What is Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM)?

Predictive maintenance software taps into asset data and keeps you in touch with the pulse of your machines, quickly pinpointing problems.

Condition-based maintenance, or CBM, is a maintenance strategy in which work is performed based on asset condition. Maintenance and reliability teams use condition data like vibration, temperature, or flow rate to gain insight into asset health and optimize maintenance frequency. Performing maintenance based on condition empowers teams to move beyond risky reactive maintenance and arbitrary preventive maintenance schedules into data-driven, condition-based maintenance management.

To achieve condition-based maintenance, teams often utilize computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software. A modern, cloud-based CMMS can tap into asset data sources like vibration sensors and PLC or SCADA systems, connecting maintenance to reliability engineering data and production monitoring data. CMMS integrations can automatically alert teams when vibration data indicates potential asset faults or failures and automate work orders to repair those issues right away.

Maintenance and reliability are evolving in the era of artificial intelligence (AI), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and smart factories. Modern AI and automation tools enable organizations to maximize their resources and get more done with a lean workforce. Strategies like CBM maintenance and technologies like CMMS software are leading the way to greater reliability and productivity.

Types of Data for Condition-Based Maintenance

Condition-based maintenance strategies utilize a variety of condition monitoring data and sometimes a combination of several types. Here are some of the most common condition-based monitoring methods:

Temperature Data

Rising temperatures are often a sign of impending failure. High temperatures can indicate excess levels of friction, which can damage components and cause premature wear and tear. Heat can also be a sign of leaky pipes or faulty seals in boilers and HVAC systems. In other cases, high temperatures can indicate an electrical fault.

Monitoring the temperature in and near critical assets provides teams with an early warning system for all of the above issues. Subtle changes in temperature can indicate asset faults when they are still minor and easy to repair. Whether that means repairing a minor leak, fixing electrical wiring, or lubricating parts to reduce friction, it’s usually an easy fix if it’s caught early.

Vibration Data

Excess vibrations can indicate loose bolts, bearing wear, shaft misalignment, and more.

Most rotating assets vibrate to some degree – it’s a normal part of operation. However, when a machine’s vibration levels change, that’s usually a sign that the asset is starting to degrade. Shifts in vibration patterns can indicate shaft misalignment or looseness; they can also point to worn bearings or unbalance. Over time, excess vibration also causes new problems, creating friction, causing wear and tear, and contributing to increased maintenance needs.

Fortunately, vibration sensors can pick up on even minuscule changes in vibration levels. Modern sensors can pick up on changes in vibration levels months before issues get serious enough to take your asset down.

Wireless vibration sensors are cost-effective and easy to install directly onto assets and components. They can also automatically sync data to the cloud for analysis. Vibration analysis – both waveform analysis and fast Fourier transform (FFT) – can pinpoint the root cause of machine vibration so that maintenance teams know where to focus their resources.

Oil Quality Data

Oil analysis can identify contaminants, viscosity inconsistencies, or particles indicating excessive wear in the system. Excess particles in oil can form deposits that jam machine parts, get in the way of proper lubrication, and cause premature wear and tear on assets. Oil particle counters monitor the purity of machine oil and stream the data to the cloud, giving your team an early warning whenever particle levels cross a preset threshold.

Excess oil particles can also indicate filter problems or wear and tear caused by other issues. Tracking particle levels allows you to stay ahead of those issues.

Thermal/Infrared Data

Specialized equipment, like thermal imagers and infrared cameras, can detect excess moisture and unusual heat patterns in machines. Changes in heat emissions can indicate a wide variety of problems in various assets. Thermal and infrared tools work by detecting the amount of radiation emitted by an object and creating a color-coded heat map to display hotspots and heat patterns.

Thermal sensors can be directly inserted into electrical assets to catch the early signs of motor defects and faulty wiring. They can also detect insulation faults, leaks, condensation, and related defects in a boiler or HVAC system.

Ultrasonic Analysis

Ultrasonic sensors can detect and interpret sounds caused by poor lubrication and signs of wear. Sensors can monitor on a continual basis, sending data to the cloud for analysis.

