Page 29 - An Introduction To Predictive Maintenance

Impact of Maintenance 19

Procurement

The procurement function must provide raw materials, production spares, and other
consumables at the proper times to support effective production. In addition, these
commodities must be of suitable quality and functionality to permit effective use of
the process systems and finished product quality. The procurement function is critical
to good performance of both production and maintenance. This group must coordi-
nate its activities with both functions and provide acceptable levels of performance.
In addition, they must implement and maintain standard procedures and practices that
ensure optimum support for both the production and maintenance functions. At a
minimum, these procedures should include vendor qualification, procurement speci-
fications based on life-cycle costs, incoming inspection, inventory control, and mate-
rial control.

Maintenance
The maintenance function must ensure that all production and manufacturing equip-
ment is kept in optimum operating condition. The normal practice of quick response
to failures must be replaced with maintenance practices that sustain optimum operat-
ing condition of all plant systems. It is not enough to have the production system
operate. The equipment must reliably operate at or above nameplate capacity without
creating abnormal levels of product-quality problems, preventive maintenance down-
time, or delays. Maintenance prevention, not quick-fixes of breakdowns, should be
the objective.

Maintenance planning and scheduling are essential parts of effective maintenance.
Planners must develop and implement both preventive and corrective maintenance
tasks that achieve maximum use of maintenance resources and the production capac-
ity of plant systems. Good planning is not an option. Plants should adequately plan
all maintenance activities, not just those performed during maintenance outages.

Standard procedures and practices are essential for effective use of maintenance
resources. The practices should ensure proper interval of inspection, adjustment, or
repair. In addition, these practices should ensure that each task is properly completed.
Standard maintenance procedures (SMPs) should be written so that any qualified
craftsman can successfully complete the task in the minimum required time and at
minimum costs.

Adherence to SMPs is also essential. The workforce must have the training and skills
required to effectively complete their assigned duties. In addition, maintenance
management must ensure that all maintenance employees follow standard practices
and fully support continuous improvement.

Information Management
Effective use of plant resources absolutely depends on good management decisions.
Therefore, viable information management is critical to good plant performance. All