Learn about what maintenance management is, its types, and how to become an expert!

Despite being a complex practice, where it is often necessary to stop production points to perform it, maintenance is extremely important to maintain the "health" of the equipment.

Knowing the most appropriate time to carry out maintenance has always been a challenge for companies. It is through maintenance management that it is planned and carried out in the best way.

For you to learn more about this topic, we have separated some topics for you in this reading:

• What is Maintenance Management?
• How has the Concept of Maintenance Evolved To Date?
• Maintenance Management Benefits
• What are the Types of Maintenance Management?
• How to Use the ABC Curve to Define the Right Type of Maintenance?
• Computerized Maintenance Management Systems
• How to Become an Expert in the Field?

What is Maintenance Management?

Maintenance management is a continuous improvement process that supervises and controls the operation of machines involved in the production, avoiding possible breakdowns and production stoppages, as well as avoiding wasting money in inefficient maintenance processes.

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How has the Concept of Maintenance Evolved To Date?

Before the Second World War, around 1930, industries were poorly mechanized and equipment was mostly simple and oversized.

At that time, production was not a priority, and maintenance was only carried out through cleaning, lubrication, and repairs when a breakage occurred, that is, maintenance was essentially corrective.

After the Second World War and until the 1960s, the industrial sector felt a great increase in demand and a considerable decrease in manpower, resulting in a strong increase in mechanization in this sector and the complexity of industrial facilities.

The Rise of Preventive Maintenance

There was greater concern about the availability of machines and productivity. At that moment, the concept of preventive maintenance was initiated, whose principle is to prevent breakdowns during production, so that productivity is not compromised.

This maintenance was carried out through interventions made on the machines at fixed time intervals, increasing the cost of maintenance, but also increasing the useful life of the equipment.

Just-in-Time

After the 1970s, with industrial automation and the implementation of just-in-time (a production system with minimal stock), the problems generated by equipment stoppages were aggravated, causing a breakdown resulting in a generalized stoppage of production, increasing the final cost of the product.

This made availability and reliability key points in production, making it necessary to have good maintenance management to avoid failures, or to reduce them as much as possible during the production process, leaving the final product at a competitive cost.

To assist in maintenance management, several tools and methodologies were implemented, such as FMEA and DMAIC.

Maintenance Management Benefits

Companies that do not employ efficient maintenance management are doomed to failure, causing delays in delivery, increasing manufacturing costs, risk of accidents, and falling profits, in addition to the loss of customers and contacts.

Therefore, implementing maintenance management in an organization brings benefits such as:

• Reduces maintenance costs;
• Reduction of accident risks;
• Reduction of production stops;
• Reduces downtime of the workforce;
• Increases process efficiency;
• Reduce production lead time.

A company needs to implement good maintenance management and take assertive actions where the maintenance team is not satisfied with problems. Seeking continuous improvement makes processes more productive and efficient.

What are the Types of Maintenance Management?

There are some different types of maintenance management, here are the four main ones and how they are performed.

Corrective Maintenance (Run to Failure)

In this type of maintenance, the repair is done after the failure. The machine that has small failures, without monitoring, wears out and ends up breaking when it is still in operation.

The production on the machine that needs intervention is stopped for a much longer period, as this is reactive maintenance. Also, because it is unexpected, it can cause greater damage than normal.

Predictive Maintenance (Condition-Based)

As part of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), predictive maintenance works to detect future problems through equipment that measures such as temperature, vibration, and pressure.

As industry 4.0 is characterized by the integration of all processes, we can have very efficient predictive maintenance, through the integration of sensors to the company's monitoring network, making it possible to see if the equipment is operating well through its parameters.

Preventive maintenance (Time-Based)

Preventive maintenance is, as the name implies, failure prevention. The maintenance department follows a schedule, with predetermined intervals, for revisions to be made. This way, the risk of a correction is much lower.

In the determined time, calibrations, lubrication, and revisions in the equipment structure can be carried out.

However, as there is no in-depth study of the components, preventive maintenance can be done well before any failure, wasting assets and resources with unnecessary repairs.

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)

TPM consists of training the company's employees and collaborators so that they can carry out small repairs on the equipment, ranging from cleaning and lubrication to more specific machine adjustments.

Proactive maintenance prevents the emergence of operating problems in the production process and becomes much more effective. However, the maintenance tasks are simpler on a day-to-day basis and are not capable of detecting more serious problems.

There are eight pillars of TPM:

1. Autonomous maintenance;
2. Planned maintenance;  
3. Quality management; 
4. Focused improvement;
5. Early equipment management; 
6. Training and education; 
7. Safety and environment; 
8. TPM in administration.

How to Use the ABC Curve to Define the Right Type of Maintenance?

Each type of maintenance is best suited for certain equipment. To recognize them, a classification was created between types A, B, and C in the production line.

Following this segmentation, it becomes easier to choose the best maintenance management strategy to reduce costs and avoid undesirable situations.

Type A

Type A (high priority) machines are those that cause great damage to the company if they stop at an unexpected time. They can cause environmental damage and risk of accidents to employees.

Therefore, more careful treatment is necessary, carrying out predictive maintenance to detect possible failures and use the machine in the best possible way, prolonging its useful life.

Type B

In Type B we have medium priority machines, which cause damage to production and quality when they are stopped, but the risks are light and the flow recovers quickly.

Here is the equipment in which preventive maintenance is the most appropriate, and can also use the predictive one.

Type C

Equipment that does not cause damage to production or does not jeopardize the safety of employees in the event of an unexpected stop is a low priority. They are classified as Type C.

In addition, they do not affect the quality of the product and spare parts can be replaced more easily. So, corrective maintenance can be carried out in this group.

Computerized Maintenance Management Systems

Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS), called maintenance software, are programs that help organize maintenance operations through the planning, control, and performance of the activities performed.

The objectives of maintenance management software are:

• Track the critical data;
• Assist in asset management;
• Supply and human resources management;
• Creating maintenance plans;
• Generation of work orders;
• Follow-up from opening to completion of order;
• Generation of charts, reports, and KPIs.

The CMMS schedules and records maintenance activities can prioritize work orders and schedules to perform periodic equipment maintenance.

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