Preventive maintenance ensures continuous, efficient equipment operation through regular checks, repairs, and operator training for optimal performance.
What Is A Preventive Maintenance?

 

Introduction

 Preventive maintenance is considered one of the essential pillars of total productive maintenance.

It includes a set of activities and procedures undertaken by the maintenance department to keep equipment in good operating condition and avoid sudden breakdowns. By addressing any deficiencies before they escalate, preventive maintenance ensures assets are always in optimal working condition or promptly restored to operational status after failure. This approach maintains continuity on production lines at a reasonable cost, ensuring readiness for production according to required specifications, quantity, quality, and safety standards to protect workers, assets, and the environment.

Preventive maintenance is performed periodically following a scheduled plan, often set by equipment manufacturers or experienced technicians. This schedule includes regular inspections to prevent unexpected downtime, which is vital for maintaining equipment operability.

A well-implemented preventive maintenance system is key to effective maintenance. Its success depends on minimizing downtime and repair costs by balancing corrective and preventive maintenance efforts. Preventive maintenance helps preempt failures by identifying potential issues early and addressing them before they become major breakdowns.

Preventive maintenance is carried out on daily, weekly, and monthly bases, involving routine visual inspections, cleaning, lubrication, and the replacement of parts when needed.

Preventive Maintenance Goals:

The objectives of preventive maintenance include:

  • Maximizing production uptime at minimal cost.
  • Ensuring a safe working environment for production and maintenance staff.
  • Developing maintenance crew skills through specialized training.
  • Training operators to handle basic daily preventive maintenance tasks.

Preventive Maintenance Planning:

A preventive maintenance plan outlines all steps for implementing a maintenance system tailored to a facility’s needs. The plan must balance adherence to manufacturer recommendations with site-specific requirements and adjust with changing operating conditions.

Increased reliance on preventive maintenance reduces repair costs and production losses due to frequent downtimes.

Preventive Maintenance Activities:

Preventive maintenance involves human sensory inspections, securing, adjustments, cleaning, lubrication, and greasing:

  1. Human Senses: Operators and maintenance personnel use their senses during routine checks on equipment components to ensure safety. For example, operators may visually inspect gauges and lubrication levels, listen for unusual sounds indicating loosened bolts, detect overheating by touch, and use smell to identify potential issues like burning electrical insulation. This sensory inspection helps detect issues early before they escalate.

However, relying solely on sensory inspection isn’t enough for complex machinery, which may require temperature, pressure, and vibration measurement devices.

  1. Inspection: Periodic inspections assess equipment condition, identifying parts approaching failure for timely replacement.

  2. Bolting: Tightening bolts and nuts is critical for equipment stability and preventing misalignment, which could lead to increased vibration and wear.

  3. Adjustment: Equipment must be readjusted to meet production requirements, such as speed or temperature adjustments.

  4. Cleaning: Clean machinery functions better, and cleanliness aids in early fault detection.

  5. Lubrication: Proper lubrication following manufacturer guidelines reduces wear and extends equipment life.

Benefits of Preventive Maintenance:

Preventive maintenance helps achieve the following:

  1. Increased Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE): By minimizing equipment breakdowns, preventive maintenance enhances equipment efficiency, ensuring product quality, optimal output, and cost efficiency, ultimately making production processes more streamlined and cost-effective.

  2. Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty: Effective preventive maintenance minimizes production interruptions, enabling organizations to fulfill delivery commitments on time, boosting customer loyalty.

  3. High-Quality Products: Proper preventive maintenance leads to higher product quality that meets established standards.

  4. Breakdown Avoidance: Continuous preventive maintenance minimizes major unexpected breakdowns that could halt production.

  5. Prolonged Useful Life (Life Cycle): Good maintenance practices extend the productive life of assets, maximizing utilization and reducing overall company costs.