What is Smart Maintenance in Manufacturing Industry?

The ongoing transformation of manufacturing industry into digitalized production, Industry 4.0, has put new perspectives on the maintenance of production systems. The technologies offer an array of new possibilities in optimization of maintenance and data driven decision making. On the other hand, these new technologies offer a lot of challenges in form of investment costs, need for new competences, and how to handle the equipment legacy, i.e. upgrading old equipment. Many researchers associate data driven decision making with intelligent sensors, cloud computing and cyber physical systems, but are these technologies the most cost-effective way of achieving data driven maintenance? The aim of this paper is to discuss how manufacturing industry should approach smart maintenance in order to improve the industry’s competitiveness, rather than spending money on technology that doesn’t contribute. The basis for the discussion will mainly be a literature study but additional empirical data may be included.