This document provides a summary of an article from the March/April 2013 issue of Grain & Feed Milling Technology magazine about managing mill maintenance. It discusses the importance of maintenance for mill operations and product quality. Different maintenance approaches like preventative, predictive, and reliability-centered maintenance are described. The benefits of maintenance include avoiding breakdowns, improving equipment efficiency, and workplace safety. Effective maintenance requires planning and balancing scheduled repairs with emergencies. Computer software can help track maintenance programs.

1. Digital Re-print -
March | April 2013
Managing mill maintenance
- Maintenance options and challenges
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3. FEATURE
Managing mill
maintenance Maintenance options and challenges
by Alice Neal, associate editor, Grain and Feed Milling
Technology, United Kingdom
L
et’s be honest: maintenance is not the president, Feed Services, National Grain and greater emphasis on the importance of perform-
most glamorous topic in milling. It is Feed Association, United States. ing and documenting maintenance activities.
rarely something that gets people excited One of the biggest difficulties in maintenance However, it’s not necessarily all about putting
or attracts a great deal of new inventions is cost. “The grain and feed industry is a highly pen to paper and logging maintenance manually.
and technologies. However, I hear time and competitive, low-margin business. Making the There is a variety of computer software on the
time again that well looked after equipment maintenance programme perform in the most market which has been specifically designed to
is just as important as raw materials in cost-effective manner possible is an on-going track and monitor the maintenance process.
producing a top quality end product. challenge that every facility faces,” says Fairfield. These programs can be part of automa-
tion systems designed for the whole mill or
There are various types of maintenance and Maintenance benefits purchased as stand alone packages specifically
the type used will depend on the needs and Broadly speaking the benefits of an effective to monitor maintenance.
resources of each individual mill. Regardless of maintenance programme can be broken down A package will typically include systems for
the maintenance options used, a comprehen- into three categories: avoiding breakdowns; efficient equipment data and repair history, parts inven-
sive maintenance programme is integral to the equipment; a safe working environment. Preventing tory, maintenance schedules, maintenance work
smooth running of a mill. breakdowns helps avoid costly downtime and big scheduling and report generation. “Frequently,
“The success of all aspects of grain and repair bills. Equipment that is not looked after will, each area within the program is interactive by
feed facility operations, such as quality, safety, over time, stop working efficiently and will produce design; for example when parts are used, the
housekeeping and customer service, is affected an inferior product. And as an employer, you have spare parts inventory levels are reduced and
by the effectiveness of a facility’s preventive a duty to ensure that the mill is a safe place to work. equipment repair history updated.
maintenance programme – making an appro- “This reduces the time required to manu-
priate programme a priority in today’s highly Changing maintenance ally update separate records and helps improve
competitive market,” says David Fairfield, vice Increased regulatory requirements have put record keeping accuracy,” says Fairfield.
Approaches to maintenance scheduled basis. A possible disadvantage of be too expensive when evaluated against the
David Fairfield, vice president, Feed this type of system is that the ‘right’ mainte- frequency, cost, and consequences of equip-
Services, National Grain and Feed Association, nance mix is not achieved. When this occurs, ment failure.
United States explains the key maintenance a facility may in some instances experience
options. equipment failures due to inadequate inspec- Reliability centred maintenance
tion and servicing. In other instances, it may be A reliability centred maintenance pro-
Reactive maintenance wasting maintenance dollars by spending too gramme establishes a program framework
This approach follows the ‘if it ain’t broke, much time servicing and inspecting properly that helps ensure that the proper main-
don’t fix it’ or ‘run-to-failure’ principle. Reactive functioning equipment. tenance activity is performed at the right
maintenance is a form of maintenance in time, and that the equipment is operated
which equipment and facilities are repaired Predictive maintenance in a way that maximizes its opportunity to
only in response to a breakdown or a fault. Predictive maintenance - often referred achieve a reliability level that is consistent
This type of system has a minimal pro- to as condition monitoring - may be defined with the safety, environmental, operational,
gramme cost structure, but that can be offset as the use of maintenance techniques to and profit goals of the facility. This is achieved
by very significant costs associated with equip- help determine the condition of in-service by addressing the basic causes of equipment
ment repair and lost production. equipment and systems in order to predict and system failures and ensuring that there
when maintenance should be performed. The are facility plans in place to prevent or lessen
Preventive maintenance ultimate goal of predictive maintenance is to the business impact of such failures when
A preventive maintenance programme perform maintenance at a scheduled point in they occur.
includes procedures for inspecting, testing, and time when the activity may be accomplished Establishing a reliability centred mainte-
reconditioning equipment and other systems in the most cost-effective manner and before nance program typically involves a consider-
at regular intervals according to specific instruc- the equipment or system loses optimum able investment in time to identify the appro-
tions. The goals in performing such procedures performance. priate maintenance regime for the facility. This
are to prevent failures in service and to Predictive maintenance techniques can be type of programme may be best suited for
prolong the life of the equipment or system. especially valuable for sophisticated equip- large, complex operations, but once imple-
This type of system typically provides the ment that is critical to a facility’s operation. mented can be cost-effective because targeted
advantage of a defined framework in which However, predictive maintenance may require and appropriate activities are applied across
maintenance activities can take place on a specialised equipment and training, which may the entire facility.
34 | march - april 2013 Grain &feed millinG technoloGy

