A good management of industrial maintenance should always act so that a piece of equipment has the highest possible availability. Likewise, with the service life and performance indexes of the components. Therefore, it is important to know how to choose the maintenance strategies that bring the best results.
Many companies wait for failures to occur before intervening in the equipment. But, is this the best decision?
The answer depends on a few factors:
- kind of equipment,
- how critical it is to the process,
- maintenance team experience,
- company size,
- occupation area,
- costs involved.
But to decide on the best strategy, you first need to understand what it is and which ones exist.
What are maintenance strategies?
Maintenance strategies are actions defined through the maintenance plan, which together organize and guarantee the quality of activities. These actions direct the maintenance sector to the most appropriate type of maintenance for the equipment.
There are at least 10 maintenance methods on industrial equipment:
- corrective,
- preventive,
- Predictive,
- prescriptive,
- Detective,
- Autonomous,
- Based on Conditions,
- By the way,
- stop,
- Totally productive.
However, contrary to what many professionals think, these are not maintenance strategies .
Let’s explain better.
From management we have that a strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a specific objective. Defines ideas, tactics, indicators, schedule and necessary resources.
The way an action will be done or proceed is tactics . In this sense, the types of maintenance are the tactics for operating the equipment.
Maintenance strategies for industrial equipment can be defined as follows:
- prevent failure from happening (proactive maintenance) or
- act after the failure occurs (reactive maintenance).
Understand better how each of them works. At the end you will know the best strategy for your company.
Proactive maintenance strategies
Proactive maintenance is a machine and equipment maintenance strategy aimed at preventing problems and maximizing efficiency.
That is, it acts to identify potential problems before they occur , as well as to develop plans to correct them when they arise.
The focus is on the reliability of the equipment and, for that, it uses analysis and monitoring practices to identify failures even in the initial stages.
A proactive maintenance strategy benefits companies looking to:
1. Maximize the efficiency of machines and equipment,
2. Prevent problems with unplanned downtime, and
3. Improve asset reliability.
It is indicated for critical equipment . Those that cannot stop outside the schedule, that impact production or that have high added value.
The main types of maintenance that are part of this strategy are: preventive maintenance, predictive maintenance, prescriptive maintenance and condition-based maintenance.
The important point here is to understand that industrial maintenance is no longer a “fix or replace” activity.
For a company to be competitive today, it is necessary to ensure efficiency in its production processes. This will require that your machines and equipment not stop on schedule.
How to ensure greater availability of assets?
Investing in reliability-centered maintenance techniques that can predict whether failure will occur. Thus, they can determine the best time for the equipment to stop and only replace a component when it reaches its potential failure stage.
As an example, we have:
- vibration analysis,
- thermography,
- noise rise analysis,
- industrial ultrasound,
- industrial endoscopy,
- chemical analysis of lubricants,
- monitoring with sensors, among others.
Note that this type of maintenance strategy makes it possible to take full advantage of the useful life of the components. In addition to allowing you to plan the best time to replace parts.
Reactive maintenance strategies
This type of maintenance strategy waits for failure to occur before taking action. It is basically unplanned corrective maintenance.
One must be very careful when choosing this modality. It is not recommended for any device.
It is expensive for the company, as it involves unscheduled downtime of machines and equipment . This has a direct impact on costs, and may even bring financial losses.
It is also important to point out that it does not solve problems definitively, it only corrects existing flaws.
That is, problems can happen again, which means that the company will have to face the same costs and inconvenience again.
Definitely not the best strategy when trying to find the source of a problem.
What caused the failure? Was it natural wear, poor quality components or lack of lubrication?
Without monitoring and follow-up, it will be difficult to answer these questions.
Industrial maintenance must be a strategic sector in companies.
It can be clearly seen that maintenance strategies will directly interfere with a company’s financial results.
The industrial maintenance sector is an important part of any industry, as it helps to ensure the proper functioning of equipment and, consequently, productivity.
When a company understands that the maintenance sector is strategic, it is taking better care of its assets.
Ensuring that they have greater overall efficiency, longer service life and fewer interventions in the process.
A Fortune Global 500 study shows that industries lose 8% of their revenue annually to unscheduled shutdowns.
Therefore, the industrial maintenance sector must have strategic importance in large industries in order to support the overall success of the business.
Companies that do not invest in this will continue to face the consequences of unplanned downtime.
Don’t want your company to go through this? Or do you prefer your equipment to stop unplanned?
Then, learn about our solutions in component supply and predictive service contracts. Prevent unscheduled downtime from causing damage to your company.
ABECOM is the only SKF CMP distributor that has an asset management room to serve customers with active contracts. In it, our specialists monitor your equipment to ensure that it will always be in full working order. Contact us and learn more.
Source: ABECOM
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