Ultrasonic testing uses high-frequency sound waves to “see” deep inside equipment, materials, and systems. It is widely used in sectors like manufacturing, aerospace, and automotive for tasks like assessing structural integrity and welding.

Electrical Data

Power monitoring can identify changes in power consumption or load, providing insight into asset health. Wireless sensors mounted on assets can measure shifts in current, voltage, and overall energy consumption in real time. Sudden changes in voltage and current levels can point to faulty circuits, wiring issues, unbalanced loads, or other problems. Left uncorrected, any of these issues could cause significant downtime.

Power monitors enable teams to stay ahead of unplanned outages, reduce excess fuel consumption, and increase operational efficiency. Wireless sensors also improve safety conditions for workers by letting maintenance crews access electrical data remotely.

What is Condition-Based Monitoring?

Condition monitoring, sometimes called condition-based monitoring, is a predictive maintenance (PdM) strategy that involves continuous asset monitoring and, often, real-time data access. Condition-based monitoring is essential for establishing condition-based maintenance: you need access to asset data in order to know when and how often to perform maintenance on equipment. Condition-based monitoring, condition monitoring, and production monitoring are terms often used interchangeably.

The data used for condition-based maintenance comes from sensors on equipment or from other specialized tools. If these sensors are connected to a CMMS, the data can be uploaded to the cloud and be easily accessible in real time, allowing immediate response to changes in the condition of the assets being monitored.

Today, artificial intelligence tools can analyze condition monitoring data for detailed reporting and analytics on the condition of every asset in a plant. Leading AI tools, like Azima DLI, can accurately diagnose hundreds of machine and component faults. They can also help set maintenance priority levels and create step-by-step directions so that crews can make repairs right away.

Why Perform Condition-Based Maintenance?

Teams implement condition-based maintenance strategies to save time, reduce maintenance costs, and optimize maintenance schedules to prevent failures and maximize uptime. There are many benefits of condition-based maintenance, as well as a few drawbacks that the right tools and technology can mitigate.

Advantages of Condition-Based Maintenance

  • Reduced labor and maintenance costs. Maintenance teams only perform maintenance when necessary. This reduces the costs of over-maintenance associated with preventive maintenance programs.
  • Fewer failures and shutdowns. Condition monitoring data provides teams with early warnings of machine defects, so they can make repairs quickly and prevent catastrophic failure.
  • Reduced spending on spare parts. Condition-based maintenance reduces wear and tear on parts, extending the lifespan of assets and components. Unlike preventive maintenance, CBM doesn’t require teams to change parts based on a calendar.
  • Safer working conditions. Condition-based maintenance reduces high vibration levels and noise, keeping crews safer. It also allows workers to monitor assets from a secure distance, so that they can perform targeted repairs only when necessary.
  • Increased equipment reliability. Condition-based maintenance keeps equipment at peak performance level so that it reliably produces high-quality, uniform goods. CBM also dramatically reduces unplanned downtime, so that the whole plant operates on a reliable schedule.
  • Improved maintenance key performance indicators (KPIs): Condition-based monitoring improves just about every KPI by keeping assets in peak condition so that they need fewer repairs, are more productive, and have much less unplanned downtime.

Ultimately, these factors drive production and improve operations throughout the plant.

There are also disadvantages to condition-based maintenance. However, most of them are challenges that a CMMS or enterprise asset management (EAM) software can mitigate.

Disadvantages of Condition-Based Maintenance

  • Establishing an ideal asset monitoring system can be challenging and expensive
  • Condition-based maintenance requires training and expertise
  • Getting asset data to maintenance teams effectively can be difficult without CMMS software

With the right tools, it’s easy to overcome these problems. CMMS software tracks, organizes, and stores condition monitoring data. A good CMMS can even auto-generate work orders based on changes in condition monitoring data.

AI-powered analytic tools extend the reach of your workforce so that any organization can run a successful condition monitoring program. Leveraging remote condition monitoring services also helps close the expertise gap.

How Does Condition-Based Maintenance Work? An Example

Say a maintenance manager wants to implement condition-based maintenance on a specific motor that often overheats.

