UK manufacturers are losing up to £736 million a week to unplanned downtime, according to a Fluke Corporation survey reported in January 2026. That figure puts condition based monitoring in a practical context: the aim is not necessarily to collect more data about your assets – although this is often helpful – but to see deterioration early enough to act. In this article, we explain how the approach works in real maintenance environments today for busy maintenance teams.
What Is Condition Based Monitoring?
Condition based monitoring is a maintenance method that uses signs of asset condition to decide when investigation or intervention is needed. It differs from fixed-interval servicing because the decision is based on what the equipment is showing, not only the calendar. The monitored signs depend on the asset; e.g. engineers may track vibration, temperature, electrical readings, lubrication condition, pressure, flow, load or duty cycle. The aim is to notice when the equipment moves away from its expected operating parameters.
This is a different mindset from time-based servicing, where a component is inspected or replaced after a fixed number of hours or months regardless of its actual condition. Fixed-interval servicing can mean healthy parts are replaced too early, wasting spend, while other assets deteriorate faster than the schedule assumes and fail between visits. Condition based monitoring closes that gap by letting the equipment’s own behaviour set the pace of intervention.
How Do Engineers Decide What To Monitor?
The first step is asset selection. Condition based monitoring is most effective when a reading will lead to a decision. There is limited value in measuring equipment if no one can inspect it, repair it, adjust the process or plan an intervention when the reading changes. Engineers usually begin with assets that carry heavy operational consequence, such as pumps, motors, drives, fans, gearboxes or other equipment whose failure would interrupt production schedules or affect connected machinery. Once the asset is selected, the monitoring method must match the way that asset tends to deteriorate.
This matters just as much for assets that are difficult or hazardous to reach in person. Equipment in confined spaces, at height, or in remote locations such as offshore wind or hydro sites benefits from remote telemetry, where condition data is gathered continuously and reviewed off-site. This removes the need for a physical visit simply to check whether a reading has changed, and means a developing fault can be flagged long before the next scheduled inspection would otherwise catch it.
Why Comparison Gives The Data Meaning
A reading only becomes informative when it has context. The same vibration level may be normal for one machine and concerning for another. Temperature can vary depending on load, environment and duty. Electrical readings also need to be judged against the motor, supply and operating conditions.
This is why condition based monitoring depends on comparison. Engineers look at how the asset normally behaves, then assess whether the latest readings show a meaningful change. The data starts the investigation and engineering judgement decides the response. A cloud-based asset management platform makes this easier in practice, since it allows vibration, thermal, oil and inspection data to sit in one place rather than several separate systems, so a trend across multiple readings is easier to spot than it would be from isolated reports.
The Main Condition Based Monitoring Techniques
Several techniques are commonly used:
Vibration analysis examines movement in rotating equipment and can help identify imbalance, looseness or mechanical wear.
Thermal imaging shows heat patterns across electrical and mechanical components, often revealing poor connections, overheating or insulation issues before they cause a failure.
Oil analysis can reveal contamination, lubricant breakdown or signs of internal wear. This is a significant technique in its own right: poor lubrication is estimated to account for up to 50% of all low voltage motor failures, making it one of the most preventable causes of unplanned downtime.
Insulation resistance testing helps assess whether electrical insulation remains suitable for service.
Motion amplification is a newer visual technique that uses video processing to turn every pixel in a camera’s view into a measurement point, making subtle movement, looseness or misalignment visible across a whole assembly rather than relying on a single fixed sensor location.
Each method provides a different view of the asset. None should be treated as a universal answer, which is why a condition based monitoring programme usually combines several techniques depending on the asset and how it fails.
How The Findings Lead To Action
The final stage is response. A change in condition may lead to closer observation, a planned inspection, component replacement, repair work or further diagnostic testing. The action should reflect the severity of the change and the importance of the asset. Condition based monitoring works best when it is tied to a maintenance process, not treated as a data-gathering exercise. Its value lies in helping your teams act at the right point.
This is also where a documented history becomes valuable in its own right. Once an intervention has taken place, comparing new readings against the pre-repair condition confirms whether the underlying issue has actually been resolved. If the same pattern returns, the investigation can continue immediately rather than waiting for the fault to escalate again, which is what tends to happen under a purely reactive approach.
Find Out More
Our specialists can help identify the right monitoring techniques and build them into a practical maintenance process for your facility, from basic visual inspections through to fully data-driven, sensor-based monitoring. Please get in touch to find out more.
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