Reliable equipment is important so that it ensures
- Production meets their targets
- Services are not interrupted
- Safety is never compromised
The typical cost of one hour’s downtime in an average manufacturing company is £1,000, it can be several thousand pounds in high tech companies and millions of pounds in the service sector. Having reliable equipment is therefore, of paramount importance, yet many organisations are happy for equipment to fail and accept it as part of the daily pattern. To achieve high levels of reliability requires:
- Assets to be in a good condition
- Effective maintenance plans
- Effective failure analysis processes
MCP provides the tools, training and support to help you deliver reliable equipment.
Asset Condition Surveys
Asset condition surveys are designed to identify:
- Current status
- Condition
- Vulnerability of each asset
Our approach involves the use of a bespoke set of factors which are used to complete the condition assessment. The factors could include for example, condition, impact of failure, parts availability, skills availability. The developed factors are used in conjunction with a usual inspection to develop a risk matrix and vulnerability index.
Effective Maintenance Plans
Equipment maintenance life plans should consist of a mixture of predictive, preventive, design out and operate to fail tasks. The mix of tasks is determined by equipment’s criticality. Equipment criticality is a fundamental step in the development of maintenance best practice in general and effective maintenance plans in particular.
MCP’s maintenance equipment criticality is a factor based approach which assesses each asset using pre-defined factors descriptions and provides a measure of risk. Classification of assets into different risk categories then determines the maintenance approach.
Developing the maintenance approach
MCP provides support in training in a variety of techniques including:
- Failure Modes Effects Analysis (FMECA)
- Reliability Central Maintenance (RCM)
- Review of Existing Maintenance (REM)
Using these analytical techniques will provide :
- The best maintenance plans for each asset
- The right spare parts
- The right skills
Using MCP analytical techniques can reduce preventive maintenance by up to 25% (by removal of unnecessary non value coding tasks) and reduce equipment downtime by less that 5%.
MCP also provide in-house and public training courses in Equipment Reliability Techniques.
Failure Analysis
To eliminate unexpected equipment failures requires an understanding of why the failure occurred and a process for reducing the chance of a repeat failure. The main elements of a failure analysis process are:
- Fault diagnosis
- Failure reporting system (FRACAS)
- Action and failure elimination process
Fault diagnosis requires an understanding of the true root cause analysis of the failure and this is provided by MCP as an in-house training course. Failure reporting and action processes should be designed into the procedures within a CMMS.