If you don't want your factory to go up in smoke, preventive maintenance is going to be your best friend. By regularly tracking how effective your equipment is and repairing your factory machinery, you can avoid costly breakdowns and keep your business running smoothly.
Most manufacturers confuse breakdown maintenance and preventive maintenance where maintenance is only performed when the machine malfunctions while they don't realise prevention is better than cure. Now that we know how vital preventative maintenance is for manufacturing and factories (really any endeavour), no matter how big and complex, or small and simple - we need to understand the types of preventative maintenance to know when and how they would be applicable.
Types of Preventive Maintenance
- Time-based
- Usage-based
- Condition-based
- Predictive maintenance
- Prescriptive maintenance
The first 3 types of maintenance (time, usage, condition) work together and should be implemented simultaneously. Predictive and prescriptive maintenance two require a more developed maintenance program and most times do not need to be implemented.
Most factories should not jump right to prescriptive maintenance as it's usually more effective to move up the types as your maintenance program becomes better and more comprehensive.
1. Time-Based Maintenance: Establishing a Maintenance Activity Calendar
Time-based maintenance is the simplest of the preventative maintenance types and is best performed under manufacturer recommendations at regular intervals. The actual maintenance can vary according to machine requirements as some machines require a level of daily maintenance supported by intensive periodic maintenance, while others can operate for a longer time without any significant maintenance. Either way, the maintenance should be at a set predetermined time and must be honoured once made.
If a piece of equipment is to be serviced monthly, then the shutdown of that machine must be accounted for in your maintenance planning. Preventative maintenance requires discipline, as it becomes easier to put off the maintenance each time you put it off for another day.
2. Usage-Based Maintenance: Replacing Parts After a Certain Amount of Usage
Usage-based maintenance shares several features with time-based maintenance: it should occur at regular intervals, must be performed under the manufacturer’s recommendation, and the maintenance team needs to stick to the established usage.
The only difference is, as indicated by the title, usage-based maintenance depends on the usage, rather than time, for the changes. A good example of usage-based maintenance would be auto maintenance, tires should be replaced after a certain number of miles driven; not necessarily how much time has passed. Similarly, parts for certain machines need to be replaced if the right criteria has been met.
Pushing beyond these requirements could cause machine breakdowns and employee injuries.
3. Condition-Based Maintenance: Replacing Parts When They Stop Functioning Appropriately.
Condition-based maintenance is dependent on regular checks by both the maintenance team and by individual operators. When you're preparing for your factory to start operations, regular time-based and usage-based maintenance must be scheduled and consistently supplied. Typical ways to know if there is an issue are a visual check (does it look right?), noise (should it be making the noise?), and output (quality and capacity shortfalls).
4. Predictive Maintenance: Using Historical Data to Make Predictions About The Future
Now we come to the more complex methods of preventive maintenance. Predictive maintenance requires data collection to see when a machine moves away from a predetermined acceptable output within a certain variation. As the variation increases, the machine can warn the operator that it needs maintenance. The advantage of this system is that it allows the factory to find problems and fix them before it costs the factory production or leads to a safety issue.
5. Prescriptive Maintenance: Data Analysis on Equipment Condition to Come Up With Specialised Recommendations
Prescriptive maintenance should be seen as the more advanced version of predictive maintenance. It uses advanced data analytics to anticipate the performance of the machine and make changes throughout the production process to better understand the machine’s operations and keep it in top performance.
Bottom Line
Preventative maintenance is critical to all manufacturing operations and the consistent application of even the most basic operations can yield impressive results.
Find out how a preventive maintenance system can cut costs by clicking the link below.
