Proactive or Reactive Maintenance?

Let’s talk about two different scenarios:

Your business is humming along, employees are busy and a huge order has just come in from a very important customer. With the economy what it is, you are thankful for this new order and infusion of cash. This order is going to make a huge impact on your business.

And in the middle of it, a vital piece of equipment fails.

Now you are faced with being unable to deliver for your client, a potentially enormous repair bills, employees standing idle, and no idea what is wrong with your equipment. Will it need to be repaired? Replaced?

Scenario two: You have a Process Monitoring Program in place that regularly inspects and monitors the condition of your equipment. A few weeks ago, this regularly scheduled program detected the beginnings of a minor issue with your equipment. A quick visit by a repairperson averts what could have been a major failure. Spending a few dollars on preventative maintenance has saved you many thousands in mechanical equipment failure.

Hmmm…as a business owner or manager, which scenario works better for you?

As part of our Process Monitoring Program, IR Services inspects and monitors the condition of equipment to detect mechanical and electrical problems at the earliest stages, before a failure occurs. Process Monitoring gives you the convenience of scheduling your repairs when the necessary parts and personnel are available. This proactive approach to maintenance allows recalling information on any piece of equipment from the database to evaluate equipment trends and predict possible failures.

Predictive maintenance reflects a sound management philosophy–it means you are managing the maintenance process rather than maintenance emergencies controlling your operation.

A predictive maintenance strategy makes it possible to set your own repair schedules.

• We catalogue the information into a historical database you can use to easily spot anomalies as you monitor equipment deterioration over time.
• Reduces Operational Risk – PdM provides a proactive approach to maintenance control, rather than a reactive response to equipment emergencies that cause unexpected shutdowns.
• Relies on periodic Condition Monitoring (CM)
• Ability to determine the degree of component degradation
• Identifies many problems at the earliest stages, before costly failures occur
• Perform maintenance tasks based on need, rather than an arbitrary schedule
• Increases the efficiency of your maintenance personnel - Eliminates time once wasted on jiggling wires in attempts to diagnose problems
• Pre-identifies problems before they become failures
• Prevent or Reduce Equipment Damage
• Spot small problems before they can become big problems
• Prolong the life of expensive capital equipment
• Prevent or minimize catastrophic failures