Q&A with LLumin Software on Proactive Maintenance Best Practices
Are you tired of repeatedly dealing with equipment and machine malfunctions? Do unexpected breakdowns and maintenance issues eat into your bottom line and cause delays in your production schedule? If so, you might be interested in learning about proactive maintenance best practices.
Proactive maintenance is a targeted approach to maintenance that can help you avoid breakdowns and maximize uptime. Regularly monitoring and maintaining your equipment before problems occur can keep your machines running smoothly and avoid costly repairs.
CEO and Founder of LLumin
But what exactly is proactive maintenance, and how can you implement it effectively? This article will give you the answers you need. We’ll cover the most important information about proactive maintenance strategies and best practices, so you can successfully move away from costly reactive maintenance and take control of your maintenance program.
You’ll learn about specific proactive maintenance strategies, such as preventive, condition-based, predictive, and prescriptive maintenance. We’ll discuss risk-based maintenance methodology and using a data-driven approach to maintenance planning.
We’ll also share case studies and real-world examples to help you understand how proactive maintenance and LLumin’s computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS+) software have helped other companies in your industry.
By the end of this article, you’ll have a clear understanding of the benefits of proactive maintenance
and be able to form a general roadmap for implementing a proactive maintenance program in your organization.
Don’t let unexpected breakdowns and downtime continue to eat into your profits. Read on if you want to take the first steps toward greater operational reliability and efficiency.
What Is Proactive Maintenance, and What Are Proactive Maintenance Best Practices?
Proactive maintenance is a maintenance strategy that involves identifying potential issues in equipment and taking preventive measures to avoid downtime and repair costs. This approach goes beyond fixing broken equipment and instead focuses on examining the systemic elements of a maintenance program, including equipment design, operating conditions, and maintenance procedures.
In contrast to reactive maintenance, which involves responding to equipment failure after it has occurred, proactive maintenance seeks to control problems before they lead to downtime.
For example, a manufacturing plant implementing a proactive maintenance approach might schedule regular equipment inspections to identify signs of wear and tear. In other cases, a company might use machine-level sensors and predictive analytics to accurately forecast maintenance requirements.
Simply put, proactive maintenance is a broad term encompassing several different types of maintenance strategies, all with the same goal—to approach maintenance proactively, reduce equipment downtime, and prevent unplanned failures.
Types of Proactive Maintenance
As previously stated, the main objective of proactive maintenance is to prevent major problems by identifying potential issues ahead of time. A company can achieve this with the use of a variety of proactive maintenance strategies and proactive maintenance best practices. We will introduce and discuss four proactive maintenance strategies in this article, which include:
Preventive maintenance: Preventive maintenance works best for predictable failure modes that can be prevented with scheduled maintenance. However, it can be costly if maintenance is performed too frequently.
Condition-based maintenance: Condition-based maintenance suits equipment with detectable failure modes and requires the use of specialized equipment, software, and skilled personnel.
Predictive maintenance: Predictive maintenance is recommended for high-risk equipment. It requires collecting and interpreting large volumes of data and advanced technology to gain an accurate assessment of equipment failure and the support of skilled personnel.
Prescriptive maintenance: Prescriptive maintenance is recommended for complex and high-risk equipment. It requires collecting and interpreting large volumes of data, advanced technology to accurately assess historical data and recommend maintenance tasks, and the support of skilled staff.
Choosing the right strategy for your organization is critical. However, it’s also important to note that you can create a customized, proactive maintenance plan by combining one or more maintenance strategies.
For example, a company might choose preventive and predictive maintenance on high-risk equipment and condition-based maintenance on low-risk equipment. In other cases, a company might opt for reactive maintenance for low-risk equipment and preventive maintenance for high-risk equipment. Using a risk-based approach in both scenarios can enable a company to prioritize maintenance tasks, develop a maintenance plan, efficiently allocate resources, and achieve its critical objectives.
Risk Based Maintenance Methodology
Risk-based maintenance (RBM) methodology provides a company with a structured approach to determine the most appropriate type of maintenance strategy for its organization and the frequency of maintenance for its assets. Rather than investing significant time and resources in low-risk equipment, which can be counterproductive, an organization can focus its maintenance efforts on assets that will significantly impact its operations if they fail.
A targeted approach enables companies to maintain critical assets, reduce the likelihood of costly downtime, and avoid wasting resources on unnecessary maintenance.
