Tag: predictive maintenance (PdM)

  • NFPA 70B update, in brief: what changed, and what it takes to comply now

    NFPA 70B update, in brief: what changed, and what it takes to comply now

    NFPA 70B Is Now A Must-Do

    NFPA 70B may have been your “yeah, we should probably be doing that” task for years.

    But things changed in 2023. If you haven’t taken another look since then, the short version is that “should” became “shall.”

    NFPA 70B now sets a standard instead of a recommended practice. (The 2026 edition that just came out didn’t change that materially.)

    This is just a catch-up, not a tutorial. For the full text, definitely go straight to NFPA, who sells it directly. NFPA also has a free overview on 70B, which is a decent 10-minute read. You might also like OSHA’s letter of interpretation on how they treat NFPA standards in enforcement, NETA World Journal’s breakdown of the shift from recommended practice to standard, and the 2023 IEEE Electrical Safety Workshop paper on the new 70B.

    A quick refresher on the code sections we’re talking about

    So you don’t need to dig through all the regulation and can get to the practical part, here’s an overview.

    You probably know the three-legged stool:

    • NFPA 70 (the NEC) covers installation.
    • NFPA 70E covers how workers stay safe around electrical equipment, which means arc flash boundaries, PPE, lockout-tagout, and test before touch Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
    • NFPA 70B is the third leg: how the equipment itself gets maintained, so it doesn’t become the reason 70E gets invoked.

    These three basically talk to each other.

    OSHA views 70E as the primary consensus standard for electrical hazards and uses it to support citations under its own standards. And 70E in turn points readers to 70B for maintenance. That chain is how a 70B gap can end up on an OSHA inspector’s radar even though OSHA doesn’t cite 70B directly.

    What changed in 2023

    Three things matter for how you run the floor:

    It’s enforceable now. The “shall” language means an Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ, e.g., an insurer, corporate safety, state inspector, whoever) can hold you to it.

    NFPA’s own position is that 70B is now an enforceable resource the AHJ can use to ensure electrical equipment is properly maintained, and OSHA already uses consensus standards like these to support citations under its own rules.

    You need a documented Electrical Maintenance Program (EMP). A documentation binder isn’t enough. You need an actual program with an appointed coordinator, an inventory of equipment, an inspection and testing schedule, a corrective-action process, and records retention.

    Per NFPA 70B, the equipment owner “shall” implement and document an overall EMP that directs activity appropriate to the safety and operational risks, and the EMP “shall” include an electrical safety program addressing the condition of maintenance.

    Maintenance intervals come from Equipment Condition Assessments. Every asset gets scored on three dimensions (physical condition, criticality, and operating environment), from Condition 1 (best) to Condition 3 (worst).

    NFPA 70B uses those condition assessment criteria to set the frequency of testing. For power circuit breakers, Condition 1 equipment can go up to 60 months between tests, while Condition 3 equipment requires annual service. So a perfectly healthy breaker feeding a critical line still gets treated like a critical asset, … because it is one.

    The part that trips people up

    Having an EMP on paper isn’t the same as having one in practice.

    The standard wants evidence that inspections happened, that findings got logged, and that corrective actions closed out. That takes two things working together:

    • A way to know the real condition of your equipment
    • A way to schedule, assign, and document the work that follows from it

    Most plants get the second half covered by their CMMS or equivalent scheduling system. The first half, which is knowing actual condition rather than assumed condition, is where facilities can take different paths.

    Ways to Get To a 70B-aligned EMP

    There’s no single right answer here. Each of these approaches can be part of a compliant program, and most plants end up stacking two or three.

    The following table of common options is ordered roughly by rigor of the condition data produced, from continuous source-level electrical data at the top down to interval-only approaches at the bottom.

