Complete Guide To Plant Maintenance

Operational costs for manufacturers have been steadily rising in recent years. The pandemic, inflation, and supply chain problems have all contributed to a tough and expensive environment for factory operators. In this situation, your manufacturing business must have a solid plant maintenance strategy to avoid added expenses.

What is Plant Maintenance?

Plant maintenance is all about keeping equipment and assets in good shape. As they’re used over time, these items can wear out and need some care. Most of the damage occurs when things go off track during regular operations. Plant maintenance involves both planned check-ups and unexpected repairs.

Here are some essential activities that fall under this:

• Regular Inspections: These are routine checks to see if any equipment is showing signs of wear, helping to spot issues before they get worse.
• Repairs and Replacements: This involves fixing equipment that’s broken or swapping out parts that aren’t functioning anymore.
• Scheduled Shutdowns: Sometimes, equipment needs to be temporarily stopped for maintenance tasks, like inspecting conveyor belts or other machinery.
• Predictive Analytics: By using sensors and data, teams can monitor how equipment is performing and schedule maintenance before a breakdown happens.

What are the Primary Goals of Plant Maintenance?

When developing a plant maintenance strategy, it’s important to focus on several interconnected goals:

1. Minimize wear and tear to keep your equipment functioning well.
2. Prevent unexpected breakdowns and reduce unplanned downtime to maintain productivity.
3. Streamline scheduled preventive maintenance to shorten planned shutdowns and make the process smoother.
4. Extend the life of your equipment to get the most out of your investment.
5. Create a safe working environment for all employees.
6. Lowering maintenance costs, including labor and parts, while boosting overall profits.

By concentrating on these goals, you can create a maintenance plan that enhances productivity and keeps everything operating efficiently.

Which Industries Rely on These Maintenance Strategies?

Almost every industry needs some type of maintenance, but the size of the company usually influences the kind of maintenance strategy they use. Some industries depend on these strategies more than others, though.

Industries like manufacturing, Facilities, electricity generation, oil refining, natural gas processing, and construction rely more heavily on maintenance strategies. Whether you’re involved in installation, repair, or management, you’ll likely encounter some form of plant maintenance in these fields.

How to Perform Plant Maintenance?

First, start by taking inventory of all the equipment used in production. Keeping track of important information helps in planning and predicting when maintenance is needed. Some useful data to collect includes:

• How many total hours the equipment has been in operation
• The time since the last service
• Results from vibration checks
• Findings from fluid analysis
• Thermal images for components like pumps and motors
• Ultrasonic tests for leak detection
• Voltage and amperage readings
• Photos from visual inspections
• Equipment identification, location, and serial number
• A brief description of each machine
• The maintenance timeline for each piece of equipment
• Who is responsible for maintenance tasks
• Step-by-step procedures for servicing
• The priority level of each item

Once you’ve gathered all the information, identify any planned shutdowns. Many facilities schedule maintenance during these shutdowns to handle larger repairs. Mark these dates on the calendar, review your equipment inventory and work backward to plan out regular maintenance tasks. This helps ensure you’re staying ahead of any potential issues.

Plant Maintenance Best Practice

First, use the priority field to identify the most important equipment in your operation. For those essential machines, plan to set aside a budget for extra testing, such as vibration or thermal checks, throughout the year. It’s often smart to schedule predictive maintenance about nine weeks before any planned shutdowns. This way, if repairs are needed, you’ll have enough time to get approvals in place.

During shutdowns, you might find additional repairs are needed. Planning ahead can help you avoid extra costs like expedited shipping or hiring extra workers at the last minute.

Pro Tip : Rather than planning routine maintenance by calendar dates or quarters, track machine run-time hours and convert them into days. Mark these on your calendar, which can help you catch performance changes early and cut operating costs by staying ahead of potential repairs.

How to Implement Plant Maintenance in Your Organization

Setting up a plant maintenance program can be a bit tricky, but you can simplify the process with some clear steps. A great starting point is to use a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). This tool can help you organize maintenance schedules, keep track of inventory, and monitor how well your equipment is performing.

First, take a good look at your current maintenance practices. This will help you figure out what’s working and what needs improvement. Next, set clear maintenance goals and create a detailed plan that outlines everything that needs to happen.

Training your team is another important step. Ensure everyone knows how to use the CMMS and understands the best maintenance practices. Safety should always come first, so make sure everyone is aware of safety guidelines and protocols.

Encourage your team to communicate openly. This helps everyone feel comfortable sharing ideas and concerns. Finally, make it a point to regularly check in on how everything is going. This way, you can make adjustments as needed and ensure the program runs smoothly.

By following these steps, you can help keep your equipment running well, reduce downtime, and improve safety in your organization.

Plant Maintenance with NEXGEN CMMS

More manufacturing businesses are starting to use CMMS software to improve their plant maintenance strategies. This software includes helpful features like automated maintenance planning and scheduling, asset management, work order management, and advanced data analysis. It can also connect with other systems like ERPs and IoT devices, making it easy to use and cost-effective for improving maintenance operations.

If you’re interested in seeing how NEXGEN’s CMMS Solution can enhance your maintenance work, request a demo today.