Table of Contents
- Preventive Maintenance
- Predictive Maintenance
What are the Benefits of Planned Maintenance?
Steps to Implement Planned Maintenance
What is Planned Maintenance (in TPM)
A planned maintenance is described as a proactive approach and staying ready for equipment maintenance before its downtime or disruption. Be it preventing failures by following a schedule or making recovery plans if and when an equipment fails, planned maintenance suggests that you have set a roadmap and strategy in place rather than waiting for the crisis to occur and then take action.
The planned maintenance which is a part and pillar of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) includes sorting out one’s maintenance activities around laid-out procedures, available parts, and workflows instead of panicking when the problem arises. Through planned maintenance, you and your team follow an established process that reduces equipment downtime and lower costs.
Why is Planned Maintenance Crucial?
1. Enhances Equipment Uptime & Availability
Planned maintenance ensures that an equipment downtime is reduced significantly by regular scheduling of preventive maintenance tasks. When an organisation proactively follows and addresses critical issues before failures and breakdown, they save costs and time. By doing so, a production shop floor can ensure that crucial equipment is fully functional and is available when it is required the most.
2. Minimises Unplanned Downtime & Breakdowns
A dreadful situation arises when an unplanned downtime halts production and delays delivery time. Such production losses are hard to recover plus one also incurs equipment repair expenses. But using a full-fledged comprehensive maintenance planning process, organisations can reduce the risk of unplanned downtime, leading to improved operational continuity.
3. Optimizes Resource Allocation & Utilization
With planned maintenance, organisations have more freedom to allocate resources effectively since they get clarity over maintenance requirements and schedules. This also allows maintenance teams to use tools, personnel, and materials due to enhanced resource allocation which results in productivity and lowers wastage.
4. Improves Equipment Longevity and Reliability
Proactive regular maintenance schedules identify and resolve equipment challenges from the get-go. By conducting preventive maintenance, organisations can identify and replace obsolete parts, lubricate machinery, and examine any potential issues that may harm the equipment in the long run. This reduces the failure and downtime rate of the equipment and expands its longevity.
5. Ensures Safety for Workers & Equipment
Planned maintenance ensures a working environment for workers and equipment. Timely inspections and quick resolution of critical issues by identifying potential hazards, preventing accidents and risk of injuries. This creates a safe work environment for employees.
What are the two types of Planned Maintenance?
- Preventive maintenance: Preventive maintenance (PM) is a proactive approach to maintenance that helps prevent unexpected equipment failures.
- Predictive maintenance: Predictive maintenance helps predict the future potential state of equipment. This determines when maintenance operations should be performed.
What are the Benefits of Planned Maintenance?
TPM’s pillar of Planned Maintenance provides measurable benefits that enhance your production shop floor’s performance and productivity.
- Prevention of Downtime: Your frontline workers identify problems and resolve them as quickly as possible.
- Expansion of Asset’s Life: Regular maintenance keeps assets running efficiently well which enhances their longevity.
- Reduction in Maintenance Costs: Emergency repairs always come with a big bill, but with planned maintenance ordering earlier means reduction in costs.
- Enhancing Workplace Safety: Equipment that is well-maintained operates safely. Regular inspections catch potential threats before they become accidents.
- Boosts Worker’s Morale: Less equipment failure meaning less crisis management. This allows your workers to concentrate better.
Steps to Implement Planned Maintenance
- Identification of Equipment Failure Modes: There are different ways in which an equipment can break therefore one needs to identify all its failure modes.
- Inspect Equipment: Understand how much maintenance tasks an equipment will require for example what tools/parts are required.
- Define Work Methodology: One must create an easy-to-follow procedure for each maintenance task. This includes safety requirements and quality flashpoints.
- Prioritise Maintenance: Not every maintenance is urgent or requires immediate attention. Make your priorities clear and handle those tasks to ensure your facility is running smoothly.
- Schedule Work: Assign recurring work that causes the least disruption to in-house operations.
- Asset Management System: Create and implement an asset management system that has a database of your information in one single place. Make this management system easily accessible for workers.
- Track KPIs: Key performance indicators (KPIs) are critical to help you measure the success of your planned maintenance program and identify areas for improvement. Without monitoring and implementing changes, the entire exercise will be futile.
Any decision to halt an equipment use depends on KPIs. They either signal a decline in performance (such as increasing breakdown frequency, rising parts costs, longer repair times, and decreased reliability despite regular maintenance). If these indicators show a consistent poor record, a timely replacement of the equipment is certainly better than exhausting resources on regular maintenance.
If you want to know more about planned maintenance or Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), contact ribcon.com, they are an expert TPM consultancy firm.
