Chapter 5

Elements of Maintenance
Technology

1
Equipment Malfunctions
 Equipment malfunctions have a direct impact on:

Production capacity
Production costs
Product and service quality
Employee or customer safety
Customer satisfaction
Maintenance Activities
 Repairs

 Repair activities are reactive.

 Breakdowns and malfunctions typically occur when equipment

is in use.
 Standby machines and parts can speed repairs.

 Preventive Maintenance (PM)

 Regularly scheduled inspections are performed.

 PM activities are performed before equipment fails.

 PM is usually performed during idle periods.

 Tradeoff Between Repairs and PM
 At minimum level of PM, it is a remedial policy

 fix machines only when they break

 the cost of breakdowns, interruptions to production, and

repairs is high

 As the PM effort is increased, breakdown and repair cost is

reduced

 At some point, the total maintenance cost (PM, breakdown,

and repair) reach a minimum

 Tradeoff Between Repairs and PM
Annual Cost ($)

Minimum Total
Maintenance Cost
Total
Maintenance
Costs
Minimum
Level of Preventive
Preventive Maintenance
Maintenance Cost
Breakdown
and Repair
Cost
Degree of Preventive Maintenance
 Maintenance Policies that Reduce Frequency and
Severity of Malfunctions
Reduces Reduces
Maintenance Policy Frequency Severity
Emphasize preventive maintenance X X
Provide extra machines X
Replace machine parts early X
Involve operators in maintenance X X
Overdesign machines X
Design machines for maintainability X
Enhance maint. dept.’s capability X X
Increase spare parts supply X
Increase standby machines X
Increase in-process inventories X
Repair Programs
 Objectives

Get equipment back into operation as quickly as possible.

Control cost of repairs crews.
Control cost of the operation of repair shops.
Control the investment in replacement spare parts.
Control the investment in standby or backup machines.
Perform the appropriate amount of repairs at each
malfunction.
 Repair Crews and Standby Machines
 Repairs often performed on an emergency basis to:

Minimize interruptions to production

Correct unsafe working conditions
Improve product/service quality

 In emergency situations:

Specialists may work overtime

Supervisor/engineers are nearby to collaborate
Standby machines may be quickly put in operation
 How Speedy Should Repairs Be?
Cost ($)

Minimum
Total Cost
of Repairs Total Costs
of Repairs
Cost of Repair
Crews & Shops,
Spare Parts, and
Standby Machines
Cost of
Interruptions to
Production
0
Slow Speed of Making Repairs Fast
 Breakdowns Trigger
Repairs and Corrective Actions
 An equipment breakdown should trigger two actions:

 Fast repair of the malfunction equipment

 Development of a program to eliminate cause of the

malfunction and need for such repairs in the future

Modification/redesign of malfunctioning machine
Modification/redesign of part or product being processed
Training of operators to improve machine care
More frequent preventive maintenance/inspection
 Extent of Repairs

Do just enough repairs to get equipment running again.

Repair the malfunction and replace some parts that are worn.

Perform a major overhaul of the equipment.

Replace the old equipment with new.

 Decision Analysis in Repair Programs
 Determining the size of repair crews

 This is one repair-capacity decision

 Queuing analysis is often used

 Computer simulation is used when the assumptions of

queuing formulas do not apply

 Determining the number of standby machines to have

 Trade-off between cost of lost production time and cost of

machine storage, handling, ….

 Advantages of Letting Workers
Repair Their Own Machines

 Greater variety may make job more satisfying

 May be more sensitive to potential malfunctions

 Increase flexibility

 Can make minor repairs faster

 Can avoid minor repairs by cleaning, lubricating, adjusting

and servicing machines

 Operate machines more carefully

 Reasons for a PM Program
Reduce the frequency and severity of interruptions due to
malfunctions

Extend the useful life of equipment

Reduce the total cost of maintenance by substituting PM

costs for repair costs

Provide a safe working environment

Improve product quality by keeping equipment in proper

adjustment
PM and Operations Strategies
 PM program is essential to the success of a product-focused

positioning strategy

 On production lines, there are little if any in-process

inventories between adjacent operations

 If a machine breaks down, all downstream operations will

soon run out of parts to work on

Automation and the Prominence of PM
 Many operations are slowly moving toward workerless

production

 We are seeing a shift from large to smaller production

workforces

 Along with this, we are seeing a shift from small to larger PM

workforces

 Production workers displaced by automation will need to be

retrained to become PM workers

 Scheduling PM Activities
 PM and production are increasingly viewed as being equally

important

 In some plants, two 8-hour shifts are devoted to production

and one 4-hour minishift is devoted to PM

 In other plants, three shifts are used for production, but time

allowances are factored into production schedules for PM

activities
 PM Database Requirements
 Detailed records, or an ongoing history, must be maintained

