Somewhat off topic, but what the heck!

Hello friends,

I know it's somewhat off topic here, but all you guys and the few gals here know a lot about almost everything.

For one of our customers I have to write a course on maintenance methodology. I have some stuff, but it's all related to do maintenance in PLC controlled installations and the customer, who is always right, wants me also to cover non-PLC related stuff.

Has anybody knowledge about good resources for this? I mean basic info about maintenance methodology or good maintenance practices, possibly with examples in all fields: mechanical, electrical, electronics and PLC.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Most of my customers' maintenance methodology is a follows.

1. Run it
2. Run it some more.
3. Run it until it breaks.
4. Panic and throw money at it.

I'm in the same boat... I work in cotton gins, they run about 6 weeks out of the year...

10 Run it
20 Break it
30 Southern-Engineer a fix
40 GoTo 10

Jean Pierre,
Maybe this site will help...
http://www.maintenance-forum.com/Forum/portal.php

Jean Pierre,

I usually begin with safety issues, Lockout Tagout, Personal Protection Equipment, Checking for voltage before grabbing a fuse etc..

Then go into what NOT to do. Do Not Dress Starter Contacts. Do Not use Metal Oxide Sandpaper to seat motor brushes. Do Not Install over sized Fuses.

The DO NOTs are just as important as the DOs.

Beyond that proper maintenance proceadures are closly related to the spicific equipment, and enviroment involved.

Maintenance Plan and Policy driven by Expectations

Overall Objective of the Maintenance Organization:
Maximize equipment uptime, while simultaneously reducing costs.

Maintenance Organizational Priorities:
1) Safety: Safety is King.
2) PM's
3) One of a kind equipments downs / Bottleneck equipment sets.
4) Down Equipment
5) Projects / Statistical Process Control (SPC) Improvements (Often done in conjuction with PM scheduling).

Training:
Strive for organizational breadth of equipment knowledge (NOT depth).
For example, have many people who can do routine equipment PM's and repairs, INSTEAD of one person with tremendous in depth knowledge about 1 equipment set.
Reason: An organization that exhausts its resource into in-depth training is left naked if that individual is sick or quits. This is a very costly mistake and usually discovered in hindsite.

Manpower:
You need about 1.58 to 1.63 man hours of maintenance staff per hour of PM's. This multiplying factor takes into account unscheduled downtime, vacations, sick time, training, meetings, FO time, and the PM itself.
I have seen a lot of models and this multiplying factor works very well.
Example: Machine X has 97 hrs per year of PM's. Plan on 158.11 tech man hrs to accomodate this piece of equipment.

Uptime Goals:
90% nominal. I don't care how long the production line is, how old the equipment is, or how unskilled the maintenance crew is. This is the absolute minimum uptime goal to attain to be a world class organization.
If your organization is getting 35% uptime - you are ignorant in proper maintenance.
35-65% uptime - you're going out of business.
65% - 80% maybe surviving.
80% + making money if this is a 24/7 operation.

Training:
Yes. Have equipment set owners make training documents. Schedule as possible, and make sure you follow through. Don't lame out, and not have the training due to a Production emergency.
ISO 9004 is a good guideline for the types of documentation you need.

Use the CLAIR model for PM's
Clean, Lubricate, Adjust, Inspect, Repair.
All PM documents should be based off this model.
If your equipment doesn't look close to new, then maintenance is cutting corners.

Remember:
Hard work pays off in the long run, but laziness pays off RIGHT now.