Preventive maintenance can be a large burden on an organization, even if its goal of reducing downtime due to emergency maintenance is accomplished. By applying the following tips, an organization will be able to further limit preventive maintenance costs.
Examine preventive maintenance requirements when an asset is purchased and regularly afterwards. Conducting this recurring review with subject matter experts such as engineers or senior maintenance staff will ensure the scheduled maintenance events and associated timelines are actually necessary. A surprising number of asset failures are due to poorly timed, poorly executed, or unnecessary maintenance procedures.
Set flexible cost reduction goals. It has been said that you can only expect results in the areas you inspect. Applying this mantra to preventive costs means, among other things, stating and sharing a cost reduction goal to all relevant stakeholders. The communication of this goal will give all team members an opportunity to participate in and take ownership of the cost reduction goal. It is important to maintain a sense of flexibility around these goals, however, particularly in the earlier stages of the cost reduction goals. It may be that a particular goal is too aggressive, so it is vital to give the staff and management team an opportunity to adjust the goal moving forward, while still celebrating progress.
An effective preventive maintenance schedule takes a condition-driven approach. A condition-driven approach for preventive maintenance takes into account the fact that some assets and systems deteriorate faster than others, regardless of what the life cycle might be for a given class of assets. There is little way to control the reasons behind this accelerated deterioration after a purchase, but the condition can be managed by adjusting the preventive maintenance schedule.
Additionally, it is important in this context to consider the load a given machine has in comparison to its presumed life cycle. If a specific asset is exceeding the manufacturer’s suggested workload, then the maintenance schedule should be accelerated. Similarly, if an asset is underutilized compared to expectations, the preventive maintenance schedule can be expanded. The key is to pay attention to the specifics behind each asset, and to apply those specifics appropriately.
Identify optimal preventive maintenance times. Applying logic and environmental factors into a preventive maintenance schedule will reduce direct preventive maintenance costs, as well as minimize downtime and labor costs. For example, consider conducting maintenance for compressor and evaporators during the winter, as a smaller refrigeration load is required during the cooler months.
Purchase preventive maintenance management software. For most organizations, it would be far too complex and tedious to manually track costs at the level of granularity that is necessary to identify opportunities for improvement. Robust preventive maintenance software will give an organization the tools it needs to establish protocols for tracking preventive maintenance costs.
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DPSI’s iMaint is a reliable preventive maintenance software system that helps you capture information automatically, generate work orders and reports, submit works requests, keep track of costs, and so much more. Contact us to learn more about iMaint, or schedule a free software demo today.
