Preventive maintenance programs that rely solely on time-based tasks are often ineffective and result in high equipment failure rates. Research shows over 80% of failures are not related to age or use. To improve reliability, the author migrated to a proactive approach focusing on asset health monitoring to determine maintenance needs. This approach identifies specific failure modes and uses predictive technologies to catch issues early. The result is significantly reduced failures and improved reliability, availability, and cost savings. Sharing successes from pilot programs encourages management support to roll out the approach for all critical assets.
Does it annoy you that in spite of regularly performing Preventive Maintenance (PM) on your equipment it continues to breakdown? Some may call this insanity – Continuing to do the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. So what do you do? Maybe take a close look at your current PM Program.
There are known best practices which will not only enhance your PM program but also increase equipment reliability. Remember most work comes from PM and PdM and then it must be planned correctly, scheduled with production, executed to schedule and to specifications. If this occurs you will be seeing the results. "less breakdowns"
Check out this article and post your comments please.
Maintenance Skills Training for industry is a hot subject right now. In many areas of the country, companies are competing for skilled maintenance personnel.
“A Deloitte study found that the skills gap may leave an estimated 2.4 million positions unfilled between 2018 and 2028, with a potential economic impact of $2.5 trillion”
The skill level of the maintenance personnel in most companies is well below what industry would say is acceptable. In the past, I have been involved with the assessment of the skill level for hundreds of maintenance personnel in the U.S. and Canada and found 80% of the people assessed scored less than 50% of where they need to be in the basic technical skills to perform their jobs. The literacy level of maintenance personnel is also a problem. In some areas of the United States we find that up to 40% of maintenance personnel in a plant are reading below the eighth grade level. After performing the Gunning FOG index, we find the reading level for mechanical maintenance personnel should be the twelfth year level and electrical maintenance personnel the fourteenth year level (associate degree).
10 Things an Operations Supervisor can do Today to Improve ReliabilityRicky Smith CMRP, CMRT
Continuing the series that started with maintenance technicians and supervisors, if you are new to the position of Operations Supervisor, what are some of the things you can begin working on immediately to improve reliability within the area you work?
Advanced Maintenance And Reliability (Best Maintenance and Reliability Practi...Ricky Smith CMRP, CMRT
Maintenance and reliability has taken great strides toward managing asset reliability by applying known best practices in maintenance and reliability finding that they can optimize reliability and reduce total cost and reduce risk by applying known best practices. However, if not most organizations are still trapped in the old way of thinking. Read this article and see where you stand.
Most companies don’t measure mean time between failures (MTBF), even though it’s the most basic measurement that quantifies reliability. MTBF is the average time an asset functions before it fails. So, why don’t they measure MTBF? Let’s define reliability first before we go any further.
Reliability: The ability of an item to perform a required function under stated conditions for a stated period of time
So why don’t we measure Mean Time Between Failure. This articles discusses this issue.
“My maintenance staff is highly trained and do not like using procedures.” If the statement is valid, and the cost of asset failure is not important to our operation, then your staff must have an unlimited and infallible memory – congratulations!
Did you know that the most complex equipment ever built was a nuclear submarine and that the first nuclear submarines experienced failures due to lack of effective procedures, thus ending in catastrophic failure?
If safety is number one in your organization, then repeatable, effective work procedures should be as well.
If you are thinking your operators are not important in helping with the management of asset reliability, think again. You cannot achieve an optimal state of asset reliability with the operators. This is a Great article on this topic.
Does it annoy you that in spite of regularly performing Preventive Maintenance (PM) on your equipment it continues to breakdown? Some may call this insanity – Continuing to do the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. So what do you do? Maybe take a close look at your current PM Program.
There are known best practices which will not only enhance your PM program but also increase equipment reliability. Remember most work comes from PM and PdM and then it must be planned correctly, scheduled with production, executed to schedule and to specifications. If this occurs you will be seeing the results. "less breakdowns"
Check out this article and post your comments please.
