A new approach to plant maintenance
November 1st 2006

Although preventative plant maintenance is now common practice, it adds little to a company's bottom line. Phil Burge, Marketing Manager at SKF, discusses how implementing a proactive asset efficiency optimisation strategy can improve plant productivity and, as a result, profitability

Effective plant maintenance is essential in achieving consistently high levels of uptime and productivity. While the less than efficient strategy of waiting for equipment to fail before carrying out repairs has largely been superseded by preventative maintenance programmes which utilise a wide range of diagnostic tools and software, the processes involved can often be disjointed and to a certain degree remain reactive. In the modern industrial climate where uptime is essential, a more integrated approach is required, where the maintenance needs of an entire organisation are simultaneously analysed, assessed, and managed, minimising costs and maximising profitability.

One such approach, developed by SKF, is known as asset efficiency optimisation (AEO). AEO enables effective communication between machine operators and a plant-wide maintenance and engineering team, allowing more informed decisions and better utilisation of resources to be achieved. AEO also enables senior plant engineers to identify the root cause of machine failures and plan effective corrections and upgrades to the equipment and the maintenance programme, in order to keep a plant running smoothly with minimum downtime. By implementing AEO, a plant can achieve either the same output for less cost or increased output for the same cost; in other words, optimising asset efficiency increases plant profitability.

For example, by integrating condition based maintenance programmes into an overall AEO strategy, increased mean time between failures (MTBF) can be achieved and likewise a lower cost of ownership.

Similarly, with improved condition monitoring, machine vibration and wear levels are reduced, resulting in extended service life for plant assets, and less unplanned downtime.

These benefits are achieved through a holistic asset efficiency optimisation approach to plant maintenance, involving the combination of four key elements: maintenance strategy, work identification, work control, and work execution.

The first process in the programme, maintenance strategy, is the stage at which a business sets out its larger goals and objectives, assesses plant criticality and risk, and decides what the most important issues and priorities are. This is essential for a suitable and effective maintenance plan to be created, and sets in place a recognised and auditable company Asset Management strategy, which can be easily communicated throughout an organisation.

This information is then put to use in the second stage, work identification, where critical plant information is gathered and analysed, allowing informed decisions to be made and the corrective maintenance operations to be carried out. At this stage an industrial Decision Support System (iDSS), such as SKF's @ptitude system, can provide valuable support to senior maintenance engineers, by making available online relevant condition-based maintenance recommendations, as well as access to a wealth of specific and expert knowledge on asset maintenance. Work requests are then submitted to a Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS), to be combined with other pre-determined planned and corrective maintenance activities.

The third stage, work control, relies heavily on the priorities and structure determined during stages one and two, allowing maintenance activity to be planned in detail and scheduled, with tasks prioritised, taking into account timescales, man-hours required, data feedback, and competence requirements.

Effective planning at this stage combined with good Spares Management, welldefined job plans and trained staff, allows resources to be utilised in the most efficient and productive way.

With these three components fully realised, the final stage, work execution, can be implemented, with detailed plans put into action and maintenance work being done. It is crucial that feedback is collected via post maintenance testing in order for continuous improvement to be maintained and maximum return on investment to be achieved.

Ideally, all four elements should be carried out simultaneously for the highest level of efficiency, although the stages can be approached consecutively if this isn't possible due to limited time, money or resources.

By implementing this kind of integrated, holistic approach to plant maintenance, companies can not only remove many of the problems associated with unexpected downtime and high maintenance levels, they can actually improve productivity and profitability. As always, taking the time to effectively plan offers a wealth of benefits when the time for implementation arrives.

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