| Definition
In an industry, cost of unscheduled stoppage of an equipment is very high,
in terms of loss of production and money. Maintenance is an activity carried out
to avoid unscheduled stoppages and breakdowns of the equipment, to improve availability
and life of plant and machineries, thereby improving the performance of the industry.
The effectiveness of production is highly dependent on quality of maintenance.
One of the key factor for the success of an industry is an effective maintenance
management system. Proper
maintenance management can improve existing capacity utilization rather than going
in for additional capacities to meet the ever increasing demand of a large number
of products and services. Maintenance
is only viewed as a repair function, however it is a combination of any actions
carried out to retain an item in or restore it to an acceptance condition. The
principal objectives of maintenance activity are: 1.
To maximise the availability and reliability of all assets (equipment, machinery)
2. To extend the useful life of assets by minimising wear and tear and deterioration.
3. To ensure operation readiness of all equipments required for emergency
use at all times.
4. To ensure the safety of personnel/using facility.
The availability (A) of a plant can be defined as:
A = Tup / Tup + Tdown Where,
Tup
= The cumulative time of operation in the normal working state
T down = The
cumulative downtime.
Reliability - The probability that a unit will function
normally when used according to specified conditions for at least a stated period
of time.
Maintainabilty - The probability that a failed unit is put back to
satisfactory, operable condition in a given down time. In
a changing world of competition the survival of industries depends on quick decision
making and effective management of maintenance function. To accomplish the above
objective presently "Computer Aided Maintenance Management Software Packages"
are available for the maintenance managers. CAMM
System is a reliable tool available to plan effectively complete tasks on schedule
and make quick reviews. This can also be treated as part of "ERP" software. Typical
CAMM system provides: "
Decision support for equipment
" Reliability management
" Real
time data capture for condition monitoring of equipment
" Work orders
management
" Planning spares requirements
" Planning maintenance
budgets
" Monitoring of labour productivity
" Comprehensive
equipment databases
" Automatic sequencing of inspections A
typical planned maintenance package consists of three modules:
1. Maintenance
administration and control
2. Equipment
3. Maintenance operations
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