Maint enance Cont rol - from Zero t o Hero

Six Gia n t St e ps t o Effe ct ive M a in t en an ce M a n a ge m e n t

By Br y a n D W e ir of Pe r spe ct iv e CM M S ( ht t p:/ / w w w .pe m m s.co.uk )

You can j ust see t he ey es of m any m aint enance m anagers in m any sm all
com panies glaze ov er at t he m ent ion of CMMS, RCM, TPM, FMEA and t he ot her
m aint enance relat ed acr onym s t hat are oft en int roduced in discussions on
m aint enance and facilit ies m anagem ent . Big com panies oft en em ploy som e of
t hese init iat ives in t heir m aint enance organisat ions because t hey can afford t o do
so. The r ealit y for m any cash- st rapped, sm aller businesses is quit e different . Most
of t heir m aint enance is react ive. Plant and equipm ent pr oblem s only get dealt
wit h as t hey arise and t his is usually when it is t oo lat e t o av oid t he r esult ing
disrupt ion t o t heir pr oduct ion or pr ocesses.

Ev en when a com pany has bot h t he will and t he m oney t o spend, it is difficult t o
know wher e t o st art when considering t he im plem ent at ion of m aint enance
m anagem ent syst em s. Probably t he m aj orit y of sm aller com panies are st ill at t his
st age, which effect ively m eans t he m aj orit y of m aint enance people. The pr ospect
of dev eloping suit able m aint enance cont r ol st r at egies and policies fr om a st anding
st art is daunt ing. Ther e are m any quest ions such as how m uch will it cost , wher e
will t he resour ces com e from and how will we cope?

Well, here’s a surprise, t he t rut h is t hat t here is not r eally a lot t o it and I would
suggest t he following sim plified, non- scient ific approach. I w on’t show you any
pie chart s or fancy graphs and t her e will be no m or e t hr ee let t er acronym s but it
is a realist ic, effect ive plan and it s low cost put s it wit hin t he r each of all sm all
com panies.

St e p one - Se le ct a low - cost CM M S

This will involve spending som e m oney because your CMMS, ( Com put erised
Maint enance Managem ent Syst em ) , wit h it s equipm ent regist er will arguably be
t he m ost im port ant com ponent in t his process. The good news is t hat low cost ,
Access based syst em s are now available fr om a couple of hundred pounds/ dollars
upwards. I f y ou hav e $1,000 or £600 t o spend you should be able t o find a single
user sy st em t hat will m or e t han m eet your r equirem ent s. I f y ou need inform at ion
on CMMS select ion you will find all you need t o know on t he I nt ernet . Just search
for som et hing like " CMMS" or " CMMS soft w ar e select ion" and you will get m any
result s.

St e p t w o - D e ve lop y our e qu ipm e nt r e gist e r

Maint aining an equipm ent regist er - a list of all of your m aint ainable equipm ent -
is a necessit y. At t he lowest lev el t his m ay only hold det ails of y our equipm ent
and it s locat ion but m ost CMMS applicat ions provide space t o st or e all sort s of
equipm ent det ails. These m ay include m ake, m odel, serial num ber, equipm ent
hist ory, linked spares, linked drawings, et c. You can decide for your self what
inform at ion you want t o r ecord. I f you are lucky you m ay already have t his on a
spr eadsheet or dat abase.

I f y ou have lot s of equipm ent you m ay want t o consider developing a user

friendly asset num bering syst em . These ar e not hard t o creat e, e.g. FAPACK03
could represent t he final assem bly ar ea ( FA) , packaging m achine ( PACK) num ber
t hree. You can dev elop t his t o m eet your needs.

Copyright 2005 Perspective CMMS 32 Beaton Road, Balloch, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, G83 8QQ.
Telephone: 01389 758245 Mobile: 07816 758245
E-mail: bweir@pemms.co.uk Internet: http://www.pemms.co.uk
St e p t hr e e - de v e lop your fir st Pla n ne d M a int e na nce ( PM ) sch e dule
Clearly PM schedules ar e best when t hey ar e based on equipm ent hist or y but you
probably won’t have any hist ory available. I f you don’t hav e it your past
experience should be able t o let you det erm ine which equipm ent really m ust be
on y our PM schedule. The init ial schedule will t her efor e be based on y our
fam iliarit y wit h your ow n equipm ent but t he PM fr equencies t hat you choose
init ially should be consider ed t o be no m or e t han an educat ed guess. Wher e
pract ical, you m ay also want t o consider t he use of m et er ed m aint enance t hat is
based on runt im e or cycle t im e as opposed t o a fixed t im e period.

St e p f our - Put a good, a d hoc w or k r e por t ing sy st e m in pla ce

Maint enance can be br oadly classified as planned or unplanned wher e unplanned
is breakdown or r eact ive w or k. Befor e a pr oper m aint enance plan is in place t he
rat io of unplanned m aint enance versus planned m aint enance will be high,
perhaps as m uch as 95% t o 5% or ev en m or e. Your aim m ust be t o reduce t his
rat io t o a m or e sat isfact ory level. To do t his you m ust int roduce an effect ive work
request syst em t hat capt ures t he det ails of all ad hoc w ork t hat is being done.
One w ay t o do t his is t o r efuse t o accept any w ork r equest s unless t hey ar e
for m ally request ed t hrough t he CMMS. The det ails of t hese j obs will t hen be
capt ured and included in your equipm ent hist ory.

