Smart Maintenance Technologies in the Manufacturing Industry : Implementation, Challenges, Enablers and Benefits

Abstract: In Industry 4.0, production, Information Technology (IT), and the Internet are combined. The nine technologies of Industry 4.0, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cyber-Physical System (CPS), are changing machines, strategies, processes, and maintenance.In the first generation of maintenance, machines were run to failure, which is related to Corrective Maintenance. Systems for planning and control were implemented in the second generation, related to Predetermined Maintenance. Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) was presented in the third maintenance generation. Industry 4.0 places new demands on maintenance and different maintenance approaches are presented in previous research, such as Maintenance 4.0, Smart Maintenance and Self-Maintenance. This research focuses on smart maintenance technologies, using the nine technologies of Industry 4.0, such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and Big Data and Analytics, for machine connection, maintenance data collection, analysis of data, and making decisions using AI. CPS can be used to integrate the physical world, such as manufacturing machines, factory environment, material, people, and executions, with the cyber world, such as data analysis, apps, services, and decision-making.Previous research presents several approaches to smart maintenance technologies. One problem is a lack of research regarding how smart maintenance technologies can be implemented to add benefits to the maintenance organization in line with company’s goal. Furthermore, previous research presents that further research is needed to support the manufacturing industry in what step an organization should take to implement smart maintenance technologies. In this research, four studies have been performed, which include literature reviews to obtain a clear overview of the research area of smart maintenance, as well as collected empirical data. The empirical data is collected from large companies and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), within the manufacturing industry, to obtain a clear overview of the manufacturing industry’ situation. The studies show that the manufacturing industry faces several challenges when implementing smart maintenance technologies, despite the concept of Industry 4.0 has been discussed for more than ten years. In this research, a conceptual implementation process is proposed, including challenges and enablers to consider when implementing smart maintenance technologies, as well as benefits of using smart maintenance technologies.