Condition-based maintenance: innovation in building maintenance management

Maintenance is a continuous process implemented by Facilities Management (FM) providers as one their core competences to effectively manage and maintain critical assets throughout the whole life of a building and prevent downtime of essential systems. Maintenance actions are usually categorised into two main streams: corrective (CM) and precautionary (PM). In CM equipment is repaired after a failure occurs (i.e. reactively). In contrast, PM is applied based on a fixed-time or age-schedule (i.e. preventive). However, a subdivision of PM that is widely discussed in literature, yet rarely implemented in practice within FM, is Condition-based Maintenance (CBM), which enables maintenance to be applied predictively. CBM exploits the operating condition of equipment to predict a failure occurrence, thus preventing any unexpected downtime and reducing maintenance cost by avoiding unnecessary preventive actions. The underlining theory of CBM is based on the belief that 99 per cent of equipment will evidence some sort of indicators prior to failure. Therefore, it is possible to identify the fault, determine the cause and establish the severity and longevity of the equipment’s optimum life through monitoring and evaluating data collected through various techniques. Nevertheless, although the theoretical foundations of CBM are relevant to building maintenance management, such data and technology-focused strategies are seldom considered to be a viable and feasible option within the FM strategy. Therefore, this thesis details a mixedmethods, action research project undertaken within this industry sector, which has been significantly suppressed of innovative contributions. The study investigates the viability, practicality and impact of implementing an innovative CBM focused maintenance framework that is inclusive of real-time vibration analysis and enhanced with statistical data analysis. The CBM framework is demonstrated to be economically viable, technically feasible and complimentary to the inadequacies of the existing time-based regime. The framework adds value to the buildings maintenance management objectives