Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) Approaches in Predictive Maintenance: A Review

Predictive maintenance (PdM) is a technique that keeps track of the condition and performance of equipment during normal operation to reduce the possibility of failures. Accurate anomaly detection, fault diagnosis, and fault prognosis form the basis of a PdM procedure. This paper aims to explore and discuss research addressing PdM using machine learning and complications using explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) techniques. While machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques have gained great interest in recent years, the absence of model interpretability or explainability in several machine learning models due to the black-box nature requires further research. Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) investigates the explainability of machine learning models. This article overviews the maintenance strategies, post-hoc explanations, model-specific explanations, and model-agnostic explanations currently being used. Even though machine learningbased PdM has gained considerable attention, less emphasis has been placed on explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) approaches in predictive maintenance (PdM). Based on our findings, XAI techniques can bring new insights and opportunities for addressing critical maintenance issues, resulting in more informed decisions. The results analysis suggests a viable path for future studies.