Figure 97.7 shows an intelligent maintenance system with its key elements. The core-enabling element of
an intelligent maintenance system is the smart computational agent that can predict the degradation or performance
loss (Watchdog Agent™), not the traditional diagnostics of failure or faults. A complete understanding
and interpretation of states of degradation is necessary to accurately predict and prevent failure of a
component or a machine once it has been identified as a critical element to the overall production system.
The degradation is assessed through the performance assessment methods explained in the previous sections.