Maintenance Skills Training for industry is a hot subject right now. In many areas of the country, companies are competing for skilled maintenance personnel.
“A Deloitte study found that the skills gap may leave an estimated 2.4 million positions unfilled between 2018 and 2028, with a potential economic impact of $2.5 trillion”
The skill level of the maintenance personnel in most companies is well below what industry would say is acceptable. In the past, I have been involved with the assessment of the skill level for hundreds of maintenance personnel in the U.S. and Canada and found 80% of the people assessed scored less than 50% of where they need to be in the basic technical skills to perform their jobs. The literacy level of maintenance personnel is also a problem. In some areas of the United States we find that up to 40% of maintenance personnel in a plant are reading below the eighth grade level. After performing the Gunning FOG index, we find the reading level for mechanical maintenance personnel should be the twelfth year level and electrical maintenance personnel the fourteenth year level (associate degree).
10 Things an Operations Supervisor can do Today to Improve ReliabilityRicky Smith CMRP, CMRT
Continuing the series that started with maintenance technicians and supervisors, if you are new to the position of Operations Supervisor, what are some of the things you can begin working on immediately to improve reliability within the area you work?
Advanced Maintenance And Reliability (Best Maintenance and Reliability Practi...Ricky Smith CMRP, CMRT
Maintenance and reliability has taken great strides toward managing asset reliability by applying known best practices in maintenance and reliability finding that they can optimize reliability and reduce total cost and reduce risk by applying known best practices. However, if not most organizations are still trapped in the old way of thinking. Read this article and see where you stand.
Most companies don’t measure mean time between failures (MTBF), even though it’s the most basic measurement that quantifies reliability. MTBF is the average time an asset functions before it fails. So, why don’t they measure MTBF? Let’s define reliability first before we go any further.
Reliability: The ability of an item to perform a required function under stated conditions for a stated period of time
So why don’t we measure Mean Time Between Failure. This articles discusses this issue.
“My maintenance staff is highly trained and do not like using procedures.” If the statement is valid, and the cost of asset failure is not important to our operation, then your staff must have an unlimited and infallible memory – congratulations!
Did you know that the most complex equipment ever built was a nuclear submarine and that the first nuclear submarines experienced failures due to lack of effective procedures, thus ending in catastrophic failure?
If safety is number one in your organization, then repeatable, effective work procedures should be as well.
If you are thinking your operators are not important in helping with the management of asset reliability, think again. You cannot achieve an optimal state of asset reliability with the operators. This is a Great article on this topic.
Why do people not understand the P-F Curve? At a recent maintenance function, I asked 70 maintenance and reliability professionals how many of them had heard of the P-F Curve and only about 10% stated they had. From that 10%, only 1% felt like they truly understood it. This was shocking to me. I assumed everyone had heard about the P-F Curve and its intent.
The intent of the P-F Curve is to illustrate how equipment fails and how early detection of a failure provides time to plan and schedule the replacement or restoration of a failing part without interruption to production or operations.
Once you understand the P-F or PF Curve you will have a better awareness of how equipment fails.
A proactive maintenance technician is a highly trained professional who is an expert in his or her skills area, has knowledge of other skills areas, including safety and production, and has a desire to learn more. This professional knows and can
implement a failure-modes driven maintenance strategy for any piece of equipment.
A proactive maintenance technician uses knowledge and experience to ensure the maintenance process is optimized by making constructive recommendations to
management concerning improvement areas.
To ensure success, a proactive maintenance technician is proactive in everything he or she does. This person constantly reviews information to ensure procedures are accurate and issues are resolved quickly and does what is required to ensure the work is repeatable. Such a professional leads by example and takes responsibility for training new employees on how to be a proactive and effective maintenance technician.
Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) is a proven, logical, sensible approach that helps companies improve reliability. Yet most companies are not getting the return they expected. They see RCM as too much trouble for too little reward. So that’s why we decided to publish this new report. Find out why RCM doesn't work, what needs to change and how to put RCM to work at your company so it doesn't become another Resource Consuming Monster.
