Maintenance management

Maintenance management

Introduction
The efficiency of the production function solely depends on the functional reliability of the production facilities which are nothing but a package of land, building, plant and equipment, tools and plant services such as material handling, power plant, gas and steam lines, water supply and firefighting facilities etc. all these facilities are subject to simply by elapse of time or by the frequency of their use. For the maintenance of the functional reliability of all these facilities, plant maintenance is considered as an important service function of modern production management.

Meaning
Maintenance management of an industrial plant involves maintenance of machineries, their automation and complex designing. In today’s world, the production work in plant has become simple and is done at high-speed rate due to the built-in automation of the machineries with the help of advancement of the technology. To maintain the high productive rate of a plant, the maintenance work has become imperative for any plant.

Maintenance is defined as the combination of tasks that are required to manage a machine or part of a machine in the desirable condition. It can also defined as a method used to rectify the damaged and deteriorated part of the machines to the functional level.

Definitions
According to Allen Kent, “maintenance is defined as the activities required keeping a facility in as-built condition, continuing to have its original productive capacity and maintenance management is managing the maintenance activities.”

According to Alford and Beatty, “ maintenance in an industrial is the upkeep, repair, renewal and replacement or worm-out, damaged or obsolete parts of building, machinery and equipments.”

Objectives of maintenance management
1. Minimizing the loss of productive time because of equipment failure.
2. Minimizing the repair time and repair cost.
3. Minimizing the loss due to production stoppage.
4. Efficient use of maintenance personnel and equipments.
5. Prolonging the life of capital assets by minimizing the rate of wear and tear.
6. To keep all productive assets in good working condition.
7. To maximize efficiency and economy in production through optimum use of facilities.
8. To minimize accidents through regular inspection and repair of safety devices.
9. To minimize the total maintenance cost which includes the cost of repair, cost of preventive maintenance and inventory carrying costs, due to spare parts inventory.
10. To improve the quality of products and to improve productivity.

Functions maintenance management
Same as all above

Importance of maintenance management
1. To ensure continuity in production.
2. To ensure efficiency in production.
3. To ensure productivity.
4. To deliver goods on the right time.
5. To ensure good house keeping.

Scope or types of plant maintenance management

1. Building construction management
 Steel work which includes columns, beams, stairways, windows etc.
 Service mains which includes water, gas and steam.
 Heating, ventilating and air conditioning.
 Carpentry and wood construction.
 Painting, inspection of construction done by outside contractors.

2. Mechanical equipments maintenance
 Heat treatment and furnace equipment.
 Machine and operating equipment installation and repairs.
 Lubrication of machinery and equipment.
 Material handling equipment.
 Factory layout.
 Mechanical meters, recording devices and instruments.

3. Electrical equipment maintenance
 Electrical power plant equipment, transformers etc.
 Wiring, switch boards, power outlets etc.
 Electric lighting.
 Private telephone system.
 Electrical equipment.
 Battery charging.

4. Plant safety, fire and theft protection
 Safety installation.
 Floor making in plant and road making.
 Warning signals.
 Fire fighting equipment.

5. Yard and ground maintenance
 Sheds and other yard structure.
 Poles of cables, wiring etc.
 Outdoor signs.
 Outdoor storage areas.
 Parking facilities.
 Collection and disposal or refuse.

Types of maintenance system



1. Planned maintenance system
The maintenance system of a plant that is planned in advance is referred to as planned maintenance system. This means that all the maintenance activities, to be followed for the proper functioning of a plant, should be scheduled in planned maintenance:
 Maintenance task is executed at scheduled time.
 Proper record is maintained of all the maintenance activities. This records help in analyzing the past mistakes and loopholes in the maintenance system that helps to stop repetition of the same mistakes. Also, the favourable and profitable actions should be followed.
 Planning or strategies should be continuously evolved and updated. This will include adjusting with the current plan or incorporating and modifying the current plan based on the requirements.

(a) Preventive maintenance
It is based on the records of previous maintenance tasks and implementing necessary actions to prevent those mistakes from occurring again. Preventive maintenance includes tasks such as inspection of machines at regular basis, their lubrication and cleaning and daily maintenance. Planned preventive maintenance system can be two types;
(a) Running maintenance: - Comprises of preventive maintenance tasks that are carried out while a machine is running. These tasks are regular inspection, cleaning and lubrication.
(b) Shut down maintenance: - Comprises of preventive maintenance tasks that are carried out only when a machine is not working. These tasks are replacement of machine parts, which have been identified as damaged during inspection.

(b) Corrective maintenance system
The corrective maintenance system should be planned annually and performed once in every six months of the time specified based on the plant requirements. This helps to overcome the frequent wearing and tearing of the parts of a machine by restoring the machine parts to the functional level. Planned corrective maintenance system can be, in turn, of two types;
Design-out: - it widely involves designing and modifying a machine or its parts based on the latest technologies or system requirements. It reduces the frequent maintenance requirements and possible breakdowns.
Design-in: - when the design of a machine or its part is modified for the purpose of reducing the time and human effort, needed for performing the maintenance task, it is called design-in maintenance.

2. Unplanned maintenance system
It refers to the maintenance work done that was not planned or through about in advance. It can be categorized as emergency and breakdown. Although, both the types of maintenance are used when the machine parts fail and the plant incurs the downtime cost, they are applied differently in different conditions.

(a) Emergency maintenance: - It required for the failure of a machine or its parts that are not at all conceived.
(b) Breakdown maintenance: - This refer to the maintenance required for the failure of a machine or its parts that were conceived in advance, however the time of failure could not be estimated.