Predictive maintenance brings reliability and cost-efficiency to industry

Timely and well-targeted maintenance actions are an essential part of industrial upkeep. The traditional model, where maintenance is performed at regular intervals based on equipment manufacturer recommendations, often leads to unnecessary work, extra costs, and in the worst case, an increased risk of failure. RCM (Reliability Centered Maintenance) is a maintenance approach in which actions are planned based on the criticality of equipment and operations.

According to Jukka Manninen, predictive maintenance is above all a strategic choice

According to Jukka Manninen, Business Manager at Vitec ALMA, predictive maintenance focuses on the assets that have the greatest impact on production continuity, safety, and the environment.

- “With the RCM method, we identify critical functions and ensure their operability under all conditions.”

Especially in industry and energy production, the method helps to pinpoint those critical components whose failure would halt the entire process or lead to significant costs.

RCM brings cost-efficiency to maintenance


In industrial settings, maintenance capital is often tied up in expensive spare parts kept in storage.

“Typically, around 60% of the maintenance budget goes to materials and spare parts. RCM directly reduces these costs: only truly critical spare parts are kept in stock, which lightens the tied-up capital,” Manninen emphasizes.

Vitec ALMA utilizes the RCM method as part of its MaintALMA maintenance system. RCM can be integrated into the maintenance system, and its advantage is that all information is then stored in one place. Once the RCM analysis is entered into the database, it guides maintenance priorities.

“Based on the analysis, critical functions can be duplicated or even triplicated. Meanwhile, some parts can confidently be replaced only after they fail,” Jukka Manninen explains.

The RCM method takes into account technical functionality, safety, environmental impact, and cost-efficiency. Critical functions are reliably maintained, while unnecessary and costly maintenance actions are reduced. This way, RCM improves operational reliability, allocates maintenance resources more effectively, and delivers significant cost savings.

RCM improved the reliability of a pulp mill

Manninen illustrates RCM thinking with his experience at a pulp mill in Portugal, where he once worked.


Water supply is crucial for the operation of a pulp mill.
Water came to the mill from a nearby river. A single feedwater pump handled the entire process’s water supply. If the pump stopped, the whole mill stopped as well, Manninen explains.

Manninen raised the issue in the annual maintenance plan prepared for the mill. The pump was duplicated: another pump was installed next to it, and the equipment was operated on an alternating basis. As a result, reliability improved significantly.

This case clearly illustrates the core of RCM thinking. Critical components are identified and their operational reliability is ensured, because their impact on the entire process is decisive, Manninen emphasizes.

Another example comes from a hospital environment, a unit treating mental health patients. There, video surveillance turned out to be the most critical function based on the RCM analysis.

If video surveillance is down, the situation can be life-threatening for both patients and staff. As a result of the analysis, it was decided to secure the surveillance by duplicating the system to ensure it remains operational under all conditions.

The solution demonstrates how RCM makes critical components visible and ensures they are kept running.

RCM also supports growing requirements for operational security.
Increasingly, we work with customers to consider how critical functions can remain operational during exceptional situations. These issues have been especially considered in hospitals and the energy industry.

Critical functions must be identified in advance to ensure they remain operational in exceptional circumstances. This means, for example, securing backup generators, maintenance, and spare parts for operating rooms. From the perspective of operational security, RCM helps build a clear plan in advance for which equipment and processes are vital for reliability.

What does the RCM system change?


According to Jukka Manninen, in many organizations the criticality analysis is still a one-time effort gathering dust in Excel, only brought out for audits.

Now that RCM is part of the maintenance system, it brings benefits to everyday work.

Criticality prioritizations are classified in the system and automatically guide work prioritization.

This way, RCM introduces an automatic model of continuous improvement. It does not need to be updated manually, because the information is always in the system and the accumulating historical data enhances and guides prioritization.

The probability of failure increases if, according to history, faults have occurred frequently. Conversely, it may decrease if the component has operated flawlessly. These variables affect the criticality classification and maintenance strategy.