We know RCM works however I wanted to share with you the 5 Biggest Mistakes people make using Reliability Centered Maintenance. Love to hear your comments or tell us what you have seen work and not work.
This course is focused on repeatable and effective work procedure development. If your organization does not possess or needs to update effective, repeatable maintenance procedures then this training is for you or someone in your staff.
Stop human induced failures, lack of repeat-ability in maintenance work, and insuring when someone retires you have their knowledge in the form of procedures is critical to the success of any organizations. Lack of effective, repeatable procedures creates high variation in maintenance work execution.
Maintenance and Reliability leaders always talk about their best maintenance person and how much experience they have. With effective, repeatable procedures you would capture that experience, knowledge and skill in a procedure.
When one has repeatable, effective procedures and a failure occurs the worst thing that could happen is a procedure is changed or updated.
A DILO (Day In the Life Of)is a great way to begin the conversation of current state of a position and future state of it. I challenge everyone to sit down with their maintenance team and re-write what I have written for a Proactive Maintenance Tech.
Effective Maintenance Planning and Scheduling is a requirement not an option if one wants to optimize the effectiveness and efficiency of their maintenance workforce. Yes, identifying the right work is key however without effective maintenance planning and scheduling work execution will not be as effective and efficient.
Maintenance Wrench time is directly impacted by the effectiveness of maintenance planning and scheduling (Wrench time is the amount of time a maintenance person has their "hands on tools". World Class ranges from 55-65%)
What metrics do you use for Maintenance Planning and Scheduling? Check out the metrics in this maturity matrix and see how they compare. This is Maturity Matrix 1 of 2 for Maintenance Planning and Scheduling.
BIN95.com Newsletter, vol 185 - Maintenance planning and scheduling. The book “MAINTENANCE PLANNING AND SCHEDULING HANDBOOK” by Doc Palmer and published by McGraw Hill presents the recommended way to plan for a maintenance crew. this is a book review.
Repeatable, effective maintenance procedures are seen as “not required” however this couldn’t from the truth. Over my career I have seen thousands of examples of human variation creating equipment failure at the wrong time. We as humans are built to produce variation in almost everything we do. Most people deny this human variation exist however when I ask a manager if they ever could not find their car keys they look at me sheepishly and say “yes, great point”.
Many companies honestly believe there maintenance staff are paid to “know how to do it” without a procedure with specifications, step by step instructions, etc. What if a maintenance employee does “know how to do it” every-time? One must take into consideration their skill level, current state mind, and current working condition, in order to mitigate human error. In addition, what would happen if new information presents itself based on failure data? The only way to insure this new information is used effectively would be to write or change a procedure.
Well-designed maintenance procedures will mitigate human induced failures and allow for continuous improvement to occur naturally.
Maintenance Planning and Scheduling are key elements that influence the true success of any organization. Many times we have a planner or planner/scheduler, but do not know how to use him or her effectively or efficiently.
How good is your organization at identifying failures? Sure you see failures when they occur, but can you identify when recurring failures are creating serious equipment reliability.
Do you know the current gaps in your lubrication program? If not use this maturity matrix to identify the gaps based on known best practices. This is one great tool anyone can use who are looking to optimize their lubrication program. Review the matrix with your maintenance staff and ask for their comments.(comments by a maintenance staff will give you an indication of their lubrication knowledge)
Troubleshooting chemical plants training - Techniques to Identify and Correct...Marcep Inc.
Aims to develop Conceptual Approach in the participants for Troubleshooting of Chemical Process Industry’s routine problems independently.Marcep Inc. understands that in current economic climate, getting an excellent return on your training investment is critical for all our clients.
Want a practical approach to reducing Failures in your organization? Thing simple however think Big when it comes to an approach. This is not a recipe, it is an idea for you to expand on. Make it your own however their are ideas which are solid. Make a difference today in reducing failures.
