Basic Steps to Create a Predictive Maintenance Program

Creating an effective Predictive Maintenance Program requires some upfront work. Not every piece of equipment in your facility is mission-critical. Knowing the failure rate of your equipment and your manufacturer recommendations is very important. You will need to create some type of database that holds this information as well as the tracking measurements of your program. Generally, these are the basic steps to setting up a Predictive Maintenance Program:

1. List your critical processes, applications and equipment

2. Prioritize each item on your list in order of the impact a failure would have. For example, high failure impact would be equipment that:

• Directly impacts safety, the environment, revenue, or customer relations
• Is unique or costly to replace, or used constantly (24x7)
• Is difficult to find spare parts for or has a long lead time for repair

3. Determine how likely your equipment is to fail. You can use PdM software, past maintenance history and internal operator experience (e.g.: when units broke/ how often, why, and what they cost to fix) to make this estimate.

4. Create an inspection schedule based on failure probability and critical impact.

5. Set up a database that contains the above information for each process, application and piece of equipment.

6. Take baseline data and store it for each piece of equipment. Be sure to include repair histories, manufacturer recommendations and operator knowledge: when units broke/ how often, why, and what they cost to fix.
Most facilities either purchase or develop a specialized database. These databases are referred to as asset management systems (AMS) or computer managed maintenance system (CMMS). In addition to the information above, many of these systems also track warranty status, depreciation records and purchasing information.

So why am I, a certified thermographer, writing about predictive maintenance? Because steps 3, 4, 5, and 6 are generally when we get called in. The use of infrared (IR) cameras in predictive maintenance is well established. Using an infrared camera, we produce thermographic images of your equipment. These temperature measurements provide an early warning of potential equipment failures and unsafe working conditions.

We help create your baseline data, and then be part of your regular inspection schedule. Most mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and pneumatic equipment can be measured and tracked for your preventative and/or predictive maintenance program using infrared thermography. Most of our clients find that bringing us in while they are creating their programs is most cost-effective and efficient way of creating initial baseline data (and many times we find immediate issues that need attention!)

Interested in learning more? Give me a call at 803-3328-2889 and let’s talk!

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit http://www.irinfraredservices.com/ or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North and South Carolina!

This article series was developed using ideas from http://www.plantservices.com/articles/2009/124.html?page=full and http://www.myflukestore.com/crm_uploads/part_one_of_a_predictive_maintenace_series.pdf for source material.