5. FEATURE
Maintenance case study What specific areas do you consider What are the consequences of not
Name: Tom Smolen when thing about maintenance? planning maintenance work?
Job title: Plant Manager All are critical to an operation. How can A dirty operation and one that cannot stay
Company: Kent Nutrition Group we do better, whether by new equipment operational.
Country: USA or by changing how we utilize the existing
equipment to perform better? Can we How do you balance schedule
change something to improve our opera- planned repairs and up-grades with
Can you give a short overview of what tion? Sanitation is critical since our end emergencies?
you do? user is the consumer and they are buying Emergencies take priority but we plan our
I manage the overall operations of a live- the animals we manufacture for, so we maintenance to avoid having the emergen-
stock feed mill. We produce all types of need to consider the overall nature of our cies. Doing the inspections and lubrications
animal feeds in meal and pelleted forms. product and follow GMP’s and HACCP keep us ahead of emergencies.
We are a one-shift operation, producing fundamentals.
product five days a week. What are the biggest problems you
Most companies are concerned about have related to maintenance? How do
How do you manage different types of keeping costs down. How can good you deal with them?
maintenance? maintenance play a part in this? Budgets. We plan our maintenance so
Maintenance is a wide variety of forms, It is always easier and cheaper to plan we can follow our budget. As we follow
preventative, inspection, emergency, downtime on a piece of equipment, than our schedule we adjust our priorities
and training. When managing an oper- have the equipment go down and now you and may have to put off some items
ation you need to be sure all aspects need to spend excess time to either get it until we can better afford to do it. That
are covered. As new pieces of equip- running and come back later to fix it, or does not mean we disregard mainte-
ment are introduced, you need to overtime to fix it right. A well maintained nance on items, we just delay some
ensure your maintenance staff are up- plant runs smoother and stays cleaner. upgrades.
to-date on looking after it. Downtime
needs to be scheduled and planned for How important is it to have a How much of an issue is downtime due
within the parameters of production. maintenance schedule? to maintenance?
Everything revolves around customer It is critical. When costs are tight, mainte- Almost non-existent.
service and quality. A mill needs the nance always seems to be the first thing to
equipment functioning properly to cut back on. But if one has a schedule to What advice would you give to millers
deliver a quality product when the follow, then you can also plan your costs to ensure effective maintenance?
customer needs it. and control your budget better. Just do it.
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Grain &feed millinG technoloGy march - april 2013 | 35

7. This digital Re-print is part of the March | April 2013 edition of Grain & Feed
Milling Technology magazine.
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