In the day-to-day of industrial operations, it is not uncommon for the Operations Manager or the person responsible for the shop floor to find it difficult to establish an industrial maintenance schedule. The truth is that, in many places, the topic is still considered as a minor concern.

But anyone who understands the subject knows it’s not like that.

Good industrial maintenance can be decisive for the company to comply with its strategic planning,reducing costs and boosting productivity. However, not all managers see these benefits.

Thus, to the person responsible for the shop floor, it is the task of clarifying the theme and explaining the importance of applying good industrial maintenance throughout the factory. And you encounter difficulties like these, so common in the Brazilian manufacturing environment?

In this content, we’ll share some tips that can help you direct your arguments. After all, industrial maintenance is one of the pillars of companies that seek a differential now and in the future, but what is left for you to convince your manager of this? Check out!

Maintenance as a strategic function

The production chain of a company is not something simple. It is a complex system whose function goes far beyond production simply. In fact, the shop floor plays an essential strategic role for the company as a whole, being the core of what it sells. Among other cases, the productive sector:

• Contributes to the company’s main objectives;
• It is a place that requires intense planning;
• It has a technical machinery, whose conditions influence in all production — and consequently, in the results;
• It needs the greatest possible effectiveness and effectiveness, because its operation should be continuous to the maximum.

With this, you can understand why industrial maintenance is so important. This is the planned process that guarantees this desired productive continuity.

However, you may wonder: how does maintenance influence production to the point of ensuring these results?

• Quality,as it reduces the need for rework and keeps all machinery and equipment in the best conditions.
• Agility,as it makes the production level even more optimized by reducing machine downtime.
• Flexibility,because there are different concepts that can be applied in various situations, avoiding problems from different sources.
• Savings,because it ensures the maximum operation of the machinery, enhancing its useful life and avoiding unexpected expenses.

How to have an industrial maintenance up to date

Once your manager understands the importance of industrial maintenance, you need to be aware of your practice. After all, how to keep your application up to date? It’s not just about observing the conditions of a machine and deciding whether to fix it or not.

At this point, it is necessary to consider some mandatory tasks that will facilitate your day to day. Check:

Registration and classification of assets

Your inventory needs constant updating with each move. This way, you can make a more appropriate control of what enters and leaves your shop floor, thus evaluating the daily, weekly, monthly demands, etc.

A classification system serves to hierarchize these assets into a logic of importance: the greater their relevance to the shop floor, the higher in the hierarchy. Therefore, more important to be evaluated by the inspectors.

Create different maintenance plans

The world of industrial maintenance is based on three very important concepts:

Predictive maintenance, preventive maintenance and corrective maintenance.

The three are part of the day-to-day of an optimized shop floor, in which maintenance is prioritized. After all, each concept has its peculiarity and your company must be prepared to apply them in every type of situation. Therefore, planning is essential.

Technology to assist management and make the progress of activities more flexible

Like all business processes today, it is not feasible to keep activity records and Work Orders in spreadsheets or folders, for example. In fact, it takes a system that integrates all of this so that everyone involved can access information, documentation, among others.

SAP PM®, sap’s ERP Plant Maintenance management module, is one of the most recommended.

Moreover, it is necessary to think about the flexibility of the work performed. Some industrial plants do not allow the specialist to perform maintenance without first informing the system of any exchange. Often, in fieldwork, this communication is even more limited.

Therefore, an application that enables this interaction via smartphone, even offline, is the best alternative.

Learn about industrial maintenance indicators

Now, it’s time to understand what’s working and what’s not in your industrial maintenance plan. How to accomplish this task? After all, just relying on the reports issued by your management software is not enough. It is necessary to start from a principle, but which one?

The guidelines you are looking for are named: maintenance indicators. Below are some of the main ones:

MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) | Average Time Between Failures

This is the relationship between the total time in hours of a machine running and the number of times a failure occurred. This result gives you an average of hours between each failure, indicating your propensity for failure, which can help you plan.

MTTR (Mean Time To Repair) | Average Time for Repair

The relationship between the time (in minutes or hours) of repairs performed on a machine (the sum) and the number of times the intervention was required. The result will be the average repair time required, which will tell you how long the production will suffer from the shutdown.

Asset Availability

This indicator tells you the possibility of a machine being available for use. It follows a formula that takes into account the two indicators above:

Availability: (MTBF / (MTBF + MTTR)) x 100

The result is the percentage of availability.

Percentage of Maintenance Cost

Indicates the annual cost in relation to the company’s revenue. The formula is similar to the one above, being:

Maintenance Cost: (Total Maintenance Cost / Gross Billing) x 100

The result represents the percentage of the cost. The Brazilian average is no more than 4.

Maintenance cost per ERV

This indicator concerns the cost of maintenance per asset. In this case, ERV stands for Estimated Replace Value. The formula is known as CPMR:

CPMR: (Total spent on asset maintenance / Asset purchase value) x 100

The result will be a percentage that indicates whether it is worth keeping the asset in question. In general, it is considered 2.5 as maximum. If the result passes this, it means that the asset (machine) no longer has a good cost x benefit and can be considered an exchange.

