Let us start with a very basic definition of Maintenace. Maintenance is the process of Functional Checks, Servicing, Repairing or replacing the equipment, devices, Machinery, Building, Infrastructure or utilities of Residential, Commercial or Industrial Installation over a period of time.
Its intention is to retain or restore the equipment, Device or machinery, building, Infrastructure of its serviceability in a specified state to perform the desired functions.
There are certain checks & tests like change in sound, colour, smell (burning), Taste, visual or system monitors which indicates the health problems associated with the functional unit in question. Any deviation from the normal course should be seriously diagnosed, (just like the Doctor diagnosed its patient for a particular disease or organ failure) & immediately remedial actions are needed like Servicing, Repairing or even Overhaul.
Let us now discuss, different types of Maintenance:.
There are three basic types of Maintenance:
- Preventive Maintenance
- Corrective Maintenance
- Predictive Maintenance
Let us elaborate each of them, one by one:
Preventive Maintenance:
As we know that Prevention is better than cure. The same principle applies here. It is time bound Maintenance say daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, half yearly & yearly. Sometimes three years or six years (Over Hauling of the equipment in question)..
A schedule of Maintenance is prepared & it is strictly followed so that small small things are cured with less money & time. This avoids any major breakdown to happen to the concerned equipment & enhancing the total life of the concerned functional device or equipment.
Advantages:
- Increase life of the productive equipment.
- saving of Money
- Prevention of Breakdown & hence increasing the production
Predictive Maintenance
we have to predict the time at which maintenance has to to be performed. This type of Maintenance is done with high traffic production plant & where the final products is inter dependent upon various production departments e.g in car production unit sequence is something like this – Sheet metal treatment, metal cutting,& Moulding, Painting, Fitting of the components( assembly), testing of the final product, Delivery of the product. Such types of plants have multi redundancy system or at least N+1. If one unit fails another is there to cope up so that the ultimately production is not suffered during maintenance period or equipment repair or replacement.
We can say it is a condition based maintenance system suggested by the estimation of the degradation of the concerned equipment. Its main purpose is convenient scheduling of corrective maintenance & to prevent unexpected equipment failure.
In this type of maintenance the equipment functioning well may also be replaced with new one due to tax benefit based replacement policy. These items are donated to tax exempted institutions.
Condition based monitoring is based on equipments health condition by close monitoring of the equipment & maintenance is performed at the right time when it is required.
Advantages:
- Cost saving over time based Preventive Maintenance.
- Less spare parts management. (Inventory).
- Less system downtime.
Disadvantages:
- High instigation cost of condition based management (CBM).
- Unpredictable Maintenance Period.
- CBM installation itself needs checking & testing.
Corrective Maintenance:
As the name suggests itself, it is done after the breakdown of the particular equipment occurs & is rectified after the repairing or replacement of the spare parts or equipment as a whole. This is comparatively most expensive of all as this may in turn damage the other equipment working down line e.g if a motor is driving the bucket conveyor & suddenly due to bearing fault or supply fault motor got stuck, This may result in damaging of the loaded buckets( practically faced).
Due to Technological advancement in the field of monitoring of equipment, possibly through sensors, Instrumentation & available historical data for breakdown analysis, the trend has now changed & the Predictive Maintenance is preferred over Preventive Maintenance now a days.
Importance of Maintenance:
Regular Maintenance of its assets is the key to success for any production or utility plant.& we can optimized our system for minimum breakdown time or failure.
The word maintenance doesn’t always means repair but it is process of regular follow ups to keep the equipment up to date & in healthy working condition, This requires continuous inspections & system monitoring.
The main aim of equipment maintenance is to maintain the functionality of the equipment and to minimize its breakdowns.
For mechanical equipment, the maintenance management will involve repair, replacement, and serving of tools. It also ensures the proper working and to intercept fluctuations that occur in the duration of the production process.
The fact remains that, any kind of change even a minor downtime could reduce the overall efficiency of machines which would lead to heavy production losses.
Therefore, it is important for organizations today to get and implement a good maintenance plan / schedule
Poor maintenance strategies may lead to the following dreadful consequences:
- Production loss
- Rescheduling of production plans due to breakdowns
- Material wastage.
- Over time of labor.
- Disposal of machinery and equipment before the end of its useful life.
- Damage to property ( in case of fire through short circuit or accidental Petro chemical / raw or waste material fire)
- loss of life ( Short circuit Fire or Petro chemical / raw or waste material fire)
In case the proper maintenance programme is followed, it would ensure:
- Enhanced Machine Efficiency
- Increased Production.
- Operator and Machine Safety.
- More Earnings or Profits.
- Time Saving
- Better quality
Role of Maintenance Management / personnel:
- To schedules the maintenance work after consulting the concerned production departments.
- To carry out the repairs and corrects the planned equipment to achieve the highest level of availability and optimum operational efficiency.
- To ensures scheduled inspection, lubrication & oil checking, and adjustment of all the machinery and equipment.
- To document and maintains the record of every maintenance activity i.e., repairs, replacement, overhauls, modifications, and lubrication, etc.
- To maintains and carry out repairs of buildings, utilities, material handling equipment and other service facilities such as electrical installations, sewers, central stores, and roadways, etc.
- To carry out and facilitates the regular inspections of equipment and facilities..
- To prepare the inventory list of spare parts and materials that are required for the maintenance.
- To ensure the cost-effective maintenance.
- To forecast the maintenance expenditure and prepare a budget and to adhere to it
- To implement safety standards as needed for the use of specific equipment such as boilers, overhead cranes and chemical plants, etc.
- To develop the management information systems for ongoing Maintenance activities.
- To monitor the equipment’s condition at regular intervals.
- To ensure proper inventory control of spare parts and other materials as required.
- To develop, maintenance policies, procedures, and standards.
Conclusion:
Maintenance helps in guiding the physical performance of the equipment with its related activities and efficiencies regarding their maintenance.
Therefore, document all your activities thoroughly, track the repaired history and calculate depreciation for timely disposal.