Make Sure Your Preventive Maintenance Solution Includes Text Analytics

These days, there’s pretty much a trade show for everything — and predictive analytics is no exception. The most recent stateside edition of Predictive Analytics World™ took place in Chicago in June of this year. And predictive maintenance occupied a prominent place on the agenda. One presentation concerned failure and fault detection for Rolls Royce.

There was a time when predictive maintenance encompassed only the analysis of structured data. In 2013, a blogger on the data science website Simafore suggested four ways predictive analytics could improve equipment maintenance: trend analysis, pattern recognition, critical range and limits, and statistical process analysis. Conspicuously absent in the discussion of the tools, techniques, and data types that supported predictive analytics was unstructured information and text analytics.

But a lot has changed in four years.

Text Analytics Improves the Accuracy of Preventive Maintenance

The world’s leading producer of large and small jet engines for commercial and military employs the text analytics and natural language processing capabilities of the Attivio Platform to aggregate and correlate information on jet engines so they can more efficiently manage maintenance and safety.

Before every flight, a service technician visually inspects the aircraft’s engine and makes notes on an iPad. The notes catalog any anomalies including obvious damage, the presence of rust and cracks, potential leaks, even out-of-place odors.

When these text-based notes are entered into the system, Attivio’s text analytics identifies key phrases, such as date, time, and specific issues that could lead to engine failure. This information is aggregated with structured information from the company’s maintenance database that stores engine sensor and service status data, as well as quality metrics.

Over time, this creates a rich and complete picture of the jet engine and reveals patterns that correlate with problems and preventive maintenance procedures. The root causes of engine failure are detected earlier; engines are safer while maintenance costs are less.

To learn more about how text analytics contribute to Attivio’s Cognitive Search and Insight Platform, download our 5-Minute Guide.