Industrial Maintenance Solutions

This article provides an overview of the nine main types of maintenance, ranging from preventive to corrective maintenance and everything in between. Although specific terminology may vary, it's important to ensure that everyone is talking about the same thing and that the underlying principles are clear. Whether you refer to it as condition-based maintenance or predictive maintenance, what matters most is that we can have a meaningful conversation about when and how to use it. As such, this article also explores the appropriate applications of condition-based maintenance. Many people have questions about the different types of maintenance, so this quick overview provides a helpful starting point: There are nine distinct types of maintenance, which can be classified into two main categories: Preventive Maintenance and Corrective Maintenance.   Preventive Maintenance is performed proactively before any equipment failure occurs. This category encompasses: Time-Based Maintenance (TBM)...

WHAT IS MAINTENANCE 4.0? Industry 4.0 is a name given to the current trend of automation and data exchange in industrial technologies. It includes the Industrial Internet of things (IIoT), wireless sensors, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Industry 4.0 is commonly referred to as the fourth industrial revolution. Maintenance 4.0 is a machine-assisted digital version of all the things we have been doing for the past forty years as humans to ensure our assets deliver value for our organization. Maintenance 4.0 includes a holistic view of sources of data, ways to connect, ways to collect, ways to analyze and recommended actions to take in order to ensure asset function (reliability) and value (asset management) are digitally assisted. For example, traditional Maintenance 1.0 includes sending highly-trained specialists to collect machinery vibration analysis readings on pumps, motors and gearboxes. Maintenance 4.0 includes a wireless vibration sensor conne...

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...

By  Bryan Christiansen,  Limble CMMS. Source : maintworld.com Effective maintenance of equipment is a critical factor in delivering quality operations that provide timely resources at a minimal cost. However, those in the maintenance field understand that equipment reliability does not come easy.  Organizations need to set quality benchmarks to measure the current effectiveness and predict future performance and use the data obtained to understand where to make improvements.   One way to do this is by using different maintenance metrics to understand the equipment performance. These metrics are very important as they can mean the difference between achieving the overall business goals and explaining how unexpected breakdowns caused yet another production delay.   Maintenance Metrics You Should Be Measuring What are the maintenance metrics? There are two categories of maintenance key performance indicators which include the leading and lagging indicators....

Knowledge of effective troubleshooting practices can go a long way toward getting equipment back on line quickly. Unfortunately, due to many reasons troubleshooting occupies too much of a technician's time. You might consider these six key elements to improve your troubleshooting skills: Understand the system Understand the problem and history Eliminate the obvious Develop possible causes and theories Eliminate causes, start with what is easy, or likely Validate and document the solution Firstly, if you do not understand the system and how it functions, you will be thrashing around in the dark. I found the best time to understand was while the equipment was running and producing product. Time spent studying the process while the equipment was running paid huge benefits when issues arose. It was always beneficial to listen closely to what the operator saw, heard, noticed, and did, just before the problem occurred. I learned quickly that a good operator was a great asset. ...

An effective maintenance system includes the following elements: Maintenance Policy Control of materials Preventive Maintenance Condition Monitoring Work Order Job planning Priority and backlog control Data recording system Performance measurement measures or indices Maintenance performance for a plant or an organization can be assessed through analysis of Reliability, Availability and Maintainability (RAM) plant data. Relevant parameters, measures or indices for specific plants can be identified. The performance over a period of time will show if it is improving, going down or being sustained. This will also help in knowing how well the objectives are being met. In addition, it will guide the areas which are strong and which need to be strengthened. Use of computers and dedicated software will certainly help in implementing this and the maintenance management system in general.

Following are the major functions of a maintenance department • Maintenance of installed equipment and facilities • Installations of new equipment and facilities • PM tasks – Inspection and lubrication of existing equipment • CM tasks – monitoring of faults and failures using appropriate techniques • Modifications of already installed equipment and facilities • Management of inventory • Supervision of manpower • Keeping records

A maintenance strategy or option means a scheme for maintenance, i.e. an elaborate and systematic plan of maintenance action. Following are the maintenance strategies that are commonly applied in the plants. • Breakdown Maintenance or Operate to Failure or Unplanned Maintenance • Preventive or Scheduled Maintenance • Predictive or Condition Based Maintenance • Opportunity Maintenance • Design out Maintenance

The term ‘maintenance’ means to keep the equipment in operational condition or repair it to its operational mode. Main objective of the maintenance is to have increased availability of production systems, with increased safety and optimized cost.