IMPORTANCE OF MAINTENANCE IN AN ORGANISATION
The word maintenance does not always mean to repair. What maintenance really means is to follow up with the regular or methodological processes to keep the equipment up to date and in working condition. It does not only mean to repair a piece of equipment when it is broken.
The priority of effort and time should be on maintenance rather than repair.
The equipment should be lined and labeled, its wearing surfaces should be examined and replaced, oil schedules should be lined up at regular intervals.
Hence, the equipment with good working conditions requires regular inspection and adjustment to continue to produce good quality products for a long time.
The main aim of equipment maintenance is to maintain the functionality of the equipment and to minimize its breakdowns.
For mechanical equipment, the maintenance management will involve repair, replacement, and serving of tools. It also ensures the proper working and to intercept fluctuations that occur in the duration of the production process.
The fact remains that, any kind of change even a minor downtime could reduce the overall efficiency of machines which would lead to major production losses. Therefore, it is important for organizations today to get and implement a good maintenance strategy. Without or in the absence of equipment management, it might be possible to face some consequences in revert of careless decisions. Some of them are:
· Production loss
· Rescheduling of whole projects
· Material wastage from resources that have not been used yet
· Over time of labor because of downtime
· Disposal of machinery and equipment before the end of its useful life
1. To plan and set some quality and usage standards for the staff internally, that too based upon your asset type. This way the asset will be operated in the appropriate manner with reduces chances of its misuse and downtime.
2. To conduct careful repairing, when proper consultation is done from the side of the concerned department. This way your maintenance projects will be properly scheduled and will determine the need for subcontracting whenever needed.
3. To document all the activities thoroughly. It will make it easier for you to track the repair history and calculate depreciation for timely disposal. The the centralized system will automatically update the asset records; therefore, you should look for an online system provider.
4. To complete all the daily tasks and more, within their deadlines in order to stick to the maintenance plan. This completion of tasks on time will minimize your waste of repair resources.
5. These objectives are of most use for your business, you can cut the large-scale replacement costs to a greater extent and even generate high revenues by raising overall productivity.
Categories of Maintenance:
There are two main categories of maintenance:
1. Primary functions
Ø Equipment inspection, cleaning, and lubrication
Ø Alterations to existing types of equipment and buildings
Ø Maintenance of existing buildings and grounds
Ø Maintenance of existing plant and equipment
Ø New installations of equipment and buildings
Ø Generation and distribution of utilities
2. Secondary Functions
Ø Property accounting
Ø Insurance administration against theft and fire etc.
Ø Store keeping for maintenance purposes
Ø Plant protection against fire etc.
Ø Pollution and noise control
Ø Waste disposal
Ø Salvage
Ø Providing caretaker services
Ø Any other services concerning maintenance as delegated by plant management
Industries in which Maintenance Management is used or required:
Some examples of the industries that use maintenance management are –
· Food Processing Industry: It includes Heavy machinery, mobile equipment, and handheld tools which require equipment maintenance.
· Plastics manufacturing Industry: Plastics manufacturing plants use a wide range of heavy as well as lightweight equipment, which needs to be regularly serviced.
· Steel mills Industry: Maintenance work in steel fabrication plants, services all the equipment from hot rollers and furnaces to the portable tools.
· Restaurants Industry: The are many types of equipment that are used in the commercial kitchens which need to be kept in a working position so that they can provide the appropriate service. Regular equipment maintenance also helps restaurants in maintaining their regulatory compliance.
· Construction Industry: There are heavy mobile equipment, handheld power tools, and safety gear required on the field of the construction site which complies with their good working conditions so that to efficient operation.
· Automobile manufacturing Industry: To fabricate and assemble any vehicle, the parts required should be finely tuned equipment. Therefore, to meet the production demand, the best way is to implement good equipment maintenance management to get the equipment’s serviced and repaired regularly.
· Workshops Industry: Workshops use a variety of tools to produce various items, for example, woodwork, metal products, blown glass, etc. For good quality production, their tools need to be kept in top condition, and this can be easily achieved through maintenance management.
Importance of Maintenance Management
Many organizations still believe in the old methodologies which suggest to not to fix anything unless it’s broken. But breaking this myth, we will suggest you, to go for preventive maintenance management as it has many benefits:
Operator and Machine Safety
By performing regular preventive maintenance, you will always be assured that your equipment will operate under safe conditions, both for the machine and the operators. Possible issues can be cut off before it tends to cause any harm, without taking any chance.
