With the manufacturing industry being a common news topic, the importance of having reliability jobs and predictive maintenance jobs has come to the foreground of discussions. In the article “Oil’s Well that Starts Well,” Glen Sharkowicz discusses the importance of maximizing productivity and keeping machinery running efficiently in today’s economy. Glen works for Mobil Industrial Lubricants, and believes that in order for companies to turn a profit, they must partake in routine maintenance/checks of their machinery. Glen also states the importance of implementing a proactive maintenance strategy, instead of a reactive maintenance strategy.

The philosophy behind Glen’s statements is completely valid. Spending money on a proactive maintenance strategy shouldn’t be viewed as a cost, but rather as a strategic investment. It is better to spend a little money up front, so that more money won’t be lost down the line if something goes wrong. Bringing in reliability and predictive maintenance experts may seem like an immediate and not necessary cost, but in the long-run it may save you a lot of money; especially for large companies that have a great deal of machinery to maintain. Reliability engineers and routine predictive maintenance will help prevent unforeseen machine troubles. Predictive maintenance can help extend the life of current machinery and identify early warning signs of trouble.