How Smart Plastics Decrease Plant Downtime while Ensuring Process Conformity Through Industrial IoT

Predictive maintenance: step by step towards a smart energy chain

The energy chain is a component in mechanical engineering that guides and protects flexible, pneumatic or hydraulic cables. Energy chains are used wherever moving machine parts need to be supplied with energy, data, liquids or gases.

If the energy supply system fails and/or a cable breaks, the whole machine often stops. It is therefore important to pay close attention to a supposed “C-part” in the overall consideration of machine availability, because a system failure or unscheduled machine downtime are among the biggest cost drivers in industry.

A study by FM Global - one of the world’s largest industrial property insurers - shows this: in 2018, the insurer counted 232 major losses, each with a loss value of more than $3million.

In 28% of the cases, it was due to system failure. 62% of the damage caused by system failures was due to inadequate maintenance, which ultimately accounted for three quarters of the claims payments made. More and more condition monitoring systems and solutions for predictive maintenance are therefore called for by maintenance personnel, which make maintenance plannable and prevent unplanned failures in good time. 

Download this whitepaper to see how igus solution of smart plastics addresses this problem.