Machine Efficiency
With normal wear and tear, machines can cause lower efficiency. Proper preventive maintenance management will assure you of the optimal working conditions of the equipment and moreover, conserves its life span.
Time Savings
Planned preventive maintenance management will reduce the actual downtime caused by the breakdown and further enhance the products that too in less time, thereby, saving a lot of time. Preventative maintenance will consume less time than the time taken in emergency repairs and replacements.
Important Functions of Maintenance Management in Asset Management
· Develops maintenance policies, procedures, and standards for the maintenance as well as asset management system.
· Schedules the maintenance work after getting the right consultation from the concerned production departments.
· Carries out the repairs and corrects the planned equipment to achieve the required level of availability and optimum operational efficiency.
· Ensures scheduled inspection, lubrication & oil checking, and adjustment of all the machinery and equipment.
· Documents and maintains the record of every maintenance activity i.e., repairs, replacement, overhauls, modifications, and lubrication, etc.
· Maintains and carries out repairs of buildings, utilities, material handling equipment and other service facilities such as electrical installations, sewers, central stores, and roadways, etc.
· Carries out and facilitates the regular inspections of equipment and facilities to know their conditions, if there is any failure or stoppage in production.
· Prepares the inventory list of spare parts and materials that are required for the maintenance.
· Ensures the cost-effective maintenance.
· Forecasts the maintenance expenditure and prepare a budget and to ensure the expenditure according to the planned budget.
· Implements safety standards as needed for the use of specific equipment such as boilers, overhead cranes and chemical plants, etc.
· Develops the management information systems, to provide information to top management related to the maintenance activities.
· Monitors the equipment’s condition at regular intervals.
· Ensures proper inventory control of spare parts and other materials as required.
The main objectives of maintenance management are as follows:
(1) Minimizing the loss of productive time because of equipment failure to maximize the availability of plant, equipment and machinery for productive utilization through planned maintenance.
(2) To extend the useful life of the plant, machinery and other facilities by minimizing their wear and tear.
(3) Minimizing the loss due to production stoppages.
(4) To ensure operational readiness of all equipment’s needed for emergency purposes at all times such as fire-fighting equipment.
(5) Efficient use of maintenance equipment’s and personnel.
(6) To ensure safety of personnel through regular inspection and maintenance of facilities such as boilers, compressors and material handling equipment etc.
(7) To maximize efficiency and economy in production through optimum utilization of available facilities.
(8) To improve the quality of products and to improve the productivity of the plant.
(9) To minimize the total maintenance cost which may consist of the cost of repairs, cost of preventive maintenance and inventory costs associated with spare parts/materials required for maintenance.
Each day, whether your organization runs programs, provides services, or pursues advocacy, you have to make sure that the right people are in the right places at the right times to do the work of the organization. In addition, someone has to carry out the everyday procedures (record-keeping, attention to how well particular techniques are working, etc.) that make evaluation possible.
Fiscal management
Someone has to keep track of finances and make sure that the books are kept properly, that employees and bills get paid, that income gets to the bank, and that there's enough money in the checking account to keep operating. Someone also has to keep track of grants and contracts, and be responsible for contact with funders.
Personnel management
Handling problems among staff, keeping current on what everyone's doing, maintaining a positive organizational climate, arranging or overseeing supervision, organizing staff development, evaluating staff performance, and generally making sure that everyone's happy and focused on her job - all of these demand daily attention.
Board maintenance
Maintaining regular contact with the Board and keeping it informed, assisting Board involvement in the organization, and sustaining relationships with individual Board members are all ongoing tasks that need to be addressed regularly.
Relationship with the larger community
The organization's relationship with the community it serves needs to be fostered constantly. You must continually keep the organization's profile high, inform the community of what you do and of the needs of the target population, make friends and allies and communicate with the media if you're going to get the community support you need.
General logistics
Somehow, in the midst of everything else, the floors have to get swept, the equipment has to be maintained and repaired, paper and other supplies have to be ordered before they run out, errands have to be run...in short, life has to go on for the organization.
The spirit of the organization
An invisible maintenance task is that of maintaining the passion for the work and the belief in the vision and mission that drive most grass-roots and community-based organizations. This is almost always the work of the leader, and, though not always conscious, is among the most important of her day-to-day tasks.
