Predictive maintenance is a relevant issue for the vast majority of manufacturers in the German-speaking region, as shown by a BearingPoint study published in early 2018. However, only about 25% of the companies surveyed had already implemented their first PM projects. A good three quarters collect relevant data with sensors, more than half evaluate it in a targeted manner, but only around 20% have comprehensively optimized maintenance on this basis. The numbers of a more recent PAC study on the subject are also sobering. According to it, 93% of European manufacturers and transport companies do not consider the maintenance processes of their industrial plants and vehicles to be particularly efficient.

Companies see the greatest benefit of predictive maintenance in increased system availability. One of the biggest problems is that most systems are existing systems that need to be equipped with the right sensors first. New solutions, such as the sensor developed and already patented by the Institute for Sensor and Actuarial Technology (ISAT) at the University of Coburg as part of the "Non-invasive Microacoustic Online Sensor for Biofilm Detection" project ( BioNiva ). It is an easy-to-install retrofit which can be externally clamped onto water pipes, ducts, hoses or containers and monitors the build-up of the layer inside in real-time by means of an acoustic measurement process using ultrasound. The system will be presented at the end of June in Nuremberg .