Everything You Need to Know About Maintenance Automation

Key Takeaways:

• Maintenance automation uses technology to streamline tasks, reduce downtime, and improve safety.
• High implementation costs are the top barrier to technology adoption for 34% of organizations, but starting with a CMMS offers a low-risk entry point.
• One oil & gas company saved an estimated $10 million by using predictive alerts to avoid just one failure.

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Maintenance automation is becoming a strategic priority for organizations that depend on the reliability and performance of their assets.

As technology evolves and the pressure to improve efficiency grows, maintenance professionals are turning to automation to reduce manual tasks, limit downtime, and gain better control over operations.

If you are wondering why you should automate maintenance, read on as we reveal what maintenance automation involves, why it matters, and how to get started.

What is Maintenance Automation?

Maintenance automation refers to the use of technology to streamline, manage, and in some cases perform maintenance tasks with minimal human intervention.

It ranges from basic tools that automate work orders to advanced systems powered by sensors, artificial intelligence, and robotics.

A foundational technology in this space is a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS), which centralizes all asset data, digitizes work orders, and schedules preventive maintenance.

Next, the Internet of Things (IoT) plays a key role in automation when combined with a CMMS or other analytics platforms.

Sensors attached to equipment can monitor conditions in real time, such as temperature, vibration, or fluid levels, and trigger alerts when values fall outside acceptable ranges.

This enables condition-based maintenance, where servicing is performed only when needed, rather than on a fixed schedule.

However, advanced CMMS platforms support both time-based and condition-based preventive maintenance, as shown in the example below:

As data volumes grow, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are increasingly used to analyze historical and real-time equipment data.

These technologies support predictive maintenance, which forecasts equipment failures in advance.

In some industries, automation extends even further.

For example, robotics is being deployed to perform tasks in environments that are hazardous or difficult for humans to reach.

One example is the ExR-1 robot, designed to carry out safety inspections in unmanned or remote installations in the oil, gas, and chemical sectors.

Maintenance automation supported by these technologies reflects a broader shift toward data-driven, efficient, and safe operations.

This transformation is followed by strong market growth.

The global market for maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) automation solutions is projected to grow by USD 60.91 billion between 2024 and 2029, at a compound annual growth rate of 9.8%.

Industries such as energy, manufacturing, construction, and e-commerce are leading this shift, driven by the need for greater equipment reliability and cost control.

Given the range of benefits maintenance automation offers, such strong market growth is hardly surprising.

Why You Should Automate Maintenance

Organizations that embrace maintenance automation are seeing measurable improvements in productivity, uptime, cost control, and workplace safety.

Let’s take a closer look at these benefits.

Increased Operational Efficiency

Manual maintenance processes tend to slow teams down.

Technicians spend time retrieving paperwork, traveling back and forth between job sites and offices, or updating records at the end of the day.

These routine delays add up, and Danielle Rivers, Director of Business Services at Camden Property Trust, has seen it firsthand:

“Back when we were using paper service request forms, our techs were losing 15 minutes just going to the office to get what they needed to get jobs started.

They had to print the request forms and collect the keys necessary to get into those units. (…)

Then it was back to the office again to print more request forms and gather more keys.”

Maintenance automation streamlines these steps with mobile-first digital tools.

Work order management platforms, mobile CMMS, and digital checklists provide technicians with real-time access to everything they need, directly from their phone or tablet.

Tasks, locations, asset histories, and instructions are delivered instantly, so work can start and finish faster.

Rivers sums it up:

Through this automation, Camden Property Trust doubled the work that’s getting completed.

Efficiency also improves at the planning level.

Predictive maintenance, a key part of automation, uses real-time data to anticipate issues, which simplifies scheduling and planning.

According to Deloitte, predictive systems can reduce maintenance planning time by up to 50%.

Instead of reacting to failures, teams can plan work earlier, avoid conflicts, and keep operations efficient.

Importantly, this approach also improves uptime by as much as 20%, according to the same report, which leads directly to the next major benefit.

Reduced Equipment Downtime

When equipment goes down unexpectedly, work slows down or stops entirely.

Downtime drains productivity, disrupts schedules, and can cause ripple effects across production lines.

Maintenance automation prevents many of these disruptions before they happen.

Predictive systems continuously monitor equipment health and send alerts at the early signs of failure.

At Yaskawa America, a robotics manufacturer, this kind of monitoring is a core part of their strategy, says Tom Stocker, Director of North American Sales:

But the impact goes beyond the machines themselves.

Downtime affects people, too.

Adam Coulston, former Automation Department Manager at ARMO Tool, a precision tooling and automation provider, noted the internal strain it causes:

“When employees are constantly being pulled from elsewhere to ‘fight fires,’ that erodes the innovation mindset and motivation.”

There’s also the risk of “line starvation.”

When one part of the production line is down, later stages can still operate, but only for a while.

Once backup inventory runs out, the entire process stalls.

