoring in manufacturing production, and to point out its importance as a future technology within the wider scope of computer integrated manufacturing. Acknowledgements are given to various people.

The purpose of this guide is to identify the current suppliers of condition monitoring expertise and/or equipment, who can offer advice on the introduction of condition-based maintenance to manufacturing companies interested in applying the technique and thereby improve their organisations preformance. The suppliers are listed under the various technique headings associated with the practice of condition-based maintenance/condition monitoring and are cross-referenced if they offer more than one technique.