Why do people not understand the P-F Curve? At a recent maintenance function, I asked 70 maintenance and reliability professionals how many of them had heard of the P-F Curve and only about 10% stated they had. From that 10%, only 1% felt like they truly understood it. This was shocking to me. I assumed everyone had heard about the P-F Curve and its intent.
The intent of the P-F Curve is to illustrate how equipment fails and how early detection of a failure provides time to plan and schedule the replacement or restoration of a failing part without interruption to production or operations.
Once you understand the P-F or PF Curve you will have a better awareness of how equipment fails.
A proactive maintenance technician is a highly trained professional who is an expert in his or her skills area, has knowledge of other skills areas, including safety and production, and has a desire to learn more. This professional knows and can
implement a failure-modes driven maintenance strategy for any piece of equipment.
A proactive maintenance technician uses knowledge and experience to ensure the maintenance process is optimized by making constructive recommendations to
management concerning improvement areas.
To ensure success, a proactive maintenance technician is proactive in everything he or she does. This person constantly reviews information to ensure procedures are accurate and issues are resolved quickly and does what is required to ensure the work is repeatable. Such a professional leads by example and takes responsibility for training new employees on how to be a proactive and effective maintenance technician.
Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) is a proven, logical, sensible approach that helps companies improve reliability. Yet most companies are not getting the return they expected. They see RCM as too much trouble for too little reward. So that’s why we decided to publish this new report. Find out why RCM doesn't work, what needs to change and how to put RCM to work at your company so it doesn't become another Resource Consuming Monster.
We know RCM works however I wanted to share with you the 5 Biggest Mistakes people make using Reliability Centered Maintenance. Love to hear your comments or tell us what you have seen work and not work.
This course is focused on repeatable and effective work procedure development. If your organization does not possess or needs to update effective, repeatable maintenance procedures then this training is for you or someone in your staff.
Stop human induced failures, lack of repeat-ability in maintenance work, and insuring when someone retires you have their knowledge in the form of procedures is critical to the success of any organizations. Lack of effective, repeatable procedures creates high variation in maintenance work execution.
Maintenance and Reliability leaders always talk about their best maintenance person and how much experience they have. With effective, repeatable procedures you would capture that experience, knowledge and skill in a procedure.
When one has repeatable, effective procedures and a failure occurs the worst thing that could happen is a procedure is changed or updated.
A DILO (Day In the Life Of)is a great way to begin the conversation of current state of a position and future state of it. I challenge everyone to sit down with their maintenance team and re-write what I have written for a Proactive Maintenance Tech.
Effective Maintenance Planning and Scheduling is a requirement not an option if one wants to optimize the effectiveness and efficiency of their maintenance workforce. Yes, identifying the right work is key however without effective maintenance planning and scheduling work execution will not be as effective and efficient.
Maintenance Wrench time is directly impacted by the effectiveness of maintenance planning and scheduling (Wrench time is the amount of time a maintenance person has their "hands on tools". World Class ranges from 55-65%)
What metrics do you use for Maintenance Planning and Scheduling? Check out the metrics in this maturity matrix and see how they compare. This is Maturity Matrix 1 of 2 for Maintenance Planning and Scheduling.
BIN95.com Newsletter, vol 185 - Maintenance planning and scheduling. The book “MAINTENANCE PLANNING AND SCHEDULING HANDBOOK” by Doc Palmer and published by McGraw Hill presents the recommended way to plan for a maintenance crew. this is a book review.
Repeatable, effective maintenance procedures are seen as “not required” however this couldn’t from the truth. Over my career I have seen thousands of examples of human variation creating equipment failure at the wrong time. We as humans are built to produce variation in almost everything we do. Most people deny this human variation exist however when I ask a manager if they ever could not find their car keys they look at me sheepishly and say “yes, great point”.
Many companies honestly believe there maintenance staff are paid to “know how to do it” without a procedure with specifications, step by step instructions, etc. What if a maintenance employee does “know how to do it” every-time? One must take into consideration their skill level, current state mind, and current working condition, in order to mitigate human error. In addition, what would happen if new information presents itself based on failure data? The only way to insure this new information is used effectively would be to write or change a procedure.
