Every business involved in any level of manufacturing understs that their maintenance efforts are directly correlated with how effective their operations can run. Though every business will need different maintenance needs met, there are two major strategies that businesses adapt in regards to maintenance. Preventive predictive maintenance are these two methods this post will detail them in length.
Finding the right strategy for your organization can be tricky, so it’s imperative to underst how these strategies operate how they can potentially benefit your business. Preventive maintenance seems like the best place to start as it is the more common of the two. This strategy approaches maintenance as a one-size-fits-all dynamic. Meaning that each piece of an organization’s equipment will possess a maintenance interval derived from its characteristics flaws. So, while every interval is bound to be different, they’re derived the same way. For example, newer pieces of equipment will likely require less maintenance than older pieces of equipment, perhaps one check-up throughout the year. Whereas the older pieces of equipment an organization owns will likely require more check-ups throughout the year.
Alternatively, for companies hoping to more efficiently schedule maintenance, predictive maintenance has become a much more popular approach to ensuring the status integrity of any piece of equipment. Predictive maintenance requires a highly integrated set of systems that connect to an organization’s machines. These systems then collect analyze the output data of these machines to indicate when each machine would require maintenance. Much more efficient, for the companies that can afford to implement these systems. Unfortunately, the barriers of entry for these systems can be too high for a great deal of organizations.
While their costs continue to be exorbitant, predictive maintenance strategies are becoming increasingly easier to implement in many manufacturing operations. Prior to widespread adoption of this strategy, Internet of Things capabilities were limited for manufacturing equipment. As the number of these technologies integrated into manufacturing operations increases, so do their capabilities in the space. More more capabilities are able to arise as a result of these connections. For example, machinery can feed equipment managers the necessary data that allows them to underst when their machines are in need of maintenance. Through proper analysis of this data managers are able to better predict when their equipment will face some form of failure how to better avoid that failure in the future in order to reduce extended periods of downtime.
While predictive maintenance specializes in reducing equipment failure downtime, it may not be the solution to your organization’s issues. With the costs of these systems often being too high for organizations, many will fail to ever be able to afford them. Those that are able to must face the challenge of integrating these systems into their operations. This is no easy task; in fact it will require a rigid training of existing employees. Despite all of these challenges, the innovation of these systems can all but ensure an increase in efficiency.
Feeling as though your manufacturing operation could benefit from a reconsideration of its maintenance principles? There’s a lot more to learn than what you’d ever find in this post. To learn more about the ways your organization can adjust its maintenance efforts, be sure to spend some time checking out the infographic included below courtesy of Industrial Service Solutions.