Is Your PM Program Passive, Preventative, Predictive or Proactive?

There are so many acronyms and so little understanding of what they mean. Not only do we have to interpret acronyms that are specific to our industry, the automation discipline, our companies, and what is perceived to be “common knowledge” across multiple sectors, but the expectation is that we do so consistently. These are tough tasks, for which this article will give you pause for thought and the impetus to contribute to the discussion, so we can standardize at least some of these concepts.

Unfortunately, even if we could agree on these definitions and their associated acronyms, the respective term would describe only a small part of the complete set of activities that encompass the full life cycle of configuration and system tools support, parts management, scheduling, maintenance activity, and follow-up, including determining why the maintenance is required. Fortunately, work is being done to help define how to do effective maintenance for intelligent field devices.

Consequently, the various life cycles must also be coordinated, as the IDM program must coordinate with other elements of the business and control systems. There are many other standards-related activities within ISA, the IEC, and the International Organization for Standardization that exist or are in development to identify and bridge the “gaps” between not only the various systems, but also between the associated work practices to execute the tasks necessary to support intelligent devices throughout their life cycles. Your PM program may be passive, preventative, predictive, proactive, or something else entirely, but regardless of the name, it represents but one part, although an important one, of the full life cycle of your automation system and facility.