PERSPECTIVE
PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE:
THE KEY TO SUSTAINABILITY
By Eugene Brown, services manager at Smith Power Equipment
One of the key drivers in the TCO
calculation is the frequency and
costs associated with unplanned
maintenance, or as everyone
experiences it, breakdowns. Modern
equipment is increasingly complex
and with this increase in complexity,
comes increased risks associated with
breakdowns.
While breakdowns can often not be
planned for, following a regular well-
documented maintenance schedule
will allow the equipment owner to
establish best-practice preventative
maintenance actions. For example,
regular monitoring of the oil condition
in a hydraulic system will show a wear
trend, and when there is a sudden
increase in wear materials, it allows
the equipment maintenance team to
remove the relevant component and
inspect it to ascertain the reason for
this sudden accelerated wear.
This type of intervention and repair
has proven to be cost-effective,
as opposed to blindly allowing the
component to self-destruct, and
then having to pay for an expensive
component. The ‘if it’s not broken, don’t
fix it’ approach is still commonplace
across many industries, but one thing
is for sure – it is not a sustainable
approach to equipment ownership.
Meanwhile, a strict preventive
maintenance regime means that
you are assured your equipment is
operated under safe conditions, both
for the machine and the operators.
Possible issues can be nipped in
the bud before they have a chance
to cause harm. Health and safety of
employees is also a business priority
www.plantonline.co.za
across industries, but it perhaps takes
greater precedence in mining and
construction, where the risk of serious
accidents and injuries is significantly
higher.
In terms of machine efficiency,
normal wear and tear can result in
lower machine efficiency. Preventive
maintenance assures optimal working
conditions and conserves the lifespan
of the equipment.
The old adage, ‘time is money’
still holds true. Planned preventive
maintenance may cause small
hindrance in terms of production, but
that is nothing compared to actual
downtime caused by a breakdown.
Because it is planned, production can
propose the optimal time and can
factor in the nuisance. Preventative
maintenance procedures take less
time than emergency repairs and
replacements.
At Smith Power, our products are
all world leaders in innovation, quality
and value. The maintenance of the
equipment is what ultimately allows
our customers to benefit fully from
the pedigree of our products, so it is
obviously a very big focus for us.
We follow the regular prescribed
maintenance intervals as prescribed
by our OEMs and, in addition, for
example, we use regular tribological
sampling both during and after the
warranty period. This needs to get to
the end-users of our equipment, so
we instil this culture into our dealer
network as well.
From a trends perspective,
telematics, easy access to affordable
tribology and smarter equipment are
Equipment
The significance of preventative maintenance in the capital
equipment equation cannot be reiterated enough. Benefits
abound and all point towards one direction – optimal total cost
of ownership (TCO).
Eugene Brown, services manager at
Smith Power Equipment.
just some of the many advances that
have evolved to monitor the condition
of machinery in the marketplace.
We embrace all of the available
technologies and are currently
investigating ways to implement
these technological advances on older
generation equipment, of which there
is obviously a large active population
present in our market. We believe this
existing population can also benefit
greatly from the advances in machine
monitoring and maintenance.
Our customers hold the details
of their preventative maintenance
programmes close to their chests,
because of the significant cost savings
that they achieve. Any advantage in
the competitive marketplace of today
is vital and, rest assured, anyone really
interested in reducing their total cost
of ownership over the lifetime of a
piece of equipment is fully aware of
the massive benefits associated with
a sound preventative maintenance
plan.
JULY 2019
31