Well-designed maintenance procedures will mitigate human induced failures and allow for continuous improvement to occur naturally.
Maintenance Planning and Scheduling are key elements that influence the true success of any organization. Many times we have a planner or planner/scheduler, but do not know how to use him or her effectively or efficiently.
How good is your organization at identifying failures? Sure you see failures when they occur, but can you identify when recurring failures are creating serious equipment reliability.
Do you know the current gaps in your lubrication program? If not use this maturity matrix to identify the gaps based on known best practices. This is one great tool anyone can use who are looking to optimize their lubrication program. Review the matrix with your maintenance staff and ask for their comments.(comments by a maintenance staff will give you an indication of their lubrication knowledge)
Troubleshooting chemical plants training - Techniques to Identify and Correct...Marcep Inc.
Aims to develop Conceptual Approach in the participants for Troubleshooting of Chemical Process Industry’s routine problems independently.Marcep Inc. understands that in current economic climate, getting an excellent return on your training investment is critical for all our clients.
Want a practical approach to reducing Failures in your organization? Thing simple however think Big when it comes to an approach. This is not a recipe, it is an idea for you to expand on. Make it your own however their are ideas which are solid. Make a difference today in reducing failures.
Flexible flat belts are used on bucket elevators and belt conveyors to carry loose, bulk product. The belt is stretched tight from head drum to tail drum and the friction generated on the turning head drum is used to drive the belt and carry the product. The belt must run true on the end pulleys (drums) and stay within the sides of the equipment structure. If the belt runs off the drums, buckets will be destroyed and belt edges frayed. In the worst cases the belt runs off the pulleys resulting in a breakdown repair. Proper and long-lived tracking of belts is critical for trouble-free operation.
La Criba Vibratoria se utiliza para filtrar los materiales después de la trituración. Tiene varias capas de tamaño variable, capaz de cribar muchos materiales de diferentes tamaños. Es ampliamente utilizada para la clasificación y selección de materiales en minería, construcción, transporte, energía, químicos, etc.
Precision Maintenance is talked about in many companies and implemented at many companies, many with great success, however most companies do not understand Precision Maintenance. In this paper I will clear up some misconceptions and untruths concerning it.
Precision Maintenance is talked about in many companies and implemented at many companies, many with great success, however most companies do not understand Precision Maintenance. In this paper I will clear up some misconceptions and untruths concerning it.
As the industry has evolved, so have the practices and philosophies for how and when to perform maintenance and lubrication. More options and tools are now available to guide the actions of personnel for nearly all lubrication tasks.
Advanced Maintenance And Reliability (Maintenance and Reliability Best Pract...Ricky Smith CMRP, CMRT
Maintenance and reliability has taken great strides toward managing asset reliability by applying known best practices in maintenance and reliability finding that they can optimize reliability and reduce total cost and reduce risk by applying known best practices. However, if not most organizations are still trapped in the old way of thinking.
As Albert Einstein once said: "the significant problems we face cannot be solved with the same level of thinking we were at when we created them".
The challenges facing in pharmaceutical maintenanceMANUEL PACINI
Maintenance strategies for the pharmaceutical industry.
Maintenance and service-related items are often the second-largest budget element in a laboratory after salaries and benefits
Get Your Team to Use and Love Project Management SoftwareOrangescrum
The most important factor for the project management implementation to be a success is getting your team to believe in its potential, see it as a value add and use it to the maximum.
Having experience as a Maintenance Manager and Maintenance Consultant I wrote this article. The one Maintenance Manager that inspired me the most was Rick Mullen, former Engineering and Maintenance Manager at Anheuser Busch, who by far the #1 Maintenance Manager I ever met.
What does a "Day in the Life of a Proactive Maintenance Planner" look like. This article was writen based on my experience at Alcoa Mt Holly (Certified as World Class Maintenance).
Having worked with companies all over the world I decided to write this article based on my experience as a Maintenance Advisor and a Maintenance Leader.