    ApproachProsCons
    Wired electrical monitoring (installed by a licensed electrician on/ inside the gear)Continuous, source-level electrical data.
    Reliable data signal even in large or RF-noisy facilities.
    Defensible documentation.
    NEC-consistent install.    		Requires professional install.
    May take an outage window.
    Wireless clip-on condition monitoring (sensors on the outside of the asset)Continuous data.
    Fast install.
    No electrical work needed.    		Environmental and RF limits in industrial settings.
    Signal quality can degrade at scale.
    Easier to dislodge.
    Route-based vibration analysis (contracted or in-house)Strong for rotating equipment.
    Established methodology.    		Mechanical bias.
    Electrical faults can slip past.
    Interval-driven, not continuous.
    Infrared / thermography routes (annual or semi-annual, usually contracted)Directly referenced by NFPA 70B as part of required preventive maintenance testing.
    Good for finding hot connections.    		Snapshot in time.
    Misses anything that shows up between scans.
    Time-based preventive maintenance (CMMS-driven, interval-based)Structure, documentation, paper trail.
    Universal baseline.    		No condition data.
    You’re maintaining on the calendar rather than on reality.
    May mean inspecting equipment that would have been fine.

    A CMMS or equivalent scheduling tool sits underneath all of them. Without one, you can collect all the data in the world and still fail an audit because the required actions never got closed out, or you at least can’t prove it.

    Where we fit

    Watt Window gives you wired mechanical and electrical monitoring, alongside greater production energy use resolution.

    We offer you continuous monitoring with reliable dataflow, confident installation by licensed electricians, and the flexibility of feeding our data into the CMMS you already use.

    We think that combination gives you the best mix of benefits and holds up under a 70B audit for facilities with meaningful motor loads. We can connect you with trusted installers if you’d like.

    Ours isn’t the only way. But even if something else makes more sense for you, be sure to implement something reliable.

    The real failure mode isn’t picking the wrong tool but having no program at all (or having one that only exists in a binder nobody touches).

    👉 Want to talk it through? Let’s do it!

  • [Guide] How to Reduce Machine Downtime: Strategies for SMBs

    [Guide] How to Reduce Machine Downtime: Strategies for SMBs

    Introduction: You don’t need to keep suffering from reactive downtime

    For small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMBs), every minute of downtime means lost revenue and missed delivery deadlines. While larger manufacturers may have redundancy and backup equipment, SMBs rely on keeping each machine up and running.

    The stakes are high:

    Poor maintenance strategies can reduce an asset’s overall productive capacity by 5% to 20%. [In total,] unplanned downtime is costing industries an estimated $50 billion each year.

    Source: Deloitte (2024)

    No wonder. Each hour of unplanned downtime can cost $25,000 – $500,000, depending on company size and output.

    But there’s good news too. With the right strategies, manufacturers can drastically cut machine downtime, driving greater efficiency, profitability, and customer satisfaction.

    Here, we offer you an overview of proven, actionable ways to reduce downtime and raise productivity, based on real-world case studies, data, and current good practices.

    Preventive Maintenance: Stopping Problems Before They Start

    A preventive maintenance (PM) program can help you ensure that machines are serviced on a regular schedule and before a breakdown can occur.

    You may already do that. If not, it’s definitely worth your while!

    The specific impact of preventative maintenance can vary: It depends on the condition and age of your machines, the challenges posed by your factory environment (e.g, dust) and manufacturing processes, and more. In other words, your results will be unique to you.

    But as one example of the impact that PM can achieve, consider that asset management company Brightly found a meaningful 12-18% cost reduction from PM programs, at a 400% return on investment (ROI). And zooming in from summary data to a specific company: A manufacturer in Alabama (USA) that used a digital CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) as the heart of a maintenance program saved $10,000/ month in line stoppages within their first year of their PM program.

    How to Get Started

    • Identify your most critical equipment.
    • Set up a maintenance calendar based on manufacturer specs and operational data.
    • Use a simple computerized system (CMMS) or even a spreadsheet to log completed maintenance.

    Predictive Maintenance: Leveraging Real-Time Data

    Predictive maintenance (PdM) goes one step further.

    It uses sensors and data analytics to predict failures before they happen, often using vibration analysis or temperature readings. PdM can help companies achieve significant savings ROI, via a variety of metrics.

