Maintenance is an essential part of any organization's operations. It helps to ensure that assets, machines, and equipment are functioning properly and efficiently. However, it is not enough to simply perform maintenance tasks. To ensure that maintenance is successful, it is important to have a well-planned maintenance plan in place.
A good maintenance plan should include four key elements: managing work orders, empowering with technology, obtaining asset and maintenance information, and transitioning from a reactive to a proactive maintenance approach. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the way maintenance departments operate. From the initial closures to the adaptation and reopening with new established procedures, several challenges and changes have occurred. Some of these changes have become permanent, making it even more important for organizations to have an effective maintenance plan in place.
A well-planned preventive maintenance (PM) program can offer substantial savings. Studies show that preventive maintenance can save facilities up to 18% on maintenance costs.
Managing Work Orders
A work order is a document that provides details about a maintenance task and describes the process for completing it. There are four key types of maintenance management strategies: continuous maintenance until failure, preventive maintenance, predictive maintenance, and reliability-focused maintenance.To implement a maintenance strategy that works until failure, you can use paper-based systems or spreadsheets. However, if you combine this strategy with others, it is recommended to use a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) to track the number of times an asset has been repaired or replaced and all the costs associated with it. A CMMS can also be used to track the inventory of spare parts needed to support your maintenance strategy from start to failure.
Predictive Maintenance
Predictive maintenance (PdM) aims to predict faults before they occur so that maintenance can be carried out at the right time.The PdM uses data from the machine's sensors and intelligent technology to alert the maintenance team when equipment is at risk of failure. For example, a sensor can use vibration analysis to alert the team that equipment is at risk of failure, at which point it will be disconnected, inspected, and repaired accordingly. Reliability Centered MaintenanceReliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) addresses the fact that faults are not always linear. The RCM is a very complex process that seeks to analyze all possible failure modes for each equipment and customize a maintenance plan for each individual machine.
The ultimate goal of RCM is to increase the availability or reliability of equipment. Effective maintenance planning is essential for the overall success of the maintenance environment. The content of the plan should include details about the actual work, instructions, schedule, workers, spare parts, and contractors. It should also include preventive maintenance tasks which help organizations reduce unplanned downtime, increase asset reliability, minimize maintenance costs, and improve operations.
Most organizations reduce downtime with scheduled maintenance tasks and regular equipment inspections. The CMMS software can help facilitate this process by tracking all aspects of the maintenance process from start to finish. The ultimate goal of any organization's maintenance management function is to reduce costs while ensuring that assets are functioning properly and efficiently. To achieve this goal, it is important to have an organized way to manage and monitor all aspects of the maintenance process.
Without a section that lists the spare parts needed for each task in the plan, it will be difficult to budget for your organization's overall maintenance program. Maintenance costs can be reduced by providing timely preventive or predictive maintenance to assets, machines, and equipment. The FTMaintenance software can help track these costs by tracking the costs of both preventive and corrective work as well as MRO inventory purchases. Finally, it is important for organizations to demonstrate the set of skills needed for each task in order for their assets to be maintained efficiently.
While some organizations rely on an execution-to-failure strategy for their assets, most prefer to perform more preventive than corrective maintenance. By following these four goals of a successful maintenance plan – managing work orders, empowering with technology, obtaining asset and maintenance information, and transitioning from a reactive to a proactive approach – organizations can ensure that their assets are functioning properly and efficiently while reducing costs.
