Page 394 - Intro Predictive Maintenance

A Total-Plant Predictive Maintenance Program 385

to failure and to determine how much longer the part could be expected to operate
without failure. If examination shows that considerable life is left on the part, then the
preventive maintenance task or rebuild interval should be extended in the future.
Removed repairable parts should be tagged to indicate why they were removed.
Nothing is more frustrating to a repairperson then trying to find a defect that does not
exist.

Detailed Procedures
This topic has been covered earlier but should be reemphasized to ensure that the best
balance is developed between details and general functions. The following are some
general guidelines:

• Common words in short sentences should be used, with a reading compre-
hension level no higher than seventh grade.
• Illustrations should be used where possible, especially to point out critical
measurements.
• Commonly done tasks should be referred to by function, whereas those
tasks that are done once a year or less frequently may be described in
detail.
• Daily and weekly checklists should be protected with a transparent cover
and kept on equipment.
• Inspections and maintenance done once a month or less often should be
issued as specific work orders.
• The craftsperson’s signature should be required on every completed job.
• Management should complete a follow-up inspection on at least a large
sample of the jobs in order to ensure quality.
• Failure rates on equipment should be tracked to increase inspection and
preventive maintenance on items that are failing and to decrease efforts
where there is little payoff.
• What was done and how much time it took should be recorded as guidance
for future work.

Quality Assurance
Quality of maintenance is a subject that requires more emphasis than it has received
in the past. Like quality of any product, maintenance quality must be designed and
built in. It cannot be inspected into the job.

The quality of inspection and preventive maintenance tasks starts with well-designed
procedures, equipment, and a surrounding environment that is conducive to good
maintenance and management emphasis. The procedures must then be followed
properly, adequate time provided to the craftsperson to do the job well, and standards
available with training to illustrate what is expected. There is one best way to do
most inspections and preventive maintenance. That way should be detailed in a set
of procedures and controlled to ensure successful completion.