Investigation into the Benefits of Using a Predictive Maintenance System - A study of KUKA Nordic´s customers experiences

Abstract

This thesis investigates the benefits of using a predictive maintenance system (PdM), focusing on KUKA Nordic’s customers. The study includes a systematic literature review, which discovered the key components of a PdM architecture, together with benefits such as environmental and financial improvements, and challenges including cybersecurity and knowledge-gap within the maintenance departments. The thesis also includes a qualitative study including a questionnaire and interviews with KUKA Nordic’s customers. It identified key barriers to implement PdM, such as data management and no use for the collected data. The qualitative study also discovered the importance of KUKA robots in customers´ production and evaluated the current conditions for using KUKA´s PdM tool in their iiQoT platform. The thesis main findings includes the discovery that mature equipment as industrial robots might not benefit as much from using PdM and emphasizing the need for more information and education about it. Suggesting further research to explore the benefits of PdM on different types of equipment and different company sizes. It highlighted the importance of addressing data management and -security concerns, overcoming implementation resistance, and considering sustainability impacts in maintenance strategies.