    For example, on the high end, Georgia Pacific achieved a 30% reduction in unplanned downtime. More comprehensive research by PwC puts the average cost reduction impact closer to 12%. But cost reduction isn’t everything. Add in benefits related to uptime, reduced EHS risks, and longer asset life (as the same PwC study found), and it all still sums up to a whopping impact.

    But you need to watch out. Such powerful technology can (but need not) come at a price. Researchers from General Motors, for example, have warned that

    “developing the technology required for predictive maintenance can be an expensive undertaking, requiring many parts, months of data collection, and possibly years of engineering effort. It is critical to understand the expected return on investment for developing such a project.“

    Source: Annual Conference of the PHM Society (2021). Italics added

    Luckily, the researchers’ warning also contains a workable solution: What takes long and can get expensive is the development of PdM technology. If you can find existing solutions that are compatible with your incumbent systems and don’t cause unforeseen hidden costs, you can achieve predictive maintenance with a reasonable payback period for your investment.

    How to Get Started

    • Start with your most failure-prone machines or those that cause the most stress to recover, should you suffer from unplanned downtime (e.g., due to long parts lead time or particularly expensive repais).
    • Use affordable wired or wireless sensors, and a basic dashboard to track data.
    • Look for trends like rising vibrations or temperatures, and act before a breakdown.

    Operator Training and Autonomous Maintenance

    Did you know that human error is linked to roughly 40% of downtime events in manufacturing?

    As a result, you can achieve measurable impact from upskilling operators to recognize early warning signs and empowering them to perform basic maintenance (“autonomous maintenance”).

    Some of that benefit will result from better machine uptime and less reactive maintenance. But of course, you may also reduce OSHA incidents when machines don’t fail suddenly. Given that such an incident may set you back $40,000 or more in direct and indirect costs, that too can add up (not to mention the human impact of your team feeling confident and safe at all times).

    How to Implement

    • Train operators on daily inspection and cleaning steps.
    • Encourage reporting of abnormal sounds or vibrations immediately.
    • Use job aids or checklists on each machine.

    Managing Spare Parts & Inventory

    Having the right spare parts in stock is crucial to minimizing downtime. For example, a MaintainX survey of 1,100+ MRO professionals identified better spare parts management as the primary factor for 59% of companies that reduced their unplanned downtime in 2024.

    Rising part and shipping costs, a problem for 72% of respondents in the MaintainX study, makes smart MRO inventory management even more critical: As the price of spare parts goes up, you still want to hold the ones you truly need, but nothing more.

    How to Implement

    • Define your critical spare parts list and set minimum re-order levels.
    • Use labeled storage and digital or paper tracking.
    • Audit usage every 6-12 months.

    Digital Monitoring Systems

    Platforms like SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) or affordable cloud-based dashboards make real-time production and machine status visible to your whole team. Many plants already have SCADA systems. And those may already display machine statuses. So for many companies, it’s more a matter of integrating new solutions with existing ones, rather than starting from scratch.

    Done well, either solution lets you respond faster to issues and improve long-term decision making too. This integration takes proper care. Incorrectly-configured SCADA system connections to cloud solutions can create unsecured, exposed internet connections. But done right, you can make your insights more accessible, scalable, and flexible to use.

    In other words, these systems don’t cut costs or improve OEE on their own. But they make it easier for your team to understand and monitor everything that’s going on in your plant and reach insights that in turn do improve your performance.

    How to Start

    • Evaluate inexpensive monitoring systems compatible with your machines.
    • Pilot on one line or work center first.
    • Check for compatibility with your existing systems, to avoid “SaaS bloat” (i.e., a patchwork of many incompatible solutions).
    • Over time, build habits and eventually a culture in which your team uses data to prioritize future improvement efforts.

    Conclusion: You, too, can reduce machine downtime!

    Even small changes in your downtime strategy pay big dividends. By combining regular preventive maintenance, predictive analytics, skilled operators, well-managed spares, and digital monitoring, small and mid-sized manufacturers can build operational resilience and unlock greater productivity that’s on par with any major corporation.

    In other words: Combine solutions. Each can contribute its own strength to great OEE, more so than any “silver bullet” can ever hope to do on its own.