TABLE OF CONTENTS Mentioning maintenance was unavoidable in several of the preceding chapters. Maintenance was mentioned in conjunction with avoiding routine work and optimizing routine work. The term was also used in conjunction with quality. Indeed, as in many human endeavors, the quality of our activities should take precedence over quantity. In this regard, machinery maintenance is no different from maintenance of any other equipment; the quality focus must be accomplished through preventive maintenance.
The needs of quality operations demand uptime and trouble-free functioning of production equipment. To achieve these requirements, it has long been recognized that maintenance activities designed to anticipate and avoid failure have been, and continue to be, a sound investment in the overall maintenance strategy. Many companies are investing in software programs to improve or optimize maintenance strategies. Yet, no computer system can help a maintenance department unless the basic elements of a preventive maintenance program are in place.
In both small and large facilities there are identifiable components of the preventive maintenance program that can be generally described by 7 elements:
facilities management;
inspection routines;
predictive or diagnostic activities;
integration of maintenance within the production activity;
insurance activity;
corrective activity;
continuous improvement.
Simply stated, each significant piece of equipment and its related components are identified uniquely and logically, in order that all maintenance activity can be related and selected history maintained. Once each piece of equipment has been identified, equipment manuals should be acquired. Consultation of these documents together...
