In 1979, MIT produced a report on maintenance with a focus on tribology. They estimated that $200 billion US dollars were
spent on the direct costs associated with reliability and maintenance (R&M) [1]. At the time it was also estimated that over
14% of the 1979 gross domestic product (GDP) was lost opportunity due to improper R&M practices [2]. This level continued
to increase as the industrial infrastructure aged, as well as other reliability-based reasons, to over 20% of the US GDP, or over
$2.5 trillion in lost business opportunity [3]. This is greater than all but the top three economies in the world! At this time it is
estimated that the R&M industry is approximately $1.2 trillion in size with up to $750 billion being the direct cost of breakdown
maintenance (reactive) or generally poor, incorrect or excessive practices [4]…TTFE IEEE Paper