(Series 2 of the Kumar lessons from Engineering Maintenance by Ntokozo Mthembu, Pr. Eng., PhD)
This is the second series of Prof. Kumar’s lecture on engineering maintenance which deals with the How’s, Who’s and Where’s of maintenance activities. It follows after the first series that dealt with the Why, What, and When aspects.
You will recall that when discussing the “when” maintenance, the primary question here was, when is maintenance required? The answer proffered 5 phases of the product, which are
1 design,
2 procurement,
3 installation,
4 commissioning, and
5 operation.
In the design phase, we discussed two aspects;
1 design out of maintenance (DOM) and
2 design for maintenance (DfM),
which machine and equipment designers need to be aware of, and use intelligently to achieve the least cost and maximum fit-for-use and comfort in maintaining and operating their machinery.
1. The How phase
As stated above and underscored in the previous series, the when maintenance is primarily applied during the design phase. However, in the ‘how’ phase, both DOM and DfM are equally important, which means that the when and the how phases overlap through these maintenance activities. The benefits of both design out maintenance (DOM) and design for maintenance (DFM) have been discussed and hence, need no introduction or mention here. The importance is to highlight that both are concerned and applied during the equipment and machine design phases.
The Who and Where phases
The two phases fall in the province of machine operation, which presupposes that the equipment and machine design phases (including the ancillary procurement and installation phases) are not error-free. Even if they were so at the design and commissioning phases, once the equipment is put into operation, a new phenomenon emerges: wear and tear, that requires practitioners to ensure that the health of the machine/equipment remains close to its pristine phase akin to its original design specifications. A tall order indeed!
2. Who will perform maintenance?
There are operators who perform maintenance using various strategies
- operator or owner
- original equipment manufacturer/contractor for full-service contracts
- full-service contract
- partial service contract / outsourcing
- design phase by “design out maintenance” or “design for maintenance”
- at the operation phase, in-house/outsourced or in the workshop
In-house vs outsourcing maintenance presents what Bill Lydon of Automation calls “The Big Maintenance Dilemma: In-House vs Outsourcing” for many companies, especially the big and specialised ones. There is also a middle road in the mix, with partial outsourcing on the bedrock of in-house maintenance.
Traditionally, it is inherent in operations and management of equipment, machines, and businesses across the board, especially family businesses to keep everything in-house. However, another side of the coin to consider is “outsourcing.”
Outsourcing
From an auxiliary outlook on outsourcing, Lydon lists four additional factors that must be examined when considering outsourcing your maintenance. 3. Where do we perform maintenance? Workshop is the obvious and well-known place where maintenance is performed. It is the equipment and machinery kitchen, so to speak. Workshop The importance of workshop maintenance is emphasized by Antti Kirmanen, Chief Sales Officer of Trail Systems and Founder at Van Merryn Oy. Kirmanen provides ‘the Ben Sapper’s perspective’ on workshop maintenance. Antii recommends a modern fixed asset management system (another story for another day) to ensure that your equipment is maintained and stays in working condition. While the workshop is regarded as a locus of maintenance activities, perhaps it must be mentioned that most maintenance of machine happens on the shop floor. It enjoins the maintenance team to be agile, flexible, and be able to move to the floor with “requisite” tools to maintain the machines in distress. However, moveable or detachable machine components such as gearboxes, pumps and other ancillaries can be moved to the factory workshop for repairs. Moving the whole machine requires different planning, and decommissioning from production to perform preventive maintenance. Site (typical of manufacturing equipment and machines) Most of the maintenance and repairs required in manufacturing plants are done on the shop floor, while production activities are going on. Most of us are familiar with the phenomenon. Professor Kumar makes an interesting example involving a train, passenger pr goods. If the train is broken, or any component is not in a good working order, maintenance engineers do not haul the whole train back into the workshop. Instead, they send experts to repair and fix whatever is wrong with it. The site maintenance is typical of construction sites where heavy machinery needs regular check-ups and repairs where necessary but in situ. A good example of the how to maintain heavy equipment off-site is given by “the Constructor” a mouthpiece of Construction Engineering and Management. It offers seven (7) strategies for conducting equipment maintenance in construction sites: 1 Make an inventory of assets that require maintenance 2 Involve both equipment operators and the maintenance team 3 Create proper equipment maintenance checklists 4 Create, schedule, and assign preventive maintenance tasks 5 Leave room for modifications 6 Use manufacturers’ manuals, guidelines, and recommendations 7 Educate both equipment operators and maintenance technicians The lessons from the construction sites are universally applicable whenever and wherever one deals with equipment and machines, no matter the size. Equipment and machines provide the vital spark for our transformational operations to function, and must be treated the same way we treat ourselves, the living organisms. They are also the ‘living inanimate’ created by human beings, using the blueprint of living organisms. The key concepts of Key 9 of the 20 Keys System for Operations Improvement are: Keep an eye out for Part 3 of this series. To read part 1 of The Kumar’s Why, What, When, How, Who and Where Concepts of Engineering Maintenance, click here.