The Preventive Maintenance It is a type of maintenance whose performance is planned in advance, in order to extend the useful life of a machine or installation. Can understand tasks such as cleaning, adjusting, replacing or lubricating parts.
Its birth occurs at the beginning of the 20th century, related to the growth in the use of machinery in industry, and the need for continuity in service. Prior to this, only corrective maintenance was carried out, repairing the machinery when it broke down.
The main idea of ​​preventive maintenance is to make repairs before problems occur or the machine breaks down. Although this involves an additional cost, it is much lower than that which occurs when a machine breaks down or a production process is interrupted..
Finally, to carry out preventive maintenance it is necessary to have different types of information, ranging from technical data of the machinery, to operating times, among others..
In this way, maintenance planning can be carried out before problems occur, and optimizing the time and resources of the company.
Article index
The main characteristics of preventive maintenance are the following:
- It is done periodically and routinely.
- It is a type of maintenance whose tasks and budgets are planned. Has a start and end time.
- It is carried out under conditions of total control to avoid accidents, while the equipment is stopped.
- It seeks to anticipate future failures or damage to equipment.
- The manufacturer generally recommends when to do it, through technical manuals.
- The activities carried out follow a previously elaborated program.
- Offers the possibility of updating the technical configuration of the equipment.
There are different types of preventive maintenance, which can be used depending on the needs of the machine or installation on which it will be carried out..
This type of maintenance aims to reduce the number of tasks to be carried out in a maintenance, identifying and replacing only the parts that can be damaged.
For this reason, an attempt is made to determine the useful life of each part, scheduling maintenance tasks before they can present failures..
The determination of the useful life of a part can be obtained by own experience, or by the data provided by the manufacturer of the machine, among others..
Scheduled maintenance is a type of maintenance that is executed on predetermined dates, for example, weekly, quarterly or annually.
An example of this type of maintenance is that of an iron melting furnace, which operates 24 hours every day. Due to this, it is scheduled to stop every 3 months to carry out the necessary maintenance tasks..
Opportunity maintenance is generally performed at times when a machine is not being used, or also before it is required with a large workload.
For example, in a factory maintenance tasks can be carried out during staff vacations or when machinery is not in use..
The main objectives of preventive maintenance are to extend the useful life of a machine, and to prevent any type of error that may occur. Thanks to this, it is possible to guarantee, on the one hand, its correct operation, and on the other, avoid an unforeseen stop of the same..
In this way, the machine will stop working in previously stipulated periods, without interfering with the company's production process..
In addition, by preventing possible errors, it is possible to reduce repair costs, since the failure of one part can cause a chain of failures, causing breakages in other parts or even a total breakdown of the machine..
On the other hand, it is a fundamental procedure that is carried out in machinery such as airplanes, trains or nuclear power plants, where an error can lead to fatal consequences.
Performing preventive maintenance on a computer is vitally important for it to function properly. This maintenance is performed on both hardware and software.
In the hardware, or in the physical part of the computer, the accumulation of dust is one of the most common problems. This is due, in part, to the vents, necessary to lower the temperature inside..
These grids allow the entry of dust, which accumulates over time, settling on the components. For this reason, errors can occur due to false contact or, most commonly, overheating of components due to decreased cooling..
To perform preventive maintenance on the hardware, the first thing to do is disconnect the computer, and if it is a laptop remove the internal battery. Then, it is completely disassembled, cleaning each part and removing all the accumulated dust.
Compressed air and fine bristle brushes are used to clean the components. Additionally, thermal paste can be put back between the processor and the diffuser to improve conductivity..
In the case of software, preventive maintenance is just as important as for hardware, since failure to do so can slow down the performance of the same.
In this sense, using the tools provided by the system, possible errors on the hard disk are searched for and corrected, and it is defragmented. In addition, both temporary files and those in the recycle bin should be deleted..
Additionally, it is convenient to check for system updates and run the antivirus to optimize its performance..
This type of preventive maintenance is recommended to be carried out at least once a year..
Corrective maintenance is that which is carried out when a machine or plant has a fault or error. This can lead to machine malfunction, or even damage to the machine..
Basically it is about repairing the damage suffered, leaving the machine in an operational state, as it was before the failure..
Compared to preventive maintenance, in most cases, corrective maintenance is usually more expensive. This occurs because when a machine is damaged, a production stop occurs that was not contemplated, which generates setbacks that, generally, cost money.
Additionally, in most cases of breakdown, the number of parts that are damaged are greater than those that are changed in preventive maintenance..
However, just because a machine breaks down does not mean that the company does not do preventive maintenance. The machinery may have failures that were not taken into account in the planning of preventive maintenance, or even present unexpected failures.
For this reason, it is almost inevitable to carry out corrective maintenance on machines. Although, once the machine is repaired, it is useful to investigate the reason that caused the damage, and include it in the planning of preventive maintenance so that it does not happen again..
Among the advantages of preventive maintenance are the following:
- Reduced cost relative to corrective maintenance.
- Risks of equipment failure or leakage are significantly reduced.
- Extends the useful life of equipment.
- Fewer errors are generated in day-to-day operations.
- Substantially improves equipment reliability.
- Reduces the risk of injury to operators.
Preventive maintenance actually has very few drawbacks. Some of these are as follows:
- The maintenance of the equipment must be carried out by specialized personnel who are generally outside the company, for which they have to be hired.
- Since the maintenance of the equipment is carried out with a certain periodicity, it does not allow the depreciation or wear of the equipment parts to be determined exactly..
- The company must follow the manufacturer's recommendations for scheduling maintenance. For this reason, it may happen that a part must be changed when it may have a longer useful life.
Yet No Comments