To achieve condition-based maintenance, the manager needs to gather temperature data from the motor regularly so that they know when it overheats. And to streamline the process, the maintenance manager needs to integrate the data source with their CMMS.

eMaint CMMS can integrate a broad range of data from SCADA systems. The manager uses SCADA and PLC integration from eMaint to capture temperature measurements from the motor, configuring when and how often to record measurements.

Once the CMMS and data source are connected and data starts flowing, the manager sets up automated condition-based work orders to trigger when the motor’s temperature moves out of its normal range of zero to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Then the manager optimizes maintenance on the motor. They set up alarms and automated work orders to signal when a technician should examine the asset. Maintenance staff perform work at just the right time to prevent failures without introducing the risks, costs, and labor of over-maintenance.

Goals and Benefits of Condition-Based Maintenance

The goal of CBM maintenance is to improve asset conditions by identifying and addressing failures before they occur. Based on the specific industry challenges companies face, many organizations may have more specific goals when they implement condition-based maintenance, such as improving uptime, reducing overhead, or extending asset lifespan.

The benefits of implementing condition-based maintenance can reach across the entire operation and benefit the organization in several ways:

  • Help identify upcoming failures. Pinpointing failures right before they happen gives maintenance teams time to react and prevent unnecessary shutdowns.
  • Reduce costs. Instead of maintaining assets on a preventive maintenance schedule, assets are maintained only when they need to be. This can save money on labor and parts and reduce the number of spares required in inventory.
  • Minimize downtime. Since maintenance teams are aware of impending failures, they can schedule maintenance during planned downtime instead of rushing to complete a repair during an unplanned shutdown as the result of a failure.
  • Improve employee safety: Sudden asset failure can cause a cascade of problems, some of which can be dangerous to employees. Condition-based maintenance catches early warning signs of failure, drastically reducing the chances of unexpected failures and improving employee safety.
  • Improve reliability: Asset reliability is important for almost every key performance indicator, and most can be improved with condition-based maintenance.
  • Improve production timelines: When assets run more reliably, production can remain on schedule or even improve.
  • Improve asset performance: Condition-based maintenance ensures assets are always operating at their optimal levels for top-tier performance and asset health.

No matter an organization’s goals, implementing a condition-based maintenance program can help companies realize all of these benefits over time.

Four Key Steps for Implementing Condition-Based Maintenance

Maintenance teams gain invaluable insights from condition-based maintenance and connected data, systems, and teams. But sometimes, the rush to adopt and implement causes facilities to disregard critical steps, like ensuring a maintenance program has mastered the fundamentals of reliability-centered maintenance. Here are four steps you should take to ensure that your CBM maintenance plan starts off on the right foot:

1. Do Your Condition-Based Maintenance Homework

Confirm that your preventive maintenance, P-F curve, and reliability-centered maintenance fundamentals are solid. Sometimes organizations adopt condition-based maintenance technology without adapting their people to system changes or reviewing processes. Reliability experts agree that the chief barrier to adopting condition-based maintenance is the lack of understanding of reliability-centered maintenance fundamentals.

Defining your organization’s maintenance and reliability status is also essential. Your MRO teams should ask these fundamental questions before implementing a new CBM program:

  • What work are they doing?
  • Why are they doing it?
  • How are they getting it done?

Fully defining your organization’s status ensures a good start to your CBM journey.

2. Include Personnel Affected by the Shift to Condition-Based Maintenance

Once you confirm technicians have the necessary skills, involve them and other key personnel in a shared asset criticality analysis. Inviting input from all relevant parties makes them active participants in the CBM program. Specifically, technicians and other staff will have an opportunity to:

  • Use their reliability-centered maintenance fundamentals effectively
  • Contribute to condition-based maintenance implementation and success
  • Help identify, mitigate, or eliminate failure modes

Technicians and other key personnel have valuable insight and knowledge they can share to benefit the entire team. Their insight can help ensure the CBM maintenance implementation process goes smoothly.

