An Introduction to Predictive Maintenance

The second edition of R. Keith Mobley's An Introduction to Predictive Maintenance is a welcome addition to the numerous books available on the subject. Mobley has taken his first edition, published in 1990, and thoroughly updated and expanded it. The current volume includes six new chapters.

Although the book includes discussions of all the latest technologies, it's not a technical book so much as a management book. Mobley's purpose is to help maintenance managers develop and implement a comprehensive maintenance management program by providing proven strategies for regularly monitoring critical process equipment and systems, predicting machine failures, and scheduling maintenance accordingly. Chapters walk the reader through specific strategies, from the technology to the methodology, costs, and financial implications.

Contents include chapters on the role of the maintenance organization, its impact, and financial implications. Then Mobley provides thorough discussions on the various technologies and techniques, among them: vibration monitoring and analysis, thermography, tribology, process parameters, visual inspections, operating dynamics analysis, and failure-mode analysis. Finally, he discusses how to establish organizational programs to manage predictive maintenance.

Mobley has written several books on individual predictive technologies and is a leading consultant on industrial maintenance practices. His latest book will satisfy anyone who wants to understand and begin implementation of predictive maintenance.

An Introduction to Predictive Maintenance, Second Edition by R. Keith Mobley. Butterworth Heinemann, an imprint of Elsevier Science. ISBN 0-7506-7531-4. www.bh.com.