Redpaper: IBM Predictive Maintenance and Quality Technical Overview

When I first saw the title of a new IBM Redpaper, I got curious about the term "predictive maintenance". However, in the IBM Predictive Maintenance and Quality Technical Overview paper the different forms of maintenance are described:

• Reactive: Replace it after it has failed
• Preventive: Replace it according to a (manufacturer) suggested maintenance schedule
• Condition-based: Monitor by regular inspections and then service or replace

The approach of preventive maintenance uses sensor data provided by the devices and the experience from using that equipment in a specific environment (your environment) to predict possible failures and also to predict the quality of individual parts. Overall this leads to better use of the equipment and optimized maintenance.

This alone makes it an interesting topic. When you look at the technical details of the solution you will find DB2 and some IBM business inteligence
/business analytics products involved.

I recently wrote about adjusting for "back to school". Wouldn't be it nice to have a predictive maintenance solution for the kids' school stuff? Often it is replacing pens, pencils, exercise and copy books by request only or after getting a "hint" from the teacher...

You can find more on DB2 and analytics by reading my posts on DB2 with BLU Acceleration, the new way of accelerating analytic workloads with DB2.