Equipment maintenance procedures ensure that tools and production machinery are always in top condition. Taking care of your tools is the best way to extend equipment life and maximise operational efficiency.
Companies that take good care of their equipment save money by reducing costly downtime. By planning routine maintenance tasks, they prepare necessary repairs and servicing procedures.
With detailed records and an effective equipment maintenance schedule, construction businesses and manufacturers avoid expensive repairs and costly breakdowns.
In this comprehensive guide, you will learn the value of maintenance, regular servicing, and repair work for industrial equipment. These steps will help you prevent industrial machinery failure, and avoid workplace injuries due to faulty equipment. Keep reading to learn the value of proper maintenance procedures and their extensive benefits for your business
What is the purpose of equipment maintenance?
The best equipment maintenance programs ensure that you get all the benefits from your heavy machinery. Organising schedules for all types of equipment is not easy, but maintenance tasks bring extremely valuable benefits.
Proper maintenance saves money
Heavy equipment machines produce great work output, but their parts break down fast. Without a strict equipment maintenance schedule, trained operators will not notice unexpected breakdowns and equipment failures.
An equipment maintenance program records a strict maintenance history, where maintenance managers track the state of heavy equipment and its components. Predictive maintenance procedures find replacements for worn-down components ahead of time.
This way, industrial companies avoid the massive repair costs that come with sudden equipment failure. Even better, a repair schedule minimises the chance of unplanned downtime and keeps the machine at peak performance.
When all machines receive routine inspections and timely service, you avoid costly repairs and avoid expensive downtime. Regular maintenance procedures pay off in the long run, as they extend the life cycle of all heavy equipment, while maintenance costs are always lower than emergency repair expenses.
Lower equipment downtime
Equipment failures sabotage the project schedule, where late execution can anger the client and damage your brand. Businesses that follow a strict equipment maintenance program have much lower equipment downtime.
Preventive maintenance procedures help identify the signs of potential equipment failure. With this information, equipment managers can check detailed maintenance records to find prior damages and gradual failure.
Under perfect conditions, a routine equipment maintenance program ensures that every piece of equipment is well maintained and that all machines experience as little downtime as possible.
Preventative maintenance ensures safety
Regular equipment maintenance procedures give operators the confidence to perform their tasks in safe conditions. Well maintained construction equipment creates a safe environment for the handler and other employees in the workplace.
With optimal equipment performance, heavy machines and their components always move as intended. The owner has to follow a strict schedule and abide by the original equipment manufacturer’s recommendations. This way, all types of equipment are secure, and safe working conditions ensure operators that they will not endanger themselves and fellow employees.
Maximise equipment longevity
With the help of predictive maintenance procedures, maintenance managers can rely on service records and timely repair work to take proper care of heavy equipment.
Well-maintained equipment has lower maintenance costs: each machine gets the necessary replacements faster. This way, broken components do not damage any other parts, and heavy construction equipment outlives its expected operating life.
A well-planned maintenance schedule can increase the lifespan of all types of equipment. This way, preventative maintenance procedures ensure that your machines serve as long as possible and do not lose their resale value
How do you maintain industrial equipment?
Equipment maintenance schedules can vary depending on the serviced machines, but the foundational strategy applies to all types of equipment. Here are the best ways to maintain your industrial equipment.
Regular equipment maintenance
Regular maintenance procedures focus on inspecting every piece of equipment by following scheduled servicing tasks. Maintenance managers examine major components and record service history to know the state of construction equipment.
Frequent tests and inspections are preventative maintenance techniques that help us identify equipment breakdowns before it occurs. Through detailed service records or warnings in heavy equipment software, technicians can look for suitable solutions ahead of time.
A preventive maintenance program focuses on scheduling maintenance tasks to leave no room for surprises. Even better, strict machine maintenance helps you maximise warranty coverage. By providing manufacturers the with information about the state of construction equipment and its service history, you demonstrate the fair use of the machine. This way, you can save money by avoiding some repair costs.
Regular maintenance procedures focus on proactive solutions for your manufacturing equipment. this includes predictive maintenance procedures, where servicing history and equipment performance data help you predict the breakdown of components with greater precision.
With an effective preventive maintenance program, the owner of manufacturing equipment can buy spare parts for components that experience extra abrasion. Equipment maintenance software simplifies these procedures: internal sensors inform the main panel with warnings and errors. With this information, you can stop further damage and update the preventive maintenance schedule with necessary repairs.
Reactive maintenance
Reactive maintenance procedures cover the cases where preventive maintenance fails to stop equipment failure. Here technicians schedule emergency repair work and look for replacement parts to return the machine to its working state.
How often should you perform maintenance on your industrial equipment?
For industrial machines, maintenance and servicing intervals can change depending on the type of equipment and its parts. Here we evaluate the discussed strategies to schedule maintenance tasks and their frequency.
Preventive maintenance schedule
Here we discuss the main maintenance procedures that affect most types of industrial equipment. Each machine has different service intervals, therefore these servicing recommendations are rough estimates.
