Long before portable sensors and real-time dashboards became available, vibration analysis was a gritty, hands-on, and deeply specialized job. PCA’s own Stan Moore has witnessed the maturing of vibration analysis technology firsthand.  

Stan Moore, PCA Senior Maintenance and Reliability Consultant, brings over four decades of hands-on experience across sectors like petrochemical, aerospace, and pharmaceutical manufacturing. He is a Certified Maintenance & Reliability Professional and a longtime SMRP leader.  

Stan had the rare opportunity to start his career working on some of the largest and most complex machinery in the country, including a 32-foot diameter axial flow compressor so massive he could literally walk through its first three stages.  

That compressor, part of a massive wind tunnel at a U.S. Air Force base, wasn’t just big. It represented the scale and complexity of equipment that defined early predictive maintenance efforts. 

“Back then, we only monitored the most critical assets and components. Vibration analysis was considered a tool for the elite few in aerospace and high-stakes defense projects,” said Moore. But as the technology evolved, so did its accessibility and impact. 

From Reactive to Proactive 

In those early days, 80% of Moore’s time was spent moving around desktop-sized spectrum analyzers and X-Y plotters to obtain vibration data from permanently mounted proximity probes. This was before the advent of portable data collectors.  The remaining 20% was spent during actual analysis. Today, the technologies have greatly improved data capture and analysis efficiencies.  

More importantly, vibration analysis has gone from a reactive mindset to one driven by actionable intelligence. A compact sensor can pull real-time vibration data and feed it directly into analysis tools that spot developing issues earlier in the failure cycle (think P-F curve). Technicians can now detect the deterioration of an asset quicker, allowing more time for effective planning while minimizing the potential for collateral damage.  That’s a massive leap forward. 

The Accessibility Revolution in Condition Monitoring 

Back in the day, installing permanent transducers was a major commitment. The sensor itself may have been affordable, but the cost of installing and wiring it into a system was often prohibitive. That made vibration analysis a luxury reserved for the most mission-critical assets or the biggest safety risks. 

But now? Technicians are walking around with black-box devices that can collect and analyze data in real time.  

Small pumps and motors that used to run to failure are now monitored in a similar fashion to the larger more critical machines. “This balance-of-plant equipment can now be cost-effectively monitored, allowing problems to be detected prior to their functional failure.  Even these balance-of-plant assets, when they fail, can negatively impact production,” said Moore.  

Tech Is a Tool, not a Solution 

Still, there’s a caveat: Just because you have the tech in your toolbox doesn’t mean the job is done. Technology is an enabler, albeit an essential one. According to Moore, “We need people who can interpret the data. The tech performing the analysis has to understand what a peak at a certain frequency means. That takes training and experience.”  

“Early in my career, I had the privilege of working with innovators from Texas A&M and the Vibration Institute,” said Moore. “These were the pioneers who took raw math and made it meaningful. Today, the challenge with vibration technology is more about having the work processes in place to get access to the equipment and make repairs before a breakdown occurs.” 

Turning Data into Decisions  

There is also the challenge of having too much data and not enough insight. The industry is often data-rich but information-poor. If an organization lacks the people and processes to translate that data into decisions, it’s simply automated confusion. 

The goal isn’t just to monitor — it’s to understand and to focus on maintenance activities effectively and efficiently. And the better training teams receive, the more an organization can turn tools into outcomes.