When any equipment is manufactured, the company makes sure that it can run for the longest period without suffering from failure or breakdown. However, with time, the various parts of any machine or appliance become rusty or tight due to excess oil and debris accumulation. In such cases, the damage spreads to different parts, thus leading to a complete breakdown. To get it back up and running, you would have to spend a huge amount in either repairing or replacing the parts or replacing the entire machine altogether.
You can prevent these hassles with several methods, preventive maintenance being one of them. Timely maintenance of any machine or equipment can prevent sudden failures and breakdowns which will also cut down the costs by a great extent. However, not everyone is aware of the concept of preventive maintenance and continue to operate the machine till it breaks down completely.
This is why in this article we will talk about the basic facts about this special type of maintenance and how it can help you in several ways.
What is preventive maintenance and how it is done?
When an equipment operates continuously for long hours, friction force is generated between the inner parts. Moreover, if the machine is running on any liquid fuel like petrol, oil, and so on, high chances are there that the soot along with unburnt particles will form a hard crust around the parts. Ignoring such issues can cause internal damage which will not only put the machine’s heath at stake but also reduce the efficiency and productivity.
This is where the concept of preventive maintenance comes into the scenario. Here, the equipment or machine pieces are kept under regular maintenance where the surfaces are cleaned, inner parts are lubricated, and any damage is instantly fixed before it can cause a failure.
PM or preventive maintenance also concerns keeping records of maintenance schedule to ensure that there is no delay. In addition, the PM reports also describe when the last professional servicing was done, the past damages, their repairing or replacement history and others aspects.
The planning phase of preventive maintenance
Preventive maintenance needs to be planned first before it can be implemented on the concerned equipment. In the following section, we have mentioned the entire planning schedule, step-by-step, so that you won’t have any problem in making the best and most fruitful strategy.
- First of all, all equipment units in a commercial sector are listed. The list is prepared such that the equipment needing maintenance the most comes at the top. This will help you in prioritizing the maintenance process and give proper attention to the machine units which require it at the earliest.
- The next step is to list down the maintenance tasks which need to be performed on a particular machine. For example, lubrication, OEM checking, oil change, soot removal, are some of the examples of essential preventive maintenance tasks.
- There are several software platforms for PM which can be integrated with your business. You will be able to load your plan on the software, delegate tasks to the right professionals, set timers for different maintenance tasks along with the frequency.
- Once done, you have to repeat the steps for all other machinery elements present at the premise. Make sure that the plan is drafted properly since the preventive maintenance tasks will be completed according to the plan itself.
What are the advantages of preventive maintenance?
- Helps in avoiding sudden breakdowns and failure of the equipment and its parts.
- Reduces the cost of repair or replacement of the equipment
- Improves productivity in the business and also the performance
- No delay in the business operations
Conclusion
Preventive maintenance has proven to be extremely beneficial for manufacturing units, factories, warehouses, and other large-scale units. With this, you can prevent damages and also cut down the servicing costs for each machine.
