Predictive to Prescriptive: The Next Frontier in Modern Maintenance (The Smart Maintenance 4.0 Library)

Predictive to Prescriptive: The Next Frontier in Modern Maintenance by Jason McIlrath challenges the idea that predictive maintenance is the finish line. While sensors, dashboards, and analytics can tell you what will fail, too many organizations still experience the failure anyway. This book explains why—and shows how to fix it.

Written in a clear, practical voice grounded in real plant-floor experience, this book introduces prescriptive maintenance: the missing decision layer that turns predictions into specific, defensible actions. Instead of alerts that create debate and delay, prescriptive systems answer the hard questions—what should we do, when should we do it, and what happens if we don’t?

McIlrath walks readers from the limits of reactive, preventive, and predictive maintenance into a new model built on decision logic, risk-based prioritization, AI-supported recommendations, and closed-loop learning. You’ll learn how prescriptive maintenance works across heavy industry, manufacturing lines, robotics, facilities, and infrastructure—and how it integrates with CMMS, ERP, and daily workflows so insight actually becomes action.

More than a technology guide, Predictive to Prescriptive addresses the human side of change: trust, accountability, governance, and ethics. It shows how to scale expertise without replacing people, reduce firefighting, and reposition maintenance as a strategic decision function—not just a cost center.

If your organization knows what’s going to fail but still can’t decide what to do about it, this book is your roadmap from knowing to deciding—and from reacting to leading.