Predictive and preventive maintenance strategies

Predictive and preventive maintenance strategies

A manufacturer designs and builds very sophisticated special machine tools, and it produces all the mechanical components for these products in its Midwestern factory. Its capital base consists of nearly 200 machine tools and more than 1,000 items of support equipment, including compressors, assorted cranes, and air conditioning and heating equipment. The challenge to its maintenance managers was to keep all this hardware operational while at the same time minimizing the cost of doing so.

The approach created a maintenance system composed of both predictive and preventive strategies.

• Predictive — in that failures could be anticipated and resolved before they occurred
• Preventive — in that all recommended lubrication and normal maintenance could be provided as needed

The initial effort of creating the basis for predictive maintenance and the guidelines for preventive maintenance took a little more than one year to accomplish. Implementation to the point where the two strategies were functioning at a recognizable level required a second year. The system is dynamic and constantly improving as additional experience in resolving breakdowns changes the need for people and hardware when new equipment with new operating characteristics are introduced.

Activities in this case study include:

• Predictive and Preventative Maintenance
• Database
• Maintenance log