Our training partners at Pioneer Engineering have created a few tips your organization can implement aimed at cutting costs without sacrificing quality and productivity.

Tip #1: Establish a Reliability Centered Maintenance Program

• A well-established Reliability Centered Maintenance Program helps identify correct maintenance tasks to increase the reliability of the assets and cut costs by eliminating unnecessary PM tasks.
• Reliability Centered Maintenance Programs assist in clarifying maintenance responsibility and prevent costly unplanned downtime.

Tip #2: Perform a Criticality Assessment of all Assets

• Criticality Assessments will determine which components are critical to an operation’s efficiency and should receive the focus.
• Criticality Assessments quantify safety, environmental, operation, and repair cost consequences in the event of a functional failure.
• Perform Criticality Assessments on your spare inventory. Do you have the correct spares and quantity of spares in stock? Do you have unnecessary spares in stock that take up warehouse space and tie up capital that could be used elsewhere?

Tip #3: Avoid Costly Repairs by Analyzing Vibration Data on a Consistent Basis

• The consistent analysis allows the ability to monitor trends and detect problems before catastrophic failure occurs.
• Consistent analysis and trending allow flexibility in scheduling maintenance and reduced maintenance costs by preventing unscheduled downtime.

Tip #4: Avoid Fixing Repeat Offenders by Completion of Root Cause Failure Analysis

• Root Cause Failure Analysis will determine the underlying problem causing the failure to determine the best course of action
• Many failures are caused by operational issues instead of equipment or maintenance issues. A minor process adjustment may increase reliability and reduce costs.

Tip #5: Ask Questions

• Vibration analysis and other PdM technologies can help identify a potential issue but sometimes can be difficult to understand. Do not be afraid to seek expert guidance when potential issues are identified.

Need help improving and/or establishing a maintenance program in your company? Don’t hesitate to ask us how. We are here to help.

Thanks to the entire PIONEER ENGINEERING team for allowing us to share this article with you.