Restarting everything takes time, even after the issue is fixed, especially if documentation, parts, or approvals are missing—another gap that automation can close.

Digital systems centralize manuals, parts inventories, and service histories, helping teams resolve issues faster and avoid unnecessary delays.

Additionally, the financial impact of downtime is often massive.

According to Siemens’ True Cost of Downtime report, one hour of downtime at a large automotive plant can cost up to $2.3 million.

Avoiding these disruptions is one of the most immediate ways maintenance automation delivers value—by helping teams detect problems early, respond quickly, and keep critical equipment running.

Cost Savings

Maintenance automation reduces costs in several key ways.

First, it reduces asset downtime and helps avoid expensive emergency repairs.

When equipment issues are detected early, teams can intervene before the problem escalates, reducing the need for urgent service calls, overtime labor, or last-minute part replacements.

Consider the case of one oil and gas supermajor that used SparkCognition’s Industrial AI Suite to evaluate maintenance automation across its offshore platforms.

The solution analyzed historical data from a separator system prone to failure and built AI models that predicted 75% of historical failures, on average, nine days before they would have occurred.

Following these results, the system was scaled across multiple platforms.

Predictive alerts, combined with 10-minute diagnostics and remote monitoring, helped prevent costly disruptions.

One of them was a faulty temperature sensor on a critical export compressor.

Thanks to early detection, they scheduled maintenance in time, avoiding up to two days of asset staging and an estimated $10 million in deferred production losses.

According to the company’s internal projections, full deployment of this solution could save up to $800 million annually across their fleet.

These kinds of results show how maintenance automation helps avoid costly breakdowns, but savings don’t end there.

Automation also promotes energy efficiency.

Well-maintained machines run more smoothly and use less power, which lowers utility costs and reduces environmental impact. Over time, these small efficiency gains add up.

Additionally, automation systems improve inventory management.

Instead of stockpiling parts “just in case,” organizations can track usage trends and condition data to order only what’s needed, when it’s needed.

A CMMS like WorkTrek, allows you to assign spare parts to work orders. Once tasks are completed, the system automatically deducts the used parts from the inventory.

You can set thresholds, and when inventory levels fall below those limits, the system sends a notification so parts can be reordered in time.

This reduces carrying costs while ensuring that critical components are readily available when needed.

All in all, by preventing breakdowns, optimizing maintenance schedules, and eliminating wasteful spending, maintenance automation offers a direct path to substantial long-term savings.

Improved Safety

Maintenance automation improves workplace safety.

Predictive systems detect warning signs before equipment fails, reducing the risk of sudden breakdowns that could endanger personnel.

When issues are identified early, maintenance can be scheduled and performed under safer, controlled conditions.

Moreover, robotics and remote monitoring technologies allow inspections in hazardous or hard-to-reach areas to be carried out without exposing workers to risk.

For example, the previously mentioned ExR-1 robot can perform inspections in explosive environments (either autonomously or via remote control over a 4G/5G connection), thereby reducing the need for human presence in hazardous zones.

IoT-based monitoring also enhances site safety.

Combined with prediction systems and machine learning, this technology can predict ground vibration levels during surface mine blasting operations, enabling crews to work at a safer distance and reducing the risk of accidents.

Even standard automation tools like a CMMS contribute.

Technicians can instantly access safety protocols, handling instructions and hazard information at the point of need, eliminating guesswork, and helping them work more safely and efficiently.

Taken together, these technologies reduce risk exposure, prevent accidents, and support a safer working environment.

Maintenance Automation Challenges

While maintenance automation delivers clear benefits, implementing it is not without obstacles.

Like any technological shift, it requires investment, planning, and cultural alignment.

The following challenges are among the most common that organizations face when moving toward automated maintenance.

Implementation Cost

Automating maintenance can be expensive, particularly at the outset.

It often requires a combination of hardware, software, connectivity upgrades, and workforce training.

Key costs may include:

• Hardware, such as IoT sensors, gateways, and edge devices, is used to collect and transmit machine data.
• Software platforms for condition monitoring, predictive analytics, or asset performance management.
• Integration with existing systems, especially if legacy equipment is involved.
• Training for maintenance teams, IT staff, and system users.

However, getting started doesn’t always require a massive budget.

For many organizations, a CMMS offers a cost-effective entry point.

These platforms offer flexible pricing models, such as subscription-based plans, per-user licensing, or feature-based tiers, which allow companies to scale according to their needs and resources.

A modern CMMS can deliver immediate value by digitizing work orders, centralizing asset data, and creating the foundation for more advanced automation later.

Still, cost remains a concern for many.

According to the State of Facilities Management Report 2025 by SFG20, 34% of organizations identify high implementation costs as the top barrier to adopting new technologies.

Without a clear ROI or phased strategy, many companies hesitate to make the initial investment, even when the long-term savings are evident.