Now that you know how to convince your manager of the importance of industrial maintenance, how to put in place a management plan and how to manage it, the time has come to put everything into practice!

For this, count on the help of Nalbatech. The company specializes in creating technological solutions such as SAN Mobile. The application is compatible with SAP PM® and assists in automating mobile processes.

Contact one of our experts right now!

Planning and maintenance are two complementary concepts. The sector responsible for repairing a company’s machinery and equipment has great importance in the performance of corporate activities.

In this context, maintenance planning and control arises. This process contributes to the structuring of the company in the face of the operation of the various departments, in addition to increasing the performance and productivity of employees.

If you are interested in knowing what are the phases of MPC and how this set of strategies works, keep up with the article we have prepared for you!

What is MPC?

Maintenance planning and control, or simply MPC, has great importance in the management of the company, as it is the area focused on having control of all maintenance that needs to be done, including the sectors that require more urgent maintenance, stop scheduling and so on.

Thus, the role of the MPC is to understand the scenario of maintenance that needs to be performed, execute them at the appropriate time, besides having the control and supervision of all processes related to the subject.

The concept is related to the maintenance engineer, and the activities and functions that fall within the area also depend on the management model adopted by each company and also on the needs of the day to day.

Therefore, strategic measures are applied to schedule maintenance and solve problems in machines and operators that are essential for the productive processes of the business.

MPC: what is its importance?

Maintenance planning and control have a significant impact on the company’s performance. After all, with the efficient use of machines and operators it is possible to ensure a beneficial production, without failures or interruptions that harm the tasks.

Therefore, maintenance is a theme that needs to be carefully considered, because we know that if it is not done properly the machinery is impacted, generating bigger problems for the company.

Thus, in order to avoid negative consequences, the MPC acts directly in the planning of actions, reducing risks and improving decisions, which will also be more accurate.

What are the phases of the MPC?

To make your planning more efficient, it’s important to follow a few steps. The MPC has attributions that make all the difference in the company’s results, and it is relevant to take into account the management adopted and the specificities of the processes. Know what are the stages of planning and control of maintenance!

Preparation of schedule

The schedule is an important step to guide your decisions and better understand the flow of each activity. Understanding which actions need to be put into practice, setting deadlines that are appropriate for the team and within the expectation of the company.

Stop schedule

Scheduling a stop is an essential aspect for greater control of planning and maintenance. Inserting this process into the routine of the business contributes to the repair of machinery and at what time it is more recommended that these maintenances occur.

In addition, scheduling helps when communicating production sectors before making adjustments, informing you in which period the stops will take place. Without having this information it is difficult to maintain productivity and make decisions that impact the different processes as little as possible.

Service instructions for scheduled maintenance

Another assignment of the MPC is the provision of instructions for scheduled maintenance, that is, it is necessary to specify what material resources will be used in each repair, with a complete description of the activities that will be impacted.

With this, there is a more efficient programming and all the steps are standardized, facilitating the work.

Planning resources for scheduled maintenance

After the instructions on how maintenance will be performed, it is time to plan material resources such as parts, tools, and other items.

This planning is essential for the company to be able to organize itself financially and, in addition, have a control of what will be important for each step, avoiding problems and loss of productivity.

Monitoring and verification

After all the phases mentioned above, the processes and activities involving maintenance are monitored. The results that were observed are considered, taking into account which steps still need to be applied.

If any fault is identified it is important that the necessary measures are taken to correct it.

Instrumentation

During maintenance, several appliances are used. Therefore, they need to be measured periodically, being useful for repairs.

So make sure that all items are in good use, ensuring that maintenance is efficient.

What are the benefits of MPC?

The PCM generates several advantages for the company, and by taking the actions of the paper you guarantee positive points for management and also enhance the productivity of activities. We have separated below some of the benefits!

More productivity

Proper maintenance management affects productivity in virtually every industry, as equipment and machines where repairs are not performed can disrupt the work process or even make it difficult.

On the other hand, relying on maintenance planning and control keeps the production volume in line with expectations and contributes to a more productive work environment.

Reduced costs

Performing scheduled maintenance and within the given time limit reduces the risks of higher costs, such as investment in machinery and equipment.

Therefore, rework is reduced and employees have more significant productivity levels because there is a greater number of equipment available and in good condition for use.

Safety in production processes

Promoting safety for employees is a recurring concern in companies. The MPC is one of the guarantees to create a safe and productive environment for employees, regardless of the sector in which they operate.

Some equipment and machinery may pose serious risks to the employee’s health if they are not functioning properly. It is clear, then, the importance of investing in planned maintenance.

MPC is a set of important actions for companies, with steps that help structure maintenance management. As we highlight throughout the article, investing in this type of planning offers several benefits to the business, especially in relation to productivity and employee safety.

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