When you’ve got a shiny, new facility or equipment, it’s easy to assume it will all stay shiny and new. But, of course, it won’t – unless you commit to an industrial preventive maintenance program.
Corrective maintenance is necessary when machinery breaks down, but preventive maintenance can reduce the need for corrective maintenance, while helping you avoid costly unscheduled downtime. And keeping downtime to a minimum prevents customer frustration and reputation damage, while making every hour more profitable.
How Important is Industrial Preventive Maintenance
Establishing an industrial preventive maintenance program produces benefits that save time and money. Here’s how.
- Preventive maintenance is typically less expensive than shutting down all or part of your operation to allow for an emergency replacement or repair.
- Unplanned downtime cuts into your profits almost immediately. If it disrupts your delivery schedules, it may also cost you customers and future revenue.
- Your employees can easily work around the regularly scheduled downtime that preventative maintenance requires, but sudden unplanned downtime can cause havoc within your company and down the supply chain.
Tips for Preventive Maintenance Programs at Your Business
Train and Retrain Teams
It’s important that your team is able to recognize inefficiencies and the need for equipment service or repairs before costlier, more complicated problems arise. That’s why regular team training on potential maintenance issues is a good investment, if only to give your staff the confidence they need to handle future problems.
When your culture promotes ongoing education and active improvement, your company, customers and employees will all benefit.
Use Software and Technology
Your Binkelman Account Rep can talk with you about the technology that simplifies ongoing preventive maintenance programs, including Flexco Elevate®. That’s a wireless platform that transfers data from devices attached to each of your Flexco cleaners to an online dashboard. It provides predictive, data-driven insights and allows for remote, real-time monitoring of your belt cleaners.
OPTIFY™ by Dodge Industrial is a monitoring platform that makes it easier to control your assets remotely. With OPTIFY, you use your own data to make real-time decisions about critical operations to cut downtime, while boosting safety and reliability.
Create Equipment Check and Maintenance Schedules
When developing an industrial preventive maintenance program, start by creating a log of all your equipment that can be proactively serviced. Then, determine how frequently that equipment should be inspected for signs of wear, the need for lubrication or replacement parts, etc. That timeline may be determined by the calendar or by the machine’s operating hours. Once that maintenance schedule is in place, follow it religiously.
Pinpoint Why Components and Equipment Fail
All parts and system will fail. It’s only a matter of time. But if you notice that the service life of certain equipment is consistently shorter than expected, it’s especially important to identify the underlying cause of the recurring failure.
For instance, do you need to replace conveyor belts more frequently than you should? If so, we can help you pinpoint the reason why, whether it’s improper tension, mistracking, misaligned pulleys, bad bearings or any other cause. Taking the time to find the source of the problem can save you time and money in the long run.
Stock Spare Parts
From batteries, bulbs and belts to filters, hoses and chain, there may be many parts you replace often throughout your operation. Keeping a good supply of those parts on hand will save you time when they inevitably fail.
We can set up an inventory management program to keep your shelves stocked and your equipment running with as little disruption as possible.
Conclusion
Binkelman is in business to help you succeed. That includes developing a practical preventive maintenance plan that works with your budget and schedule. Your Binkelman Account Rep will be happy to give you more details.