Planned Maintenance Defined
This proactive approach performs routine inspections, tune-ups, and/or replacement of parts to ensure that the equipment operates at its best capacity.
Planned maintenance is designed to prevent problems with equipment instead of fixing them after they occur, saving owners money by reducing downtime, increasing the availability of equipment, and saving energy costs.
Moreover, this step helps extend the useful life of equipment while minimizing environmental impact. It is an investment in equipment that can increase productivity and reduce costs by ensuring continuous operation of the systems and equipment on which your business depends.
Planned maintenance is important to all businesses, including manufacturers, hospitals, data centers, telecommunication, and municipalities.
Planned Maintenance Goals
To ensure that equipment operates at its best capacity, planned maintenance must occur regularly.
Different Categories of Planned Maintenance
There are several categories of planned maintenance, including corrective, preventative, predictive, and condition-based.
Planned Corrective Maintenance
In this category, planned maintenance focuses on restoring equipment to a state of good repair after a breakdown or failure.
This may include part replacement, cleaning equipment and systems, and using spare parts to restore the unit to its original condition.
Planned Preventative Maintenance
Planned maintenance in this category helps prevent breakdowns by inspecting the equipment's components and identifying potential problems before it is too late.
Ensuring that your equipment does not break down unexpectedly is one of the most important planned maintenance categories. It includes visual inspections and operational tests.
Planned Predictive Maintenance
This category predicts when the system will fail and replaces components before they become defective. It involves a predetermined schedule instead of waiting until failures occur, which reduces lost revenue due to equipment downtime.
It usually includes preventative maintenance and measuring the items related to the system's failure.
Condition-Based Planned Maintenance
This is based on the condition of the equipment instead of time or mileage. This category uses measuring and recording equipment to monitor factors that affect the condition of the system's components, such as vibration monitoring.
Planned maintenance in this category is scheduled based on measurements rather than hours or time.
Making a Planned Maintenance Plan
Making a planned maintenance plan requires keen details and numerous factors to make it sound and effective.
Elements of Planned Maintenance Plans
1. Planned Maintenance Mission Statement
It is important to determine the goals of planned maintenance and describe them clearly to all parties so that everyone can work together towards achieving them.
2. Planned Maintenance Tasks
Organizing planned maintenance tasks according to priority helps develop focused and efficient plans, which cuts down unexpected costs.
3. Work Instructions
Among the most important elements of planned maintenance are the work instructions, which describe how to perform each task in an organized manner with proper equipment, supplies, and tools.
4. Maintenance Schedule
A planned maintenance schedule is a detailed organization of planned maintenance tasks and when they will be performed.
5. Maintenance Technicians
Just like in any other project, planned maintenance tasks require people to perform them well and on time, which is why it remains important to choose the best technicians for each task.
6. Replacement Parts and Tools
An important part of planned maintenance is having replacement parts available and tools to perform tasks.
7. Planned Maintenance Reports
Providing written records of the plan, showing if the goals were met, and clarifying how much money and time each task involved is vital in planned maintenance planning.
It also includes parts that need replacement, work hours, locations where planned maintenance occurs, and accidents and injuries during maintenance tasks.
Factors to Consider
1. Clarity and Conciseness
The importance of this consideration is to focus on planned maintenance tasks, which must be performed consistently at the right time. Planned maintenance tasks should be kept simple and thoroughly covered to avoid confusion.
2. Planned Maintenance Tasks Order
Ordering planned maintenance tasks from the most important to the least important ensures a smooth process because technicians know what they will do after completing a task without wasting time thinking about it.
3. Explain the Procedure Clearly
Each planned maintenance task should be described clearly, especially to new technicians.
Proper diagrams and illustrations should also be included to make it easy for technicians to perform each planned maintenance task from start to finish.
4. Planned Maintenance Problems Should Be Handled First
To not waste time on problems unrelated to the planned maintenance, all team members should know to resolve them first.
Steps in Making Planned Maintenance
Knowing the proper way of conducting planned maintenance ensures that plants and equipment remain functional.
Step One: Identify the Problem and Prepare a Work Order
This step concentrates on problems already present, which helps determine the planned maintenance tasks needed to resolve them.
