Types of Maintenance in Manufacturing Plants
A highly valued part of any manufacturing plant or industry is the industrial maintenance process that they employ. Unfortunately, the majority of manufacturing facilities still use manufacturing maintenance practices from the past. It is time for them to realize that competitors are adopting more modern types of maintenance processes, and if they do not follow suit, they will be left in the dust.
The fact above raises some questions for facility managers, for example, how can we bring modern maintenance types into our plant? Or which method would be suitable for a particular kind of manufacturing?
To answer these questions, you simply have to learn about the different types of maintenance in manufacturing.
Reactive Maintenance
In the simplest of words, reactive maintenance is fixing things when they break. Strictly speaking, this isn’t the best approach to industrial maintenance. As it can happen suddenly. A part may fail, or a clog may occur in the machinery. You have to call a company like Capital Engineering Solutions to fix the problem. But depending on the issue, it can cause extended downtime and possible losses because of a halt in the production line. Most old-school plant owners and managers still employ this lossy methodology.
Preventive Maintenance
Sooner rather than later, you will realize that reacting and fixing things only when they break isn’t the most efficient way to do maintenance. A better solution would be a preventive maintenance method. According to a professional maintenance expert’s opinion, you can schedule maintenance and part replacement for machinery that requires regular updates. This process works for machinery that has affordable parts, and the wear and tear are predictable.
Usage-based Maintenance
If the machinery in your plant is used variably, then a usage-based maintenance strategy suits you better than preventive maintenance. There is a very low risk of downtime in facilities where usage-based maintenance is employed. You can save your money and avoid too many maintenance calls on machinery that is not used regularly.
Condition-based Maintenance
Data collection and monitoring machinery can help you employ the condition-based maintenance system at your facility. It is the most cost-effective method for maintenance as it removes the chance of over-maintenance and guesswork that comes with other maintenance methodologies.
You can look at cold hard data to determine if the machinery needs maintenance or not. Is the productivity or performance of machinery down? Are there signs of damage appearing on the machine?
You can connect various data gathering tools to determine the answers to this and create a monitoring system to observe the machinery. This way, machine failure, and long downtimes can be avoided.
Predictive Maintenance
If you want a more accurate type of maintenance than the ones mentioned above, you can employ predictive maintenance. It is a modern method using digital IoT devices, AI, and other tools to collect data about the machinery and accurately predict maintenance time.
You can look at the data and see how the tools you are using enable you to conduct machinery maintenance that is not too early and not too late. This way, you can avoid expensive downtime.
Prescriptive Maintenance
Prescriptive maintenance takes predictive maintenance to the next step. It uses the same modern technology and uses data to change machine usage to delay maintenance by prescribing a process of lightening the load, changing schedules, or reducing the machine’s uptime.
Basically, you will have AI telling you precisely what your machinery needs – be it maintenance or load maintenance. That’s the best thing your machinery needs.
So which method do you currently apply in your facility? And will you be switching to a new one after reading the information above? These are essential questions, and you can also discuss these with an expert from Capital Engineering Solutions and create a maintenance plan that will serve your industrial plant’s unique needs.
For more information on industrial maintenance services visit: Capital Engineering Solutions or Call us at 051-4446640