Maintenance - To Maintain, Keep, Preserve, Protect
by Terry Taylor
Recently, I saw a sign in a plant that read – “MAINTENANCE – TO MAINTAIN, KEEP, PRESERVE, PROTECT”
This might not be your view of maintenance. It is, however, the view of maintenance to take if equipment is expected to be reliable and operate at the lowest possible cost. But if that’s not what you want, then you can do whatever you wish and define maintenance anyway you want. For those of us who desire to take the higher road, good maintenance can actually be a very boring activity. At least this is true most of the time. And good maintenance begins with a proactive approach to maintain, keep, preserve and protect the equipment. The most fundamental proactive system to maintain, keep, preserve and protect the equipment is a comprehensive Preventative Maintenance program. So what does that mean? Preventive Maintenance (PM) consists of many parts. Let’s break it down into two primary components. The first is what IDCON calls Essential Care. The second area is Condition Monitoring. Essential Care is PM that relates to the Prevention of Failures. This is analogous to checking the air pressure in the tires on your car or changing the engine oil on a routine basis. In industry these tasks are generally noted as lubrication, cleaning, adjusting, operating, etc. Condition Monitoring is the part of PM relating to the Detection of Failures. This is analogous to checking the wear profile of the tires on your car. The wear profile of the tires can be how you detect failures (i.e. problems) with front-end components. In industry these tasks are generally divided into one of two categories. The tasks are either Objective or Subjective. Objective tasks usually involve some type of technology and a physical tool that once applied to the component, with the knowledge of a trained and competent person, impending failures can be detected. Subjective tasks usually involve the human senses of hearing, seeing, smelling, feeling, etc. The detection of failures is subjective in that, based on a persons senses, it is their opinion that a failure is occurring. While some people believe they have a very good and sound PM program, it is a good practice to have others evaluate the existing program with an unbiased viewpoint. Preventive Maintenance is a complex subject and involves the application of the right maintenance tasks at the right time by qualified personnel. Could your Preventive Maintenance program use a tune-up? Contact us today for a Deep Dive PM Assessment.