Fundamentals of Effective Maintenance

By: Ashley Martinez

What are the thresholds in preventative maintenance?

To establish when a product is best suited to go into or begin production, a threshold point must be proved. This
is needed to know the amount of stress an equipment can handle while in operation before failure.
Setting the threshold requires a person to gain entail from the different sets of measurements while equipment is
working and before or during time of failure. To evaluate the reliability, maintainability, quality and
preventative maintenance, the manufacturers test the equipment by running it until it fails. Data retrieved from
testing helps to know how much the machine can withstand during operation before it shuts down.
After finding the equipment breaking point, a safety margin is included, considering variances in individual
components, surroundings, and operating circumstances.

Development of lubrication program

When two materials are moving relative to each other, it causes heating and wear from the friction caused
between both materials. To reduce the amount of friction being exerted, a lubricant is placed between the
surfaces in motion. Most common lubricants are oil and grease.
To have good lubrication, there are two conditions needed; a management program which will ensure that every
piece of equipment is adequately greased and a strong technical design for lubrication.

There are four sources of information that can be used to generate a lubrication program:
1. Manufacturers supplying equipment
2. Lubricant distributors
3. Users of other equipment
4. People's personal experiences
Steps in developing a proper lubrication program:
1. Identify every piece of equipment that requires lubrication
2. Ensure that every major piece of equipment is uniquely identified, preferably with a prominently displayed
number
3. Ensure that equipment records are complete for manufacturer and physical location
4. Determine locations on each piece of equipment that need to be lubricated
5. Identify lubricant to be used
6. Determine the best method of application
7. Establish the frequency or interval of lubrication
8. Determine if the equipment can be safely lubricated while operating or if it must be shut down
9. Decide who should be responsible for any human involvement
10. Standardize lubrication methods
11. Package the above elements into a lubrication program
12. Establish storage and handling procedures
13. Evaluate new lubricants to take advantage of state of the art
14. Analyze any failures involving lubrication and initiate necessary corrective actions.

It is crucial that an individual who is responsible and observes the importance of proper lubrication be placed in
charge of the lubrication program. These people can be a supervisor in the maintenance department or a
maintenance engineer.
Calibration
Calibration is a specific type of preventative maintenance; it keeps measurement and control instruments within
specified limits. The apparatus needs to be calibrated using a "standard" which is derived from The National
Bureau of Standards (NBS) parameters.
The calibration system's primary objective is to avert tool inaccuracies by identifying defects promptly and
initiating corrective action when necessary.

Within every organization there should be a written description of their calibration system. The checking
intervals are done in a timely manner (hourly, weekly, monthly) or based on the extent of system usage. The
interval should take stability, purpose, and degree of usage into account.
The intervals may be extended if initial records reveal that the equipment maintains the required accuracy for
subsequent calibrations. On the contrary hand, intervals should be reduced if equipment needs regular
maintenance or repairs.
Equipment that does not have set calibration intervals should be (1) inspected at least once every six months,
and (2) calibrated no more frequently than once every year.

Estimation time
In order to estimate how long it will take to complete a task, it is necessary to begin by assessing the task at
hand and the length of time needed for maintaining the components required utilizing the best approach to
getting the job done. These can be estimated with accuracy by taking into consideration using resources such as:
1. Equipment manufacturers’ recommendations
2. National standards such as Chilton’s on automotive or means for facilities
3. Industrial engineering time-and-motion studies
4. Historical experience

Labor costs
By simply multiplying the number of hours needed by the necessary labor rates, cost estimates can be derived
from time estimations. Estimates should be created at "pure" time, it is advised. In other words, it is
recommended to use the precise hours and minutes that would be necessary in an ideal scheduling scenario.
In order to handle scheduling issues separately from the hands-on procedure timeframes, delays should be
reported, and problems must be identified.

Materials and scheduling

Most of the components and materials used in preventive maintenance are well-known and may be recognized
beforehand. The cost of the item in inventory should be multiplied by the quantity of each item that is planned.
The estimated material cost will be the sum of those additional charges.
To ensure that proper scheduling is done the best time for production is chosen, planning for inspections and
preventive measures might be done days, weeks, or even months in advance. This allows for all tools needed for
maintenance to be available and present on location when needed. Proper scheduling also prevents unwanted
simultaneous operations in some cases.
Preventative Maintenance record keeping
The likelihood of experiencing unplanned downtime is reduced by maintaining equipment in functioning
condition with the help of continuously keeping records of completed maintenance.
Information from the equipment records is available for uses other than routine maintenance. Some of the
information contained in records are:
1. Equipment identification number
2. Equipment name
3. Equipment product/group/class Location
4. Use meter reading
5. Preventive maintenance interval(s)
6. Use per day
7. Last preventive maintenance due
8. Next preventive maintenance due
9. Cycle time for preventive maintenance
10. Crafts required, number of persons, and time for each
11. Parts required