MaintainX, the leading maintenance and asset management platform, today released its second annual State of Industrial Maintenance report, revealing how teams are leveraging AI and shifting strategies to tackle the ongoing talent shortage and surging repair costs.
Based on insights from 1,320 maintenance professionals across the US and Canada, the report reveals that industrial maintenance is undergoing a major transformation.
“Industrial maintenance is shifting from reactive troubleshooting to strategic future-proofing,” said Chris Turlica, CEO and co-founder, MaintainX.
“While facilities are making impressive progress reducing downtime incidents, they’re simultaneously battling increased costs and expertise gaps.”
AI is rapidly gaining traction as a core component of industrial maintenance programs. The report reveals that 65% of organizations expect to implement AI-powered maintenance solutions by 2026. Currently, 44% have either adopted or are piloting AI technologies, with another 21% evaluating options or planning implementation in the next 12 months.
Notably, companies experiencing more downtime than expected are more than twice as likely to fully implement AI across multiple maintenance processes (40%) than those with less downtime (18%).
“It’s telling that companies experiencing higher-than-expected downtime are twice as likely to fully implement AI across their maintenance processes. Organizations are recognizing that AI doesn’t just reduce breakdowns—it preserves critical knowledge as experienced workers retire, which addresses the industry’s most pressing challenge,” said Turlica.
