Predictive Maintenance - A Regional Topic?

Is "predictive maintenance" a global future topic or a regional phenomenon?
phenomenon. An analysis of the global search volume at least casts doubt on the use of the term.

Predictive Maintenance - A Global Issue?

Predictive maintenance is widely used as a buzzword, at least in German industry. But is this term also suitable for the international marketing of corresponding concepts?

Background - Why do I ask myself the question?

When I write a new article or prepare a topic, I like to look in advance at the search volume of different terms and questions that are relevant in this context. In addition to the relevance of individual key words, this seemingly simple analysis can reveal a lot. Not only trends but also regional differences are interesting here.

For the maintenance and service sector, I find one observation particularly exciting, which I would like to put up for discussion.

If you look at the global search volume for predictive maintenance, it seems that this term is primarily used in Germany.

Predictive Maintenance - What is it anyway?

In terms of forward-looking maintenance concepts, we like to talk about "predictive maintenance" or "condition monitoring" in German-speaking countries.

  • Predictive maintenance: Predictive maintenance with the help of forecast-based models
  • Condition monitoring: Condition monitoring of machines, plants or infrastructure

Many people probably use these terms in the assumption that they are dealing with global concepts. Predictive maintenance is also an important exhibition topic at the Hannover Messe.

Global search volume - A brief analysis

As already briefly explained at the beginning, an analysis of the search volume can be very informative from a marketing point of view. In particular, it can be used to check the topicality and use of individual terms. First of all, however, a note for all those who, like me, are not at home in the SEO world: Key word analyses always have a relatively high degree of imprecision and, depending on which tool you use, the differences in absolute numbers can be enormous. However, as we will see in a moment, the effects are so great that this is negligible in this case.

I started with the SEO tool Ahrefs. In the meantime, I have learned to really love this tool and, from my point of view, this and comparable tools are also incredibly useful beyond search engine optimisation. But that's another topic, which I will explain in detail again when the opportunity arises.

In the following chart, the estimated monthly search volume is shown in absolute figures:

Search volume Predictive Maintance
Predictive Maintenace - average monthly search volume
Search volume Condition Monitoring
Condition Monitoring - average monthly search volume

When looking at the average monthly search volume in absolute figures, the following becomes immediately apparent:

  • It is a niche topic
  • Primarily in Germany

It becomes even clearer when, instead of absolute figures, relative values are used, including the number of inhabitants. While the first statement is not really surprising, it is questionable why these terms are of active interest almost exclusively in Germany. Looking at these figures, I immediately asked myself the following two questions:

  1. Are these terms "false friends", i.e. a seemingly English-language term that does not even exist, like "mobile phone"?
  2. Are these issues only relevant in Germany and the rest of the world has not yet recognised the importance?

I was able to answer the first question relatively quickly. The English-language Wikipedia provides a relatively detailed definition of the terms. A brief literature search with the help of Google Scholar does not indicate this either. I searched for the oldest publications on each of the two terms.

  • Predictive Maintenance: SCOTT, D.; WESTCOTT, V. C. Predictive maintenance by ferrography. Wear, 1977, 44th Vol., No. 1, pp. 173-182.
  • Condition Monitoring: PENMAN, J., et al. Condition monitoring of electrical drives. In: IEE Proceedings B-Electric Power Applications. IET, 1986. PP. 142-148

Apparently, both are English-language publications by English-speaking authors. Therefore, the terms are also internationally recognised.

To answer the second question, it makes sense to take a look at the development over time with the help of Google Trends.

Predictive Maintence - Trendy Term?
Time course of search queries for the term "predictive maintenance

Apparently, a lot of marketing has been done for the term since 2014. It is also interesting that there are apparently also enormous regional differences between individual federal states.

Predictive Maintenance - Future Topic or Buzzword?

While "predictive maintenance" sounds like the future to German ears, it sounds rather dusty. Even if the underlying frequency or vibration analysis is a time-honoured procedure, this increases the innovative character. This trick is also encountered elsewhere, because many simple decision-making heuristics quickly become "artificial intelligence".

Looking at the figures, "predictive maintenance" is a German buzzword for future topics in the field of maintenance. However, the term is not suitable for an international marketing campaign due to its low prevalence. Communication should rather focus on the underlying concepts such as "digital twin" or "machine learning ", as these are also considered future topics in the English-speaking world.

Related articles