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Learn about autonomous maintenance, its 7 steps, and why it is beneficial in manufacturing and other industries
Published 27 Mar 2023
Autonomous maintenance (AM) is the concept of giving machine operators the responsibility of maintaining the equipment and machinery that they operate instead of relying on maintenance technicians to fulfill routine preventive maintenance tasks.
A preventive maintenance strategy and one of the 8 pillars of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), autonomous maintenance empowers machine operators with the right training so they can independently identify quality issues and be able to take immediate action to correct them.
Autonomous Maintenance in TPM
As a recognized strategy for preventive and proactive maintenance in TPM, autonomous maintenance helps eliminate costly equipment breakdowns and prevent interruptions to operations due to unexpected downtimes or scheduled maintenance. Here is a breakdown of how performing autonomous maintenance can benefit any industry.
Autonomous maintenance ensures that routine preventive maintenance tasks such as cleaning, lubricating, and oiling are consistently performed on equipment that need them. These simple but crucial tasks help prolong the optimal performance of equipment and company assets.
Autonomous maintenance also helps dedicated maintenance personnel to focus their full attention on other equipment and more pressing maintenance issues in the workplace.
The operator who uses the machine or equipment day in and day out would have an intimate knowledge of how the machine actually works and if it is not working at its best. That same operator would then likely know what could be the cause of equipment issues and what should be done consistently to maintain the equipment working “like new.”
As equipment and other assets operate at their best, due to the diligence of operators in maintaining them, the cumulative quality of output will be as expected and the overall safety of operating those machines and working around them in the workplace is maintained.
In order to reap the benefits of performing autonomous maintenance, you should know what are the 7 steps of autonomous maintenance.
Seven Steps of Autonomous Maintenance
The first step in effectively implementing autonomous maintenance is to empower operators with the knowledge on how to operate and maintain the equipment that they’re assigned to use. Equip them with knowledge on how the parts of the equipment come together so that they know which parts need periodic maintenance and which parts need to be looked after when it comes to cleaning, lubrication, etc.
Training tools that can increase their knowledge and help them understand practical information the fastest and most effective way possible.
Once operators know the ins and outs of the equipment they are using, they should be able to inspect the equipment and spot any need for cleaning and maintenance. They need to be able to identify any part of the equipment that needs removal of dust and dirt, nuts and bolts that need tightening, oiling and lubrication, and wear and tear that needs fixing.
Once the equipment is cleaned and back to its optimal working condition, the operator needs to know how to keep it that way. One way to keep the equipment in top condition is to eliminate causes of contamination. Maintaining good housekeeping and maintaining cleanliness at the workstation helps prevent contamination and keep the working environment safe.
Depending on the type of equipment, cleaning equipment to eliminate contamination may require the use of machine guarding as well as following lockout/tagout (LOTO) procedures to keep workers safe when carrying out cleaning.
Equipment should be cleaned, lubricated, and maintained according to manufacturer’s specifications in order to maintain its “like new” quality and level of performance. To set standards and reinforce those standards, tools and processes should be implemented on what maintenance tasks to do, how to do them, and how often they should be done.
Use checklist tools that can help guide operators on what to perform, how to perform those maintenance tasks, as well as notify them to remind them when a task is due.
To reinforce good practices like autonomous maintenance, it is recommended to conduct inspection and monitoring. Operators themselves can inspect their equipment and provide information in the form of inspection reports with photos on the current condition of the equipment and maintenance tasks fulfilled.
Data collected through these inspections can be monitored to ensure that all equipment are maintained by operators and in good working condition.
Make it easier for operators to complete maintenance tasks by implementing the use of visual cues such as color-coded tags and easy-to-understand signs or posters that remind operators and other workers of steps to follow when working with or being around equipment.
Create visual aids of the standards from step 4 to help operators follow and reinforce standards for maintaining equipment and machines.
One of the pillars of TPM is improvement and as processes and equipment change, as well as the operators that handle equipment, there is good reason to establish continuous improvement for autonomous maintenance.
Any training feedback gathered from operators in step 1, as well as inspection and monitoring data collected through their reports in step 5 can be used to continuously improve procedures for equipment maintenance.
5S is a housekeeping practice first applied in manufacturing that stands for Seiri (Sort), Seiton (Systematize), Seiso (Shining), Seiketsu (Standardizing), and Shitsuke (Sustaining). While 5S is the foundation of TPM under which autonomous maintenance belongs, the bottom line of 5S is to eliminate waste, improve flow, and reduce the number of processes where possible. The goal of autonomous maintenance is ultimately to prevent the deterioration of equipment and to keep its “like new” performance through proper management and maintenance.
OEE or Overall Equipment Effectiveness is a manufacturing best practice that enables businesses to calculate how much of an equipment’s potential is being used in accordance with the calculated percentage. This method helps identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement in maintaining and maximizing equipment to its full potential. The metric used in calculating OEE is based on the factors of availability, performance, and quality. Here are several points on how to improve OEE:
Eliminate manual tasks and streamline your operations.
One of the key steps of autonomous maintenance is inspection and monitoring. SafetyCulture (formerly iAuditor) is a powerful mobile platform used in manufacturing and other industries for inspections and monitoring. Using mobile devices to capture information, data can be used to monitor if autonomous maintenance is being done and if the equipment is still in good working condition.
SafetyCulture is most powerful when used in teams and can help standardize maintenance processes, reinforce best practices, and promote continuous improvement for a more effective autonomous maintenance.
Available on Android, iOS, and the web, SafetyCulture is a customizable mobile quality and safety inspection app mainly used to monitor, maintain, and improve quality and safety in numerous industries. SafetyCulture offers a number of tools, as well as ready-to-use quality and safety templates that can be used by organizations and operations supervisors where accurate data reporting, visibility, efficiency, and automated notifications are crucial for autonomous maintenance.
Erick Brent Francisco
Erick Brent Francisco is a content writer and researcher for SafetyCulture since 2018. As a content specialist, he is interested in learning and sharing how technology can improve work processes and workplace safety. His experience in logistics, banking and financial services, and retail helps enrich the quality of information in his articles.
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