In the manufacturing world, equipment breakdowns can be devastating. In addition to losing valuable production time, orders will be delayed, which can lead to unhappy clients canceling their shipments and possibly no longer wanting to order from your business.
One very proactive way to prevent these breakdowns is by becoming very familiar with a concept called predictive maintenance and applying this type of technology to all of the equipment you have in your company.
What is predictive maintenance?
As Heavy.AI notes, predictive maintenance uses data science and predictive analytics to estimate when equipment might fail. With this data in hand, you can then be proactive and schedule maintenance on the equipment before it stops working. Ideally, the goal of this type of program is to schedule the maintenance at a convenient time when the equipment has worked for some time but has not started to diminish in its capacity. Unlike preventive maintenance, which looks at old, historical data about similar types of equipment, predictive maintenance focuses on the actual pieces you have in your company.
Focus on a few pieces at a time
While you may be tempted to dive in and start a predictive maintenance program for every single piece of equipment at once, GE cautions against this approach. Instead, they advise adopting a smart predictive maintenance strategy that involves starting small with a pilot program, spending three or four weeks on one or two of your most crucial pieces of equipment. Take the time to set up any needed sensor implementation and data streaming needs, set up performance visualization dashboards, and then go onto the next couple of machines.
Review all records
Because predictive maintenance means focusing on the equipment you are using, it is essential to refresh your memory as much as you can about the tools and other implements you have on hand. As Pestle Analysis notes, review all of the records you have about any equipment defects, downtime and losses, and take a careful inventory of each piece.
Be sure you have high-quality components on hand
As you work to establish your predictive maintenance schedule, you may find that you can take care of many of the repairs yourself. One way to do this is to keep an adequate supply of high-quality spare parts in your inventory. Remember that no part is too small when it comes to keeping your tools and other vital machinery working correctly, so don’t overlook the importance of keeping things like grommets, rubber fasteners, and seals in stock. Look for companies like Apple Rubber that have large inventories of this type of supply in stock at all times; this way, you can keep your supply chain operating smoothly, and your company and your predictive maintenance schedule will not be impacted.
Collect data and create a plan
Once you have gathered up what is known as “failure data” on your equipment, which will give you a reliable idea of when it will need to be taken out of service and repaired, you can work alongside a data expert to create a predictive model that will tell you well ahead of time when you can plan some downtime for each machine and tool.
Predictive maintenance = improved bottom line.
Predictive maintenance takes the proverbial bull by the horns rather than waiting for equipment to break before fixing it and allows you to plan for machinery servicing accurately. This type of system will keep your business humming along on schedule with your orders being fulfilled on time and your clients returning to you time and again.