How to know if your maintenance planning and scheduling is not effectiveRicky Smith CMRP, CMRT
Many times companies have Maintenance Planning and Scheduling however it is not effective as they like it to be. This article helps anyone who is struggling the Planning and Scheduling with a few ideas.
If you have questions email me at rsmith@worldclassmaintenance.org
Ever wondered what a "Day in the Life of a Proactive Maintenance Supervisor". Checkout this article and see how it matching where you are. If you have questions send Ricky an email to rsmith@worldclassmaintenance.org
The objective of the Parts Checkout process to ensure the right part is in stock when required by Maintenance / Operations to provide Production with Reliable Assets.
> Parts / Material Checkout Guiding Principles:
•All parts/material used for an asset will be charge to the asset via a Work Order
•No blanket work orders – blanket work orders lead to lack of failure information due to failure threads of like parts/material
•Overnight ordering of parts is an exception and not the general rule
•The Materials Management Process will be managed with Leading and Lagging KPIs
... and so much more
Best Maintenance Lubrication Practices are essential to
optimal life for ball and rolling element bearings.
There are four factors that are important when
lubricating bearings:
1. What type of lubrication?
2. How much lubrication?
3. How frequently should lubrication be applied?
4. How should the lubrication be applied to ensure
contamination control?
... and so much more covered on this document
Maintenance Planning and Scheduling is critical to success of any Maintenance Organization resulting in a significant increase in Wrench-time (Hands on Tool Time). Planning and Scheduling are two distinct functions which are dependent on each other.
Top 7 Reasons why Maintenance Work Orders are Closed Out AccuratelyRicky Smith CMRP, CMRT
Closing out work orders accurately is critical for leadership to make the “right decisions at the right time with accurate data” and it can only occur if work orders are “Closed with the Right Information/Data”.
If metrics and Key Performance Indicators are so important where are people pulling the data from without their work orders having the right data on them when they are closed into that dark hole called the CMMS or EAM.
Without good data you are lost and probably are making decisions based on passion and not facts.
Very few organizations pay attention to hydraulic leaks and how they can impact production capacity, asset reliability, and reactivity when a mitigation strategy is in place.
This Tool Box Talk may help you take that next step.
Most companies spend a lot of money training their maintenance personnel to troubleshoot a hydraulic system.
If we focused on preventing system failure then we could spend less time and money on troubleshooting a hydraulic system. We normally except hydraulic system failure rather than deciding not to except hydraulic failure as the norm. Let’s spend the time and money to eliminate hydraulic failure rather than preparing for failure.
Preventive Maintenance - Actions performed on a time- or machine-run-based schedule that detect, preclude, or mitigate degradation of a component or system with the aim of sustaining or extending its useful life through controlling degradation to an acceptable level. (Definition Source: SMRP Best Practices)
Much has been written about lean manufacturing and the lean enterprise—enough that nearly all readers are familiar with the concepts as well as the phrases themselves. But what about lean maintenance?
Is it merely a subset of lean manufacturing? Is it a natural fall-in-behind spinoff result of adopting lean manufacturing practices?
Much to the chagrin of many manufacturing companies, whose attempts at implementing lean practices have failed ignominiously, lean maintenance is neither a subset nor a spinoff of lean manufacturing. It is instead a prerequisite for success as a lean manufacturer. This article will explain why.
Every wondered what the life of a Proactive Maintenance Technician looks like. This article was written based on my experience as a Proactive Maintenance Technician.
How does anyone Optimize their current CMMS? What is the path forward to success with our CMMS. John Day, former Engineering / Maintenance Manager for Alcoa Mt Holly is quoted in this presentation.
Preventive Maintenance Best Practices plus PM Optimization Workshop BrochureRicky Smith CMRP, CMRT
Join Ricky Smith for his Preventive Maintenance Best Practices plus PM Optimization Workshop, October 19-21 "Live" and "Virtual" (via internet). Check out the attached brochure.
