Industrial electric motors are the beating heart of modern society, with over 300 million of them in operation worldwide and consuming a staggering 45% of the planet’s total electricity, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Yet, far too often, these critical assets are subject to outdated maintenance practices that expose businesses to unnecessary risks. In an era where margins are tight, markets are competitive, and environmental responsibility is mandatory, it’s time to rethink how organisations care for the equipment that powers modern life. Outcome-based maintenance is the golden ticket to reliable, energy-efficient operations — a smart, forward-thinking approach that every organisation should embrace.
Moving beyond reactive maintenance
One of the biggest challenges that organisations face in asset performance is that many still rely on ineffective maintenance strategies like run-to-fail or time-based approaches. According to a survey commissioned by ABB, 21% of businesses still use “run-to-fail” maintenance, where no servicing is done until equipment breaks down. The risks of this approach are clear.
Unplanned outages cost businesses dearly, as much as $1 million for an eight-hour disruption. Even then, 80% of companies relying on this strategy report failures at least once a month. While time-based maintenance is a slight step forward, it comes with its own downsides; replacing parts on a timer without evaluating their functionality leads to unnecessary costs, both financial and environmental.
Outcome-based maintenance offers a modern alternative, focusing on aligning a maintenance strategy with business goals, whether it be improved uptime or energy efficiency. Rather than focusing on the number of spare parts replaced or tasks completed, the focus shifts to outcomes like maximised uptime, energy efficiency, and reduced costs. It’s a results-driven strategy that prioritises what truly matters to each individual organisation.
For organisations that lack the internal time or expertise to optimise their maintenance practices, partnering with a service provider can make a world of difference. By working with a specialist to ensure that equipment meets performance targets, a business is able to maximise uptime and reduce operational costs, thereby boosting efficiency.
Ruchira Papers is an Indian manufacturer of paper made from agricultural waste. Before they moved to a tailored, preventive maintenance agreement for their variable speed drives, they were dealing with several unplanned outages a year, which put a huge drain on resources. With ABB Motion Services, Ruchira Papers were able to boost their uptime by nearly 13%, a big win for the business’s productivity. This kind of tailored approach achieves more than operational efficiency; it frees up businesses to focus on their priorities without worrying about unexpected crises.
Maximising performance, minimising carbon footprint
The connection between reliable equipment and sustainability is often overlooked. Reliable machinery runs more efficiently and therefore consumes less energy; this becomes especially important when that energy is sourced from non-renewable sources.
Enefit Green is the largest wind energy producer in the Baltics, sought to maintain peak performance across 24 wind turbines, which account for nearly a quarter of Estonia’s wind energy production. By partnering with ABB Motion Services, Enefit Green implemented reconditioning and maintenance approaches that not only improved the reliability of their turbines but also reduced CO2 emissions by 80%.
Enefit Green also welcomed various lifecycle extension solutions, a sustainable practice that focuses on extracting maximum value from existing assets rather than replacing equipment on a pre-defined timeline. Traditional time-based approaches often lead to unnecessary waste because parts that are fully functional get replaced simply because “it’s time”. On the other hand, outcome-based strategies identify and address issues only when and where they arise. For Enefit Green, for example, choosing a more circular maintenance strategy meant that they could avoid costs by only replacing the equipment that needed to be replaced.
Addressing the Universal Challenge
ABB Motion Services works with a wide range of customers across many industries, from oil and gas to mining to pulp and paper. Poor maintenance practices are widespread, but some sectors feel their impact more acutely.
Consider the food and beverage industry, where the high stakes of adhering to strict hygiene standards and processing perishable goods amplify the consequences of downtime. According to ABB calculations, downtime in this industry can cost between $4,000 and $30,000 per hour, and a single incident can result in up to 12 hours of production loss if cleanup operations are involved. These interruptions not only lead to huge financial losses but can also impact compliance with health and safety standards, potentially causing serious reputational damage to the manufacturer.
A call to action
Far too often, maintenance strategies are overlooked, neglected, or stuck in outdated approaches that no longer serve the demands of today’s industrial landscape. The good news is that smarter, outcome-focused approaches can make a real difference, without the need to wait for a crisis to take action. Outcome-based maintenance forges a path towards stronger, data-driven operations, allowing businesses to accomplish their goals, whatever they may be.
Oswald Deuchar, Global Head of Modernization Services at ABB Motion Services
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