Page 336 - Intro Predictive Maintenance

Establishing a Predictive Maintenance Program 327

ables. These requirements are management support, dedicated and accountable
personnel, efficient data collection and analysis procedures, and a viable database.

15.2.1 Management Support
Implementing a predictive maintenance program will require an investment in both
capital equipment and labor. If a program is to get started and survive to accomplish
its intended goals, management must be willing to commit the necessary resources.
Management must also insist on the adoption of vital record-keeping and information
exchange procedures that are critical to program success and are outside the control
of the maintenance department. In most aborted programs, management committed to
the initial investment for capital equipment but did not invest the resources required
for training, consulting support, and in-house staffing that are essential to success.
Several programs have been aborted during the time between 18 and 24 months after
implementation. They were not aborted because the program failed to achieve the
desired results, but rather they failed because upper management did not clearly under-
stand how the program worked.

During the first 12 months, most predictive maintenance programs identify numerous
problems in plant machinery and systems. Therefore, the reports and recommendations
for corrective actions generated by the predictive maintenance group are highly visible.
After the initial 12 to 18 months, most of the serious plant problems have been resolved
and the reports begin to show little need for corrective actions. Without a clear under-
standing of this normal cycle and the means of quantifying the achievements of the
predictive maintenance program, upper management often concludes that the program
is not providing sufficient benefits to justify the continued investment in staffing.

15.2.2 Dedicated and Accountable Personnel
All successful programs are built around a full-time predictive maintenance team.
Some of these teams may cover multiple plants and some monitor only one; however,
every successful program has a dedicated team that can concentrate its full attention
on achieving the objectives established for the program. Even though a few success-
ful programs have been structured around part-time personnel, this approach is
not recommended. All too often, part-time personnel will not or cannot maintain the
monitoring and analysis frequency that is critical to success.

The accountability expected of the predictive maintenance group is another critical
factor to program effectiveness. If measures of program effectiveness are not estab-
lished, neither management nor program personnel can determine if the program’s
potential is being achieved.

15.2.3 Efficient Data Collection and Analysis Procedures
Efficient procedures can be established if adequate instrumentation is available
and the monitoring tasks are structured to emphasize program goals. A well-planned