Data Security Risk

The introduction of networked sensors and cloud-based systems increases an organization’s digital footprint, and with it, vulnerability to cyber threats.

As systems become more interconnected, attackers gain more entry points.

Zscaler’s 2023 ThreatLabz report found a 400% increase in malware targeting IoT devices over the year before, with the manufacturing sector accounting for 54.4% of those attacks.

But IoT isn’t the only area at risk.

In April 2023, software provider Brightly confirmed that attackers had breached its widely used SchoolDude platform, stealing data from nearly three million accounts.

This cloud-based maintenance system was popular among schools and universities for submitting and tracking work orders.

The breach exposed usernames, email addresses, and unencrypted passwords, underscoring how even widely adopted maintenance software can become a cybersecurity liability when not properly secured.

These risks underline the importance of secure system architecture, regular software updates, strong authentication practices, and staff awareness training.

Automation can enhance performance, but without adequate cybersecurity measures, it may also introduce new operational risks.

Integration with Legacy Systems

Many industrial facilities still rely on older machines and systems that were never designed with automation or connectivity in mind.

These legacy assets often lack built-in sensors or digital interfaces, making integration with modern tools complex and, in some cases, prohibitively expensive.

Retrofitting such equipment can require:

• Custom hardware adaptations, such as sensor installations or PLC upgrades
• Middleware or software bridges to enable communication between old and new systems
• Specialist expertise to ensure safe and effective implementation

Even with these solutions, some machines may remain incompatible.

As a result, organizations must decide whether to partially digitize their operations, replace outdated assets, or delay automation altogether—each option comes with its own set of costs and complexities.

The report by SFG20 also revealed that 19% of organizations identify integration with existing systems as their primary challenge to adopting new technologies.

Additionally, 31% of respondents still manage their asset registers in spreadsheets, highlighting a continued reliance on manual or outdated tools that don’t support automation.

Disconnected systems reduce the effectiveness of automation.

If machines and platforms can’t communicate, organizations can’t obtain a comprehensive view of asset health, maintenance needs, or performance trends.

Employee Resistance

Even when the right systems are in place, automation efforts can stall due to human resistance.

For many employees, automation raises concerns about job security, unfamiliar workflows, or added complexity.

These perceptions—whether accurate or not—can slow adoption or lead to disengagement.

The SFG20 report found that 17% of companies encounter employee resistance as a barrier to implementing new technologies.

Concerns are particularly pronounced in hands-on roles where workers may feel technology is replacing, rather than supporting, their expertise.

According to polling data from WillRobotsTakeMyJob.com, 37% of maintenance technicians believe that maintenance machinery roles could be fully automated within the next two decades.

While full automation is unlikely in the near term, this kind of projection feeds anxiety and highlights the need for clear communication and inclusive change management.

Successful organizations counter this resistance by:

• Involving frontline staff early in the process
• Demonstrating how automation enhances their work
• Investing in upskilling and training to give employees new capabilities

Ultimately, maintenance automation is most effective when it empowers teams, not when it’s perceived as a replacement.

How to Automate Your Maintenance

Automating maintenance does not require a complete system overhaul from the outset.

A practical and sustainable approach is to begin with digitization, focusing first on areas where manual processes are most time-consuming and prone to error.

For example, you might start by automating:

• Preventive maintenance scheduling
• Routine work order creation
• Task management
• Inventory tracking

These are often the areas where inefficiencies are most visible, and where even small improvements can deliver immediate results.

All of these tasks can be automated using a CMMS like WorkTrek.

Whether you choose a cloud-based or on-premise deployment, WorkTrek provides a solid digital foundation to centralize asset data, schedule preventive maintenance, manage work orders, and track spare parts.

All in one platform.

This eliminates paper-based workflows and improves visibility without causing major disruption.

According to a 2024 report from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 62% of organizations now use a CMMS to manage their maintenance operations.

Once this foundation is in place, you can gradually expand automation by adding IoT sensors or condition monitoring tools.

These enable real-time data collection, allowing maintenance to be triggered based on actual asset conditions rather than fixed schedules.

As your system matures, predictive analytics and AI models help detect early signs of failure and support more effective intervention planning.

Employee involvement remains critical throughout implementation.

Providing hands-on training, gathering feedback, and clearly communicating automation’s benefits help ease adoption and reduce resistance.

Maintenance teams are far more likely to embrace new tools when they understand that automation supports—not replaces—their expertise.

With the right platform and a phased approach, you can automate maintenance efficiently and realistically, no matter where you start.

Conclusion

Maintenance is no exception to the growing wave of digitization and automation across industries.

Organizations that embrace it gain a clear advantage, from streamlining routine tasks to predicting failures and improving safety.

As with any digital transformation, the key is to start smart, build momentum, and bring your people along for the journey.

Whether you’re digitizing work orders or deploying AI-driven diagnostics, every step toward automation strengthens your operations and your bottom line.

The tools are ready, and their benefits have been proven.

Now is the time to take the first step.