To implement the RBM approach effectively, a company should follow a systematic process that includes two critical steps:
- Risk assessment: Conduct a risk assessment to identify the equipment with the greatest operational risk. This entails assessing potential failure scenarios, their impact on your organization, and their probability of occurrence.
- Maintenance planning based on risk: Develop an effective maintenance strategy by performing risk-based maintenance planning. This will include determining the most appropriate maintenance approach (preventive, condition-based, predictive, or prescriptive), allocating resources, and scheduling maintenance activities.
The risk-based maintenance methodology is intended to reduce the likelihood of mechanical failures in operational facilities. This approach prioritizes targeted maintenance efforts in high and medium-risk areas while minimizing efforts in low-risk areas. By doing so, the maintenance program’s overall scope of work and cost can be reduced in a structured and justifiable manner. This method ensures that maintenance resources are used efficiently and effectively, lowering the likelihood of unplanned downtime and costly repairs.
Data-Driven Approach to Maintenance Planning
The risk-based maintenance methodology provides a company with a framework for optimizing its maintenance resources and identifying where and when to perform maintenance effectively. Going a step further and taking a risk-based, data-driven approach, maintenance teams can develop an effective maintenance plan that best suits their needs.
When deciding which proactive maintenance solution(s) to implement, it’s important to consider the type of asset being managed, its impact on operations, the critical parameters to monitor, and the frequency of monitoring.
Use this approach to decide which proactive maintenance solution(s) to implement:
- Based on each type of asset being managed: Divide assets into manageable units. Different assets have different characteristics and require different approaches to maintenance. Consider each type of asset being managed, its specific characteristics, and maintenance needs.
- How that asset, or asset type, impacts operations: Some assets are critical to operations. Other assets are not business-critical and may have less impact on operations and can be maintained less frequently.
- What parameters are most critical to monitor for a given type of asset: Parameters such as temperature, vibration, and fluid levels will vary based on asset type. Identify your company’s critical parameters to effectively concentrate maintenance efforts and improve the asset’s overall reliability.
- How often should those parameters be monitored: The frequency of monitoring will vary widely according to the asset type, condition, and level of risk associated with failure. Depending on where your assets fall between frequent and infrequent monitoring, this will influence your choice of proactive maintenance strategy.
Tracking Your Maintenance Program
It is necessary to measure the effectiveness of a new proactive maintenance program to obtain an accurate assessment of its effectiveness. This measurement procedure entails taking baseline measurements and keeping consistent and reliable records.
Tracking a maintenance program can become challenging and time-consuming if a company uses manual paper-based processes, such as spreadsheets. Further, such manual processes can result in incomplete or inaccurate data, resulting in unreliable results.
Implementing a proactive maintenance program in an organization can involve multiple types of maintenance practices, each with its own tracking and management requirements, adding another layer of complexity. Implementing a CMMS can greatly aid in the successful implementation of a new proactive maintenance program, which may otherwise be an almost insurmountable task.
LLumin’s CMMS+ is a cloud-based, HTML5-compliant, browser-independent, and mobile-friendly platform that serves as a centralized location to store asset maintenance data and can assist in streamlining the tracking of your new proactive maintenance program. It can help maintenance managers track and schedule routine maintenance tasks, as well as quickly generate work orders and assign them to the appropriate technicians.
LLumin can assist you whether your company employs a single proactive maintenance strategy or a customized maintenance program comprised of multiple strategies. Our software can generate reports that provide detailed information about maintenance activities and equipment performance levels. These reports can assist a company in identifying asset reliability trends, areas that require additional maintenance or adjustments, and tracking your program’s overall performance and effectiveness.
Ultimately, an advanced CMMS, like LLumin’s CMMS+ solution, will be an essential tool for organizations implementing proactive programs, helping a company gain the benefits they envisioned before implementation, such as improved efficiency, reduced downtime, and increased lifespan of critical assets.
Llumin’s CMMS+ Case StudieS
LLumin’s CMMS+ solution for proactive maintenance can reduce maintenance costs by 40% and overall downtime by 35%. In addition, our award-winning customer service and ongoing development of cutting-edge technology ensure our customers are satisfied today and far into the future.
Read each proactive maintenance case study and the research behind our CMMS+ software HERE.
Additional Resources
- The Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals (SMRP) provides a range of resources, including training programs, certification programs, and best practices guides.
- The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) certifies facility managers, conducts research, provides educational programs and offers accredited facility management degree and certificate programs.
- Contact LLumin for more information on proactive maintenance best practices, available resources, upcoming events and webinars.
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