on each machine
 Dates and frequency of breakdowns

 Descriptions of malfunctions

 Costs of repairs

 Machine specifications/checklists for PM inspection

 Computers generally used to maintain a database

 Also, data can be kept in plastic pocket on a machine

 Modern Approaches to PM
 PM at the source - workers have the fundamental responsibility

for preventing machine breakdowns by conducting PM on their

own machines

 Workers listen for indications of potential equipment

malfunction

 Maintenance-related records maintained by workers

 Use of quality circles

 Decision Analysis in PM

 Three decisions in particular

Determining the number of spare parts to carry

Determining how often to perform PM on a group of
machines
Planning and controlling a large-scale PM project
 Determining the Number of Spare Parts
to Carry for PM Inspections
Two types of parts demand arise from PM inspection:

 Parts that we routinely plan to replace at the time of each

inspection (demand that is certain)

 This demand can be satisfied by applying Material Requirements

Planning (MRP) logic

 Parts, discovered during an inspection, in need of replacement

(demand that is uncertain)

 This inventory problem is similar to the number-of-standby-
machines problem.
 Determining the Frequency of
Performing PM
 First, compute the expected number of breakdowns for each

PM policy.

 Next, compute the expected breakdown cost, preventive

maintenance cost, and total cost for each PM policy.

 Finally, identify the policy that minimizes the total cost per

unit of time (say, per week).

 Expected Number of Breakdowns

where:

Bn = expected number of breakdowns for each of the PM

policies

pn = probability that a breakdown will occur between PM

inspections when PM is performed every n periods

N = number of machines in group

Example: PM Frequency
It costs $6,000 to perform PM on a group of four
machines. The cost of down time and repairs, if a machine
malfunctions between PM inspections, is $8,000.

How often should PM be performed to minimize the

expected cost of malfunction and the cost of PM?

(The machines’ breakdown history is on the next slide.)

Example: PM Frequency
 Machine Breakdown History

Weeks Probability That a

Between PM Machine Will Malfunction
1 0.2
2 0.3
3 0.5
Example: PM Frequency
n
Bn  N( p n )  B(n 1) p1  B(n  2) p 2  ...  B1p (n 1)
1

B1 = 4(0.2) = 0.800
B2 = 4(0.2 + 0.3) + 0.8(0.2) = 2.160
B3 = 4(0.2 + 0.3 + 0.5) + 2.16(0.2) + 0.8(0.3) = 4.672
 Example: PM Frequency
Exp. Weekly
PM Exp. Number Exp. Weekly Total
Every Number of BDs Cost of Cost Weekly
n Wks. Of BDs per Wk. BDs of PM Cost
1 0.800 0.800 $6,400 $6,000 $12,400
2 2.160 1.080 8,640 3,000 11,640
3 4.672 1.557 12,456 2,000 14,456
The policy that minimizes total weekly cost is: perform PM every 2
weeks.
 Large-Scale PM Projects
 Large-scale projects occur commonly in maintenance
departments.

 Banks of machines, whole production departments, and even

entire factories are shut down periodically to perform PM.

 The number and diversity of the PM tasks that must be

performed can be great.

 CPM (in Chapter 9) is a useful way to plan and control large-

scale maintenance projects.

 Approaches to Improving
Machine Reliability
 Overdesign - enhancing the machine design to avoid a particular

type of failure

 Design simplification - reducing the number of interacting parts

in a machine

 Redundant components - building backup components right into

the machine so that if one part fails, it’s automatically substituted

 Secondary Maintenance
Responsibilities
 Housekeeping, grounds keeping, janitorial

 New construction, remodeling

 Painting

 Security, loss prevention

 Pollution control

 Waste recycling

 Safety equipment maintenance

 Public hazard control

 Trends in Maintenance

 Production machinery is becoming more and more

complex and maintenance personnel must keep pace

 Special training programs to maintain worker skill level

 Subcontracting service companies

 Production workers maintain own equipment

 Computer assistance in maintenance

Computer Assistance in Maintenance

 Scheduling maintenance projects

 Maintenance cost reports by production department, cost

category, and other classifications

 Inventory status reports for maintenance parts and supplies

 Parts failure data

 Operations analysis studies

 Maintenance Issues in Service
Organizations
 Maintenance issues are not limited to manufacturing

 Transportation firms (airlines, trucking companies, package

delivery services, railroads) must keep their vehicles in top

operating condition

 Highway departments must maintain roadways

 Office personnel are reliant on copiers, printers, computers,

and fax machines working properly

 As services become increasingly automated, service firms face

more and more maintenance issues

 Wrap-Up: World-Class Practice

 Empower workers so they “own” their machines

 Implement JIT to help reduce inventories and cycle time

 Invest in factory and service automation projects

 Utilize automated process sensing and control systems

 Use computers in maintenance management

Thank you