A recent research study from Jone Lang LaSalle stated that having preventative maintenance could result to a 545% returns on investment. With a return of investment such as this, it simply shows how preventive maintenance could help you a lot in maintaining an equipment and keeping it functional.
Definition of Preventive Maintenance
Preventive Maintenance (PM) is a process of regular preservation of equipment to reduce the possibility of it from failing. It is performed especially when the equipment is still functional so that it can continue working and won’t fail unexpectedly.
PM is usually planned so that the resources will be prepared beforehand. It is scheduled based on time of usage. For example, an air conditioning system will have to be checked once a year, before the summer season. Through this, the equipment will achieve longer service that it should offer.
Setting Up a Preventive Maintenance Plan
Planningis an important aspect of Preventive Maintenance. It could help you keep the operation running smoothly, reduce the cost, and prevent unwanted situations from happening.
Here are some tips on how to set up a preventive maintenance plan:
Step 1: Get the Right Persons
Before organizing your preventive maintenance plan, you must be with the right people who deeply understand how your system works. This could refer people from the production team, craftsmen, accounting, data processing and the production control.
Step 2: Determine your Goals
With your team’s input, you start determining your goals. Just remember to have realistic goals that can be achieved for a specific period of time.
After setting your preventive maintenance goals, train your members and prepare them for the preventive maintenance plan when it goes into effect.
Step 3: Havean Inventory of the Equipment and the Assets
After setting your goals, it is time to go over the facility and make a list of the equipment. Checking the equipment will help you more easily identify which are in good condition and which need replacement. You need to decide which to include on your priority list.
Step 4: Be Familiar with the Manual
Reading the manual could help you a lot in getting to know your equipment. This will also help you in finalizing your preventive maintenance plan.
Step 5: Start Scheduling for a Long Term Preventive Maintenance
You should focus on how the equipment might fail and your aim should concentrate in preventing as many failures as you can.
You can begin with just one equipment and then add up as you go on. It is important to create a schedule each year, analyzed into daily, weekly, monthly, and annual tasks.
Using a preventive maintenance software can make your work easier by setting automatically schedule maintenance based on the time passed and other data as well.
Step 6: Set a Schedule for a Short Term Preventive Maintenance
Now that you have the whole year plan for preventive maintenance, you can now focus on distributing the tasks for the crew. This will make you see other precautions with your operations and preventing chaos with the overall plan you just made. There are all-in-one
CMMS software you could use to make your work organizedand convenient.
Step 7: Train
Don’t let all the planning be directed to a waste bin. Regularly train the maintenance crew. Being careful and meticulous could help you a lot in keeping the operations in full control.
Final Thoughts
Setting Preventive Maintenance Plan would require you to be meticulous and careful in your every decision, but it would definitely save you from destruction and from expensive repairing. It may seem complex at the beginning, but you will surely enjoy its benefits once it flourished.