Maintenance of systems and equipment

Effective and efficient

Fig. 1 Asset management and maintenance.

Fig. 2 Value strategies.

Fig. 3 Risk assessment.

Fig. 4 Definition of a maintenance strategy.

Fig. 5 Fundamental issues.

Fig. 6 The operative level (foreman/worker) must be
involved in the definition of factors, like at this meeting between technician and
engineer.

 To stay competitive, a company must keep its systems and equipment in good repair and make timely replacements as necessary. Many companies, though, have no clear-cut decision-making criteria or standard operating procedures for that process. And now, thanks to ever higher cost pressure, their operations and asset managers are having to deal increasingly with the question: “How much labor-intensive maintenance do we really need?”

How much maintenance does a system need?

Operations managers are constantly torn between the need to ensure high system availability and keeping the cost of maintenance under control. They have to keep an eye on numerous aspects like the age and load history of components and the effects of breakdowns on system operation – especially in connection with the following two issues:

> At which intervals do our systems and equipment need to be inspected and serviced?

> When does it still make sense to repair something, and when would it be better to replace the piece of equipment?

Every company has to...