Step Two: Assess the Plants and the Assets
This involves assessing plants, equipment, and other assets. Planned maintenance tasks must be prioritized from the list of planned maintenance tasks needed to resolve problems.
Step Three: Put Into Detail the Process of Repairing/Maintenance and Order Necessary Parts
It is important to make detailed planned maintenance tasks with work instructions because it shows the best way to perform each task.
Step Four: Create a List of the Works to Be Done According to Prioritization
Prioritization of tasks serves as a guide for technicians in determining the tasks that need attention first.
Step Five: Schedule the Planned Maintenance
Scheduling planned maintenance tasks gives technicians enough time to perform them, which allows them to work efficiently.
Step Six: Evaluate Planned Maintenance Performance
Planned maintenance reports assess the performance of the company in achieving the goals and tasks set at the beginning of the project.
Benefits of Planned Maintenance
Planned maintenance has several benefits that make your work efficient and your deliverables time-bound. These benefits include:
Decreases Downtime
Planned maintenance reduces system failures by inspecting, cleaning, and testing all equipment before use.
It identifies failures in a unit or component before it fails, which can reduce downtime to almost zero when done regularly.
Increases Asset Life Span
Planned maintenance extends the life span of assets, which reduces capital expenditures.
It does not replace equipment immediately when it breaks down but replaces the equipment only when its time is due, which increases the service life of assets.
Reduces Lost Revenue
When planned maintenance is conducted regularly, productivity is never compromised during emergency situations, and, hence, reduces lost revenue.
It allows for highly efficient service delivery, so your clients do not have to worry about emergencies because it ensures that equipment remains out of service as little as possible.
Reduces Maintenance Costs
Planned maintenance reduces the need for excessive maintenance and repair costs because it has reduced breakdowns and replaces the system only when it needs to be replaced, which reduces service calls.
Improves Workplace Safety
When planned maintenance is conducted properly, facilities are made safe for employees.
It reduces the risks posed by poorly maintained equipment that can result in accidents or injuries while reducing the risk of malfunctions due to poor maintenance.
Improves Time Management
Planned maintenance allows managers to minimize the time in which a breakdown is identified and resolved.
It helps managers maximize their working hours and increase productivity for clients and employees. Planned maintenance also ensures state-of-the-art facilities and equipment that can provide services in a more efficient way.
Higher Customer and Employee Satisfaction
Planned maintenance reduces the undesirable effects of an outage or breakdown in equipment that can have a negative impact on customers and employees.
It improves the reliability and availability of services, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and retention, which, in turn, increases revenue.
Moreover, it also increases productivity levels by providing employees with state-of-the-art facilities and equipment.
Enhances Company Culture
Planned maintenance can help a company enhance its culture of safety and reliability, which becomes the key differentiator for that company.
It builds trust among employees, customers, and stakeholders because it helps companies deliver their promises and commitments.
The Bottom Line
Planned maintenance prevents downtime and ensures that equipment is always in top condition. It is a method used by technicians to ensure that all machines, systems, and other assets run at an optimum level.
It also increases productivity levels and enhances company culture. Hence planned maintenance has a huge impact on any organization. It helps companies to increase their revenues by improving customer satisfaction.
This proactive approach needs to be adopted for any business because it has several benefits that help companies achieve their goals and maintain top-notch services.
FAQs
1. What is planned maintenance?
This is the process of inspecting, cleaning, and testing all equipment before use. Planned maintenance also identifies failures in a unit or component before it fails, which can reduce downtime to almost zero when performed regularly.
2. What are the goals of planned maintenance?
The goals of planned maintenance are to ensure that the equipment remains in good health, has an extended life, and helps save on capital expenditures.
3. What are the different categories of planned maintenance?
There are different categories of planned maintenance, such as planned preventative maintenance (PPM), planned predictive maintenance (PdM), planned corrective maintenance (PCM), and condition-based planned maintenance.
4. What are the benefits of the planned maintenance system?
The benefits of the planned maintenance system include improved performance and availability of equipment, reduced downtime and increased productivity levels across departments, and reduced risks of accidents or injuries.