St e p f ive - Use t he m a int e n a nce h ist or y t o fine t une t h e Sche du le

As t im e passes and equipm ent hist ory st art s t o be collect ed in t he CMMS syst em
you can use it t o ident ify t he equipm ent whose perform ance is causing disrupt ion
and downt im e. You can t hen opt im ise t he PM w ork t hat is t aking place in an effort
t o m inim ise t his. The CMMS m ust be capable of pr oducing t he specific report s
t hat can ident ify your im prov em ent ar eas. For exam ple, if y ou ar e in a product ion
environm ent and reduct ion of downt im e is a pr oblem a downt im e " t op t en" report
will be im port ant .

St e p six - M ov e f r om PM r out in e s t o pla nn e d inspe ct ion s.

One of t he dangers of int roducing PM r out ines is t hat aft er som e t im e it can
becom e generally accept ed t hat t hey absolut ely m ust be done wit hin t he chosen
period. This period was probably chosen by t he guesst im at e m et hod m ent ioned in
st ep t hr ee above and it m ay not be t he opt im um int erval. For exam ple a m ont hly
m aint enance rout ine can oft en be scheduled on plant or m achinery t hat m ay only
have been used for a w eek or t w o during t he previous m ont h. PM periodicit y is
t herefor e som et hing t hat m ust be r eviewed r egularly.

You can use your dev eloping equipm ent hist ory t o analyse t he PM w ork t hat is
t aking place and ask yourself what it is achieving. Look at t he likely failures t hat
could occur on t he equipm ent and t ry t o put in place inspect ion rout ines t o
m onit or equipm ent condit ion

Wit h m ore t im e, and a great er under st anding of t he problem s t hat are occurring,
you should be able t o dr op m any of your PM r out ines in favour of planned
m aint enance inspect ions. These will give you an indicat ion of when a r out ine
really ne e ds t o be car ried out as opposed t o doing it blindly, on a calendar based
basis.

The advant age of inspect ions is t hat m any of t hem can be done quickly, while t he
equipm ent is st ill running ( subj ect of course t o norm al safet y regulat ions.) This is
basic condit ion m onit oring or condit ion based m aint enance* and ev en at t his
grass r oot s level it can be v er y effect ive. I t can be furt her developed w it h t he use
of low- cost , port able condit ion m onit oring t ools such as t em perat ure and
vibrat ion m easuring equipm ent .

Copyright 2005 Perspective CMMS 32 Beaton Road, Balloch, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, G83 8QQ.
Telephone: 01389 758245 Mobile: 07816 758245
E-mail: bweir@pemms.co.uk Internet: http://www.pemms.co.uk
W ha t doe s a ll t his cost ?
The abov e scenario is wit hin t he reach of alm ost all m aint enance depar t m ent s. At
t his st age t her e is no need t o t hrow m oney at t he pr oblem . You can do it for as
lit t le as £1K but if you can afford £5K y ou could get y our self a pret t y useful CMMS
syst em . All you really need is t he t im e and t he m ot ivat ion. I f y ou do it right you
will end up wit h m ore t im e on y our hands for analysis and predict ion of problem s
as opposed t o r eact ing t o t hem . I f you follow t he above rules your r et ur ns will be
m uch great er t han your invest m ent .

H ow long doe s a ll t h is t a k e ?
I t cannot be done overnight . Ther e is a significant am ount of work involved and it
depends on t he r esour ces t hat y ou can allocat e t o it . That said, a sm all com pany
could put a CMMS in place in a couple of w eek s and if you already hav e an
equipm ent regist er and m aint enance procedur es t his will m ake it easier .

Gat hering equipm ent hist or y is a different st ory and it will be a few m ont hs
befor e y ou hav e any significant dat a available. One year down t he line you should
be able t o m easur e significant perform ance im prov em ent s.

* Con dit ion M on it or ing ( CM ) - a m aint enance process where t he condit ion of equipm ent is
m onit ored for early signs of im pending failure including overheat ing and changes in vibrat ion pat t erns.
Equipm ent can be m onit ored using sophist icat ed inst rum ent at ion or t he hum an senses. Where
inst rum ent at ion is used act ual lim it s can be im posed t o t rigger m aint enance act ivit y. Condit ion
Monit oring ( CM) , Predict ive Maint enance ( PdM) and Condit ion Based Maint enance ( CBM) are ot her
t erm s used t o describe t his process.

( Definit ion by Bryan Weir of Perspect ive CMMS)

NOTE: This art icle is Copyright 2004 by Pe r spe ct ive CM M S. You are welcom e t o use it on
a web sit e providing t hat bot h t his m essage and link are left int act . Pe r spe ct ive CM M S
uses aut om at ed m et hods of searching t he I nt ernet for infringem ent s t o t he above and will
t ake act ion against anyone failing t o provide t his credit and link.

Copyright 2005 Perspective CMMS 32 Beaton Road, Balloch, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, G83 8QQ.
Telephone: 01389 758245 Mobile: 07816 758245
E-mail: bweir@pemms.co.uk Internet: http://www.pemms.co.uk