Visual examination
Before the start of each shift, each machine has to pass the eye test conducted by trained operators. These steps include, but are not limited to:
- Engine inspection
- Replacement of fluids
- Discovery of cracks, cuts, leaks, and other damages
- A thorough examination of the most used components
Machine cleaning
Preventive maintenance ensures proper cleaning of machines before and after each shift. By eliminating all waste, operators stop contaminants that accelerate the wear and tear of all machine components. A clean machine has greater work output and is less susceptible to unexpected equipment failure.
electrical maintenance
Modern industrial machines have many wires, sensors, and other electrical components. Electrical maintenance procedures are performed by skilled technicians to make sure that all electrical and digital components work as intended.
On average, most construction and industrial equipment get by with monthly or weekly electrical maintenance checks. If your workplace uses many modern machines connected with heavy equipment software, make sure to have skilled technicians and IT experts on standby.
Predictive maintenance schedule
All regular maintenance procedures use monitoring tools and software to track the health of heavy machinery. Predictive maintenance takes it a step further, using data collected for accurate predictions. By studying the abrasion under experienced working conditions, managers can expect component breakdown and run weekly diagnostic tests.
Buying replacement parts
For older machines, predictive maintenance procedures run thorough inspections of all major components and replacement parts once every few weeks.
Real-time management
Today, these procedures are dynamic: heavy equipment software collects data about the state of the machine. These programs can be automated to send warnings, suggest predictions, and buy new parts for the analysed machine.
Conditional maintenance schedule
Conditional maintenance focuses on unique servicing tasks that make adjustments based on changes in the workplace environment. These procedures rarely affect indoor equipment but are essential for outdoor machines.
For example, vehicles that generate work output need winter chains and tires, plus use antifreeze to stop the coolant from freezing.
Season-based equipment maintenance tasks are performed every few months. For projects in a warmer climate, equipment owners can skip these procedures altogether.
Corrective maintenance schedule
Corrective maintenance procedures do not have a determined schedule because they focus on emergency repairs. These tasks can pile up if cases where the equipment owner does not have an effective preventive maintenance program.
What is a maintenance plan for machinery equipment?
A general equipment maintenance plan organises all maintenance procedures under one program. Here are the best ways to unify all your equipment maintenance needs into one solution.
Pick your framework
The equipment maintenance framework will determine how managers, operators, and other employees use and control production machinery.
Printed maintenance checklist
Managing the use and servicing of heavy equipment with physical documents is an outdated and inefficient way to control the industrial workplace environment. The pen & paper approach leaves no room for the automation of maintenance assignments.
While an operator or a skilled technician performs maintenance tasks by following a checklist, other employees do not receive updates about their status. To learn about the machine and its servicing history, workers have to manually check recorded logs.
Digital spreadsheets
Digital spreadsheets are a big forward that creates a virtual document with controllable permissions. Maintenance managers can control who can edit parts of the document, and their changes become visible to all authorised employees.
Online documents simplify the management of the workforce and assignment of equipment maintenance tasks, but they cannot send warnings, alerts, and direct updates about the state of operated machines.
Heavy equipment software
The ultimate tool for industrial workplace management, heavy equipment programs connect employees and machines into one network. Modern machines are full of internal sensors that track the health of their components, send updates about their state and reminders for equipment maintenance checks.
With a large fleet of digitised machines, you can connect all tools under one umbrella and manage them with incredible efficiency. Automated procedures save time and resources while delivering relevant information at blazing speeds.
Pick the right personnel
After establishing control of equipment maintenance procedures, choose the right people to perform repairs and other servicing tasks.
For most regular maintenance, the operator that works on the machine should be capable to complete the required changes and inspections. While it is not applicable to all heavy equipment, having trained operators is the best way to troubleshoot mild problems.
When in need of deeper equipment maintenance tasks, most companies have skilled technicians on the payroll. Some businesses choose an alternative route: outsourcing these tasks to licensed professionals, often recommended by equipment manufacturers.
To get the best of both worlds, maintenance managers save emergency repairs, monthly inspections, and reactive maintenance procedures for the experts, while other tasks are taught during operator training.
This structure ensures that the split in equipment maintenance duties is efficient and productive. An operator that knows how to fix mild issues will do so before the arrival of a technician, making sure that the operated machine avoids costly downtime. Meanwhile, dedicated technicians can track serious issues that need their immediate attention via field service management tools.
Follow the rules and guidelines
Don’t know where to start? First, make sure that equipment maintenance uses the manufacturer’s recommendations as guidelines for servicing intervals and replacement parts. Use it as a foundation for your equipment maintenance system, and then make adjustments based on the workload and workplace conditions.
After that, all machines follow the rules and regulations established by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Summary
Industrial equipment maintenance procedures ensure that the expensive machines at your disposal live long and happy lives before total breakdown.
By combining different maintenance strategies you can reduce the wear and tear of heavily used components. Even better, modern machines have tools that analyse their health and send warnings to heavy equipment software.
The combination of these tools helps industrial equipment owners find small damages before they expand into significant problems. Well maintained machines are safer, and more efficient, and rarely experience total equipment failure.
If you want to save money, minimise downtime and stay ahead of schedule, use your resources to create an efficient equipment maintenance program.
