Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/655822
FROM THE FIELD FROM THE FIELD 8 | March - April 2016 | www.machinerylubrication.com more, reactive maintenance is much costlier than proactive work. This is because reactive maintenance tasks tend to be complex, like tearing apart a gearbox to fix a bearing, whereas proactive mainte - nance tasks are relatively simple, such as sensory inspections and small corrections. Starting the Journey to Proactive Maintenance This type of change cannot be made with a simple flip of a switch. It will be a long, drawn-out process that is more of an evolution than a change. Even when all is said and done, you may never rid your- self of reactive maintenance work. However, you can significantly minimize unplanned repairs. Implementing an enterprise asset management/computerized maintenance management system (EAM/CMMS) that is customized to fit your organization's specific needs can help in shifting a reac- tive maintenance program to a proactive one. You will need a way to organize, measure and analyze lots of data. Without the help of software and the supporting structure behind it, your efforts will need to be multiplied many times. The main goal of this software is to help provide proper planning and sched- uling of your preventive and proactive maintenance. Maintenance costs can never be eradicated, but they can be redi- rected. You want to focus your time, money and energy on making sure that proactive tasks are being completed, because when done correctly, they will result in a massive reduction in reactive tasks. You are in effect trading complex, harder work (reactive maintenance) for easy, cost-effective work (proactive main- tenance). Software should be able to help facilitate this trade. Preventive Maintenance The first step toward proactive mainte- nance is using data from past experience to drive your maintenance timelines and deci- sions. For example, if you know a certain sump pump has a life expectancy of three years for its operational and environmental conditions, and you know this because you have data spanning back a decade, then it would be safe to say that you need to plan and schedule to replace or rebuild the pump at the 2.5-year mark. While this obviously is not the best case scenario, because you might be changing out a perfectly operational pump at the 2.5-year mark, this strategy can reduce overall costs in both the short and long term, as opposed to an unknown cata - strophic failure that occurs unexpectedly. This approach still requires significant manpower to perform tasks that at the time may seem unnecessary. However, this extra effort can pay off in the long run when things like production uptime and being able to plan the work are added to the equation. According to a case study by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, practicing periodic component replace - ment in the form of preventive maintenance saves an estimated 12 to 18 percent over reactive maintenance. Predictive Maintenance The next step toward proactive mainte- nance is being able to assess the machinery's current condition. Predictive maintenance will enable you to better plan corrective actions before the equipment experiences a catastrophic failure. A variety of technology tools can help with this, and the main goal of each is to measure failure symptoms or faults. These tools and technologies are usually non-in - vasive and can monitor machine and component conditions through direct monitoring and analysis. The one inherent flaw with this strategy is that in most cases you are measuring failure symptoms or faults. This means that by the time you have something to measure, the problem already exists. There is certainly great value in knowing that a problem exists and being able to perform corrective actions before it becomes cata - strophic, but you can do better. If your program has evolved to this point, a case study from NASA suggests you are saving up to 50 percent on maintenance costs compared to reactive maintenance. Proactive Maintenance Up to this point the evolutionary steps have been quite easy and gradual. Making the leap to proactive maintenance requires a change that is difficult for most organiza- tions to master because it requires a shift in thinking, processes, procedures and culture. Proactive maintenance doesn't focus on repairing machines or being more effective in performing corrective actions on machines that show signs of problems. Instead, it concentrates on eliminating the root causes of the issues. If you can elimi- nate the root causes, you won't have the 45% of plants utilize a proactive maintenance strategy, based on a recent poll at MachineryLubrication.com