3. Make a Proper Asset Criticality Assessment

Accurately identifying assets as critical, semi-critical, and non-critical can decrease unnecessary route-based maintenance. Additionally, the analysis helps determine which assets might benefit from new predictive maintenance technology like wireless vibration sensors, which enable condition monitoring from a distance when paired with CBM software.

After completing an asset criticality assessment, it’s not uncommon to realize that some equipment considered critical is actually not. Often, the assets getting the most attention are the ones that break down the most, rather than the most important. It’s vital to continue assessing asset criticality over time and make changes to your initial criticality analysis when needed. A correct assessment will ensure your resources are used in the most efficient way and that your organization maximizes the benefits of condition-based maintenance.

4. Follow Up with Additional Condition Monitoring Tools

You should follow up on your asset criticality assessment by performing a failure mode, effects, and criticality analysis (FMECA). This way, your most critical assets benefit from your maintenance reliability programs. The reliability-centered maintenance process helps you decide whether your current preventive maintenance strategy meets capacity needs and verifies that your systems correctly capture equipment data and represent asset conditions.

Condition-Based Maintenance Workflow

Developing a condition-based maintenance workflow is important for outlining the steps to implementing and maintaining a CBM maintenance program. It provides a structured approach to selecting which assets to start with and provides guidance on how to use condition monitoring to improve asset reliability.

This example workflow shows what a CBM maintenance program can look like using Fluke sensors and eMaint CMMS combined with condition monitoring:

  • Perform asset criticality analysis to choose which assets are most critical to your organization.
  • Install sensors on these assets, selecting the best sensors for the asset type.
  • Use information from the sensors to gather baseline data and understand what the asset looks like during normal operation.
  • Set parameters for alarms to notify when asset operation is outside of baseline.
  • Automatically collect sensor data, which is constantly fed into cloud-based software.
  • Use the software to automatically analyze results and identify anomalies.
  • Software sends email alerts or mobile notifications when anomalies are detected.
  • Alerts include prescribed solutions, urgency, and severity.
  • Software can automate orders for parts or integrate with storeroom data to see what parts are already on hand for repairs.
  • The software creates work orders for maintenance to fix anomalies.
  • The corrected asset continues feeding data into sensors for analysis.

Condition-Based Maintenance vs. Predictive Maintenance

Condition-based maintenance and predictive maintenance are similar strategies, both focusing on the goal of optimizing when and how often maintenance is performed in order to strengthen reliability and prevent downtime. However, they differ in that CBM refers specifically to using insights from condition monitoring data, whereas predictive maintenance may imply some level of predicting faults or failures with more advanced analysis.

For example, eMaint CMMS integrates with SCADA systems and PLCs, enabling maintenance based on condition. But eMaint also connects to IIoT wireless vibration sensors like the Fluke 3563, which pair with eMaint condition monitoring software and offer advanced vibration analysis — an easy-to-use toolset for predicting failures.

Rather than looking at condition-based vs. predictive maintenance as conflicting strategies, think of them as complementary. Both can boost your maintenance program by integrating data from every source available: IIoT sensors, SCADA systems, ERPs, a mobile CMMS app like Fluke Mobile, and beyond.

Choosing a Condition-Based Maintenance Software

Implementing the right condition-based maintenance software matters so that your team can reap the full benefits of CBM maintenance. Keep in mind the following tips:

  • Determine what you’re looking for. A best-in-class CMMS or EAM software program will take care of everything you need, streamlining the management of work orders, assets, and spare parts, along with IIoT sensor or SCADA integration.
  • Make sure the software integrates with asset data so your maintenance team can gain asset condition insights.
  • Explore other integrations that the software offers such as IIoT sensors, ERPs, or a CMMS smartphone app.

eMaint is part of a connected reliability framework that combines all of the above hardware and software in a cloud-based ecosystem that streamlines advanced strategies like CBM maintenance.

Leaders in maintenance and reliability are championing connected reliability as the game-changer for the future of maintenance. A CMMS like eMaint gives you the tools to implement the change. To learn more about what a CMMS can do for your CBM strategy, try a free demo.