Predictive maintenance issues and solutions for SMEs – a case study solving a joinery

Many SMEs are characterised by working with older machines that are not Industry 4.0 compliant and that try to meet the qualitative and quantitative standards that the market expects. The machine maintenance strategy and its implementation significantly impact the company's profitability. The research aims to define maintenance and adjustment processes that are difficult to predict and determine their execution times. In the framework of a case study, we analysed maintenance and adjustment processes in an SME that have a high impact on production quality, but the prediction of which is not solved. During the research, we created a mobile application-based microservice suitable for predicting the due dates of these maintenance tasks using historical data. Based on interviews with employees, they became more confident, motivated and engaged. Overall, it can be said that mobile application-based microservices are an effective tool for improve the production quality of SMEs and extend the production life of less advanced machines. In addition, the reduction in the number of complaints led to cost savings and more predictable production. We also found that the application can be easily adapted to other machines, thus further increasing the digital maturity of the SME.