BY BRYAN CHRISTIANSEN.
Mechanical components in a factory require the most attention from a maintenance perspective, as they have a high propensity to fail, making it a high priority for maintenance teams. In turn, it is always better to prevent failures than resort to reactive maintenance.
It is important to note that routine checks help in preventing mechanical troubles in the factory. Let’s look at some of the most prevalent mechanical failures experienced by machines in a factory. While also considering how routine checks have the potential to be an antidote to mechanical failures. Different forces act on mechanical components while they are in operation. They work in an environment where interaction with other components and people in the factory is necessary. Such factors cause mechanical failures.
Common
mechanical failures and their causes
Wear
and tear:
The most common mechanical problem experienced in any machine is the wear and
tear of components. When machines are in operation, there are frictional forces
acting between components. This friction causes material degradation of
components.
Materials degrade to an extent where
they can no longer perform their functions. Another risk is the sudden failure
of the component while it is in operation. Components experiencing wear and
tear need to be replaced before they evolve into a larger failure.
Overheating: Mechanical
components in operation generally produce heat. This is due to friction when
two surfaces slide against each other. Machines are designed to factor in this
heat due to frictional forces.
Overheating is an indication of some
fault in the machine. The root cause could be improper installation, lack of
lubrication, or leakage of coolant. You need to perform root-cause analysis to
identify the underlying cause that is manifested as overheating and rectify it.
Mistakes
from operators:
Machine operators can perform their tasks erroneously, causing mechanical
problems. This could be due to a lack of training or experience of the
operator. The operations teams might not have standard operating procedures
(SOP) in place, leading to errors from operators, damaging mechanical
components. Establishing SOPs and enforcing them with checklists reduces the
mistakes performed by operators. Increased automation is another way of
eliminating the potential for operator mistakes.
Improper
maintenance:
Machines and machine components each have a limited life, which depends on
regular maintenance and upkeep performed. Scheduled maintenance activities must
be done to make sure machines and their components are utilized to their full
potential. Regular maintenance and replacement of worn-out components is
required to prevent mechanical failures and extend machine life.
Why
perform routine checks?
Routine checks are performed to inspect
machines and their components for any sign that could indicate a future
failure. Routine checks are performed as a preventive measure.
Trained maintenance professionals and
operators inspect machines in operation and in an idle state. They are looking
for signs of material degradation. You also need to check for any anomalies
such as odd sounds, bangs, sparks, and unexpected output.
The anomalies identified must be
investigated to find their cause. Rectifying them avoids mechanical failures
and the costs that damage could cause. Routine checks help to identify smaller
faults that have not manifested to a noticeable scale. Rectifying such faults
in a timely manner ensures potential large failures do not happen.
Positive
impacts of routine checks include:
Downtime
Routine checks help to identify small
faults before they grow large enough to cause machine failure. When such faults
are identified, maintenance can be scheduled in such a manner that it does not
affect factory operations.
Rectifying the problems eliminates the
chance of unscheduled downtime. This will ensure that maintenance activities
can be performed to cause minimal disruption to factory operations.
Maintenance
frequency
Routine checks force the maintenance
team to identify the root cause of any small faults that occur. When the faults
are minor, they will be observed closer to the root cause. In operations where
routine checks are not done, you will get to know of faults only when a large
failure occurs.
The root cause of problems becomes
difficult to identify. Reactive maintenance in most cases will be able to patch
up problems at the surface level. The root cause will be the origin of more
failures that will require regular maintenance and machine downtime. Routine
checks will help to catch mistakes in the start, reducing the maintenance needs
of machines.
Wastage
Mechanical faults cause wastage in many
forms. Increased energy consumption for operations is a common effect of
mechanical trouble. The consumed energy could be electrical energy or heat from
the combustion of fossil fuels.
Similarly, mechanical faults can cause
an increased consumption of raw materials, lubricants, and coolants. Wastage
can be avoided with routine checks and rectifying even minor mechanical faults
that are observed. This ensures sustainable plant operations and an increased
utilization ratio of resources.
Machine
life
Machine life depends on many factors in
its operations. Minor faults are unavoidable in any machine operation.
Sustaining the faults without any rectification damages the machine. Larger
catastrophic failures could also happen due to the compounding of smaller
faults. These factors adversely affect the life of the machine.
Routine checks help to catch smaller
anomalies and defects before they become a larger failure. Routine checks help
in performing preventive maintenance, making the machine more robust compared
to its counterparts that undergo reactive maintenance.
Scheduling
routine checks
Routine checks are indispensable for
proper operations and the maintenance of machines in a factory. They come with
many benefits that save a lot of time, energy, and money.
You need to incorporate routine checks
as part of regular machine operations. Create a checklist of tasks that must be
performed on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to inspect the health of
machines. Making these checklists accessible to all maintenance and operations
teams is a wise idea.
This helps anyone interested in
following and performing routine checks. A cloud-based computerized maintenance
management system (CMMS) is ideal for maintaining the checklist for routine
checks.
Bryan Christiansen is the Founder and
CEO at Limble CMMS (a mobile CMMS software company). He can be reached at
bryan@ limblecmms.com.
MROMAGAZINE.COM / SEPTEMBER 2022
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