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Everything you need to know about planned maintenance: How to keep safe at work and find efficient ways to improve system reliability.
Published 11 May 2023
Planned maintenance is a scheduled approach to upkeep equipment or service products to ensure businesses can operate without interruption. It is one of the eight pillars of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) that uses observation of historical downtime and failure rates to achieve zero deficiencies or machine breakdowns.
Planned Maintenance: 8 Pillars of TPM | SafetyCulture
Maintenance is a necessary investment for any organization. It involves functional checks to eliminate equipment defects, machine breakdowns, operational delays, and consequently, accidents. It is classified into two strategies: proactive maintenance strategy and responsive maintenance strategy.
Planned and preventive maintenance are types of maintenance that fall under a proactive maintenance strategy in which the inspection should be carried out before any significant breakdowns or failures occur. Planned maintenance follows significant schedules based on observation and research while preventive maintenance can be performed daily.
An example of how planned maintenance works with preventive maintenance tasks in the manufacturing industry is when equipment, which we will call Machine A, naturally gets its oil level go below normal every month. Planned maintenance can be performed monthly to replenish the oil in Machine A to avoid machine failure. As for preventive maintenance, Machine A should be checked regularly to ensure that the oil is at an appropriate level at all times. This can also be applied to other industries reliant on mechanical equipment, such as agriculture.
The good thing about planned maintenance is that it can be performed during non-production days or downtimes to not interfere with the overall production. By implementing it, organizations can reap the following benefits:
Planned maintenance is a reliable strategy for companies that are aiming to minimize maintenance costs, boost their profitability, and enhance workplace safety. The following phases will guide you through its implementation in the organization.
Phases of Planned Maintenance | SafetyCulture
Identify the occurrence of the problem and observe what triggered the machine failure. Collect the needed information and diagnose the equipment to understand its current condition. Furthermore, if previous records are available, compare them with the current issue to hasten the analysis process.
Plan the maintenance task and evaluate the scope of work to be completed. It is crucial to determine the workload, priority level, required skills, and sequence of activities to maximize the value of preventive maintenance. Check if third-party contractors and other outside resources were needed for maintenance tasks including work permits, tools, manpower, and other equipment. Ensure all resources are available before scheduling the maintenance work.
Scheduling the maintenance work is vital to avoid any operational disruptions. It is important to inform all users who would be affected by the maintenance work to prepare to prevent lost data or unsaved work that may affect their productivity. Check the availability of all needed resources and ensure they are ready to use on the set maintenance schedule.
Time is significant when performing scheduled maintenance. As much as possible follow the allocated schedule for the maintenance work, but if something unexpected, such as a bug, happens, the maintenance team should update all the affected groups to set their expectations.
The maintenance team should meet the required quality standards and ensure equipment, tools, or machinery are operational after the maintenance work. They have to monitor, observe and document the maintenance work including safety precautions, shutdown procedures, and other important information.
See how a digital tool can help you proactively conduct planned maintenance..
Planned maintenance aims to reduce workflow interruption and machine failure with minimal cost. It helps increase system reliability and extend the asset life span by identifying and dealing with both technical and consequence-related aspects of specific failure modes. With proper documentation of acceptable tolerances of different machines and other tools, planned maintenance can help provide appropriate solutions and needed updates to avoid system issues or failure.
Traditionally paper-based maintenance checklists are used when performing inspections. This method uses pen and paper to gather and document data that is prone to deterioration, damage, or loss. Somehow, it is burdensome for facility managers to keep a record of maintenance history and attach photo evidence of maintenance work.
SafetyCulture (formerly iAuditor) is an inspection software app that can transform your existing paper-based maintenance checklist into a digital form. Eliminate clunky paperwork and enhance maintenance practices using a digital checklist. With SafetyCulture you can:
After performing maintenance works, facility managers can easily inspect if the processes and procedures are executed properly with a digital checklist. They can also send maintenance reports in real-time with a single tap of a finger.
To get you started, browse this collection of maintenance checklists that you can download and customize for free.
Burt Brothers is Utah's largest family-owned tire and automotive repair shop that serves Northern Utah’s customers at 14 locations along the Wasatch Front. They use SafetyCulture (iAuditor) in their equipment audits to identify machine break down so they can be replaced without ordering that rush mechanic. The automatic reports after audits allow them to quickly identify any issues and address them immediately.
“When I get a report, I want to know what I have to fix and where. I need immediate feedback so I can be proactive about potential problems. SafetyCulture (iAuditor) gives us the real-time feedback we need.”
- Brandon Burt, General Manager with Burt Brothers
Jona Tarlengco
Jona Tarlengco is a content writer and researcher for SafetyCulture since 2018. She usually writes about safety and quality topics, contributing to the creation of well-researched articles. Her 5-year experience in one of the world’s leading business news organisations helps enrich the quality of the information in her work.
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