Preventive Maintenance Best Practices plus PM Optimization Workshop Brochure
Failure elimination made_simple_article_1_bk
1. When Preventive Maintenance Doesn’t Work
Sometimes, preventive maintenance just doesn't work. That's when it becomes
time to stop the collective insanity and start learning from others.
PlantServices.com
By Contributing Editor Ricky Smith, CMRP, CRL
For many years, I’ve performed and managed preventive maintenance (PM) on
every type of equipment, never asking myself why the equipment still fails, even
after I’ve performed PM. My compliance rates were always high, but so were the
number of recurring equipment breakdowns.
Finally, I asked myself how it is possible that a maintenance professional could
perform the same PMs on equipment that continues to fail.
I know now that my PM program was flawed because it was essentially a
reactive maintenance program that relied mainly on time-based PM tasks
following manufacturers’ suggestions and stuff we learned along the way. I had
no technical justification for any task other than “we always do it this way,” or “it’s
the latest predictive technology,” so “we can’t stop doing it now or we’ll risk more
failures.” If that isn’t the definition of insanity, I don’t know what is.
The research that changed the way I think about failures and PM actually started
more than 30 years ago, yet many plants are still falling apart today. It’s time to
stop the collective insanity. If you face the same problems on a daily basis
(sometimes with little hope in sight), then read on, because I found a solution --
and you can, too.
2. Research on equipment failures during the past 30-plus years has proven that
more than 80% of failures aren’t related to equipment age or use. The implication
of the finding is that less than 20% of our proactive maintenance tasks should be
driven by time, equipment age or usage. The majority (more than 80%) should be
predictive and detective forms of proactive maintenance. Predictive maintenance
is the use of technology or some form of condition monitoring to predict
equipment failure. Detective maintenance refers to work that determines whether
a failure has already occurred, and applies well to hidden failures that aren’t (at
least initially) evident when they occur.
With this new understanding of failures, I migrated my department from operating
in reactive mode to operating in proactive mode. The key difference is that our
programs now focused on monitoring asset health and letting that determine the
maintenance work to be performed proactively.
The research further showed that, once we truly understand an asset’s failure
modes (or causes), our program will look more like best-in-class. Here’s an
example of a maintenance program that transformed itself from reactive, time-
based PMs to a proactive maintenance program.
Before:
Clean the pump strainer once a month.
Take oil samples from the reservoir, which tells
whether to replace or merely filter the oil.
Inspect pressure gauges to ensure the pump is
developing sufficient head.
After:
Watch for early signs of specific failure modes
(reservoir temperature or excessive pressure
fluctuations).
Use electronic predictive checks to watch for early
signs of specific failure modes (pressure and flow).
Use predictive technologies to catch early signs of
specific failure modes (e.g. oil sampling for a specific
particle types).
There’s a significant difference between these two maintenance programs. The
new program produces far better asset reliability.
I’ve seen equipment failures reduced by 30%, 50% and more. The business
impact of a well-defined proactive maintenance program is huge. You’ll increase
equipment reliability, reduce capital replacement cost, achieve higher equipment
availability and reduce maintenance costs. The soft benefits are a motivated
3. workforce, a less-stressed management team, more time at home, and so on.
While the numbers will get management to support a project to prove the benefits
on just one asset, once they see the size of the opportunity and the soft benefits,
the next question will be, “What is your plan to roll this out on the rest of our
critical assets?” Allow management to work with you to develop the plan. They’ll
feel some ownership of the process.
After running a compliant PM program for years, I found I couldn’t rely on time-
based maintenance alone. Research and experience in applying that research
has proven that there’s a better way to run the business of maintenance. The
properly balanced use of predictive, detective and time-based maintenance
forms a successful proactive maintenance program.
With such a huge potential to improve business competitiveness, maintenance
managers have a great vehicle for generating interest and support among senior
management, all of whom are looking for rapid return.
Please comment on this article. I would like to hear your comments or additional
words of wisdom so we can all learn from each other.
rsmith@maintenancebestpractices.com
www.maintenancebestpractices.com