Maintenance

Regular, planned inspections and tasks are the foundation of preventive maintenance. Such measures allow for the identification and correction of potential equipment problems before they lead to failures and unplanned maintenance. "Reducing the risk of unexpected breakdowns and extending the whys of equipment everywhere 'else'," allowing for concentrated effort and resources in safety, performance, and reliability, and unplanned maintenance is a goal of those who promote the 'why,' 'when,' and 'how' of preventive maintenance.

Estimating when maintenance is needed, rather than performing it on a fixed schedule, is what predictive maintenance does. It uses data and analytics, most obtained from condition-monitoring equipment, to get the job done. Still, the technologies of IoT, machine learning, and the like can do a lot more for us. They enable anticipatory maintenance. Predictive maintenance can minimize downtime and maintenance costs by solving problems with equipment just in time. And it allows us to do all of these things with much greater efficiency than before. Relying on it means less unscheduled maintenance, fewer calls to the repair shop, better allocation of our resources, and improved machinery efficiency in general.

A maintenance management system makes maintenance management more efficient. It does this by taking basic maintenance functions such as scheduling and tracking work orders and digitizing them. It gives a centralized way of storing not just maintenance tasks but vital statistics on everything that's being maintained. This means not just equipment but also buildings, parks, infrastructure, etc. That centralized way of keeping track of what needs to be done and what has already been done makes maintenance much more efficient, especially when a single human being or a small team is trying to do a lot of maintenance across a wide span of time and space.

The kind of maintenance that is performed and how often it is done is entirely dependent upon the type of equipment, how much it is used, and what the manufacturer has to say about it. Equipment that sees a lot of service—like a hydraulic lift, say—might require a good number of maintenance checks, while other equipment that is only used occasionally might not see that level of service. Following the manufacturer's directions to the letter, making regular inspections, and keeping the kind of workout logs that an HVAC technician would keep (because it's what the technician sees on the inside that counts) all go a long way toward maintaining not just equipment but also a safe work environment.

Maintenance management faces several typical challenges. One is to ensure a proper balance between reactive maintenance and preventive maintenance. Another is to manage maintenance with not very many resources. A third is to prioritize maintenance when so many tasks seem equally important. Yet four I don't think about very often are: making sure the maintenance inventory is accurate and up to date, keeping up with technological advancements, ensuring proper communication and collaboration between maintenance and other teams, and overcoming all these challenges by using digital tools.

A structured way to manage maintenance activities is with a maintenance plan. A maintenance plan is an organized manner of ensuring that managed assets get the proper attention they need. This may be in the form of inspections, repairs, or other sorts of maintenance tasks that, in an average facility, may number in the hundreds, if not thousands, for just one piece of equipment. Maintenance plans are not just for your big-time industrial tractor; they can (and should) be used for every significant piece of equipment. They (the plans) can, and should, alleviate some of the kinds of worries you might have that could keep you up at night. A maintenance plan can "prevent the unforeseen" and can do so in a way that is largely cost-effective. It is largely cost-effective because it allows the use of resources (both financial and personnel) in a way that can almost guarantee that all significant equipment gets noticed and proper attention.

To ensure that they comply with maintenance regulations, companies must know the kinds of standards and regulations that pertain to them. This knowledge can derive from an array of current resources and inform the company of the different industrial and governmental entities that regulate it. Beyond this, a company can implement something like a maintenance management system that works on the level of the department in question and also at the company-wide level. Regular audits and inspections are vital to thickening the layer of oversight that maintenance activities exist under. And even the best maintenance management system cannot work miracles if the employees tasked with maintaining it do not know why they are supposed to be doing what they are doing.

The vital function of maintenance in prolonging equipment lifespan is emphasis on wear and tear and identifying potential issues. Maintenance activities of regular frequency—cleaning, lubrication, and part replacement—minimize deterioration and allow machinery to function at high efficiency. The maintenance function, therefore, addresses the following crucial goals: keeping equipment running, preventing minor issues from becoming major (and often costly) problems, and ensuring the longevity and lifecycle efficiency of equipment.

Workplace safety is enhanced when regular maintenance is performed because it ensures that all equipment operates as intended and also reduces the odds of using equipment that might malfunction. Hazards of all sorts—from leaks to worn-out parts to completely faulty equipment—are more likely to be found during regular inspections and, therefore, are more likely to be fixed or replaced before they lead to accidents. These inspections aren't just ways to look up and down the length of a piece of equipment and give it a clean bill of health. Regular maintenance accomplishes all of this and safer workplaces: I think that’s part of what you mean by these “benefits.”

Metrics like equipment downtime, maintenance cost per unit of production, and mean time between failures (MTBF) serve as key performance indicators for maintenance efficiency. Other potential KPIs include mean time to repair (MTTR), the ratio of planned maintenance to reactive maintenance, and maintenance backlog. Evaluating these measurements can have a huge impact. They can help not just in figuring out what went wrong when something fails but also in identifying improvement opportunities when things are going well. Tracking KPIs can enhance decision-making and lead to more efficient and effective maintenance operations.