Potholes in the Road

Constrains and Issues on Our Journey

Have you ever gone on a journey without encountering some potholes and road detours? Any journey we take will almost always have these types of constraints and issues that we have to navigate around.

In our journey towards Proactive Maintenance, there are some potholes and detours we will have to identify and navigate around. Constraints and issues that will need to be addressed.

Constraints

Increasing product demand from an expanding customer base. How are we going to situate ourselves to meet this demand?

Assets suffering from old age. Are they still fit for purpose? We should be analyzing and evaluating to compare the ongoing cost of maintaining these machines as opposed to investing in new ones.

Unplanned outages from overloaded infrastructure. We may need to commission a separate project to increase infrastructure capacity.

No accurate asset register and not all assets are identified. It is essential to get this one right. We cannot plan maintenance on an asset if we don’t know anything about the asset or even where it is.

Cannot track use or history of assets. We may have to start from a zero base and accumulate history and further information as we progress our system.

Common Issues

Lack of qualified and experienced resources. We must consider the skill levels available and initiate upskilling courses or workshops.

Staff are used to firefighting and not trained to focus on planning.  We may need to upskill workers on the pros and cons relating to Proactive Maintenance as opposed to Reactive Maintenance.

Constrained budgets. A well-thought-out and structured plan will assist in the motivation for appropriate budget levels.

Not fully compliant. It will be important to implement and monitor correct asset schedules

No real cost of maintenance. This will accumulate over time if the correct implementation of the plan.

Planning for Maintenance

A Proactive project is not just a case of putting a system into place. It is a large project which requires planning and time to achieve a successful implementation.

It is not an optional extra for today’s industry. It is a vital necessity

If we want to achieve for ourselves and for our companies then we MUST get into a situation where we can answer questions such as:

Where am I spending my time?

Why am I doing this work?

Am I being repetitive?

Where are my resources being consumed?

How can I reduce that consumption?

We will struggle to answer any of these questions if we have no plan or information database to analyze and track our activities. We must take control of the situation through the use of a good Proactive Maintenance Management System. If not we are running on a very short lead!!! Heading for disaster.

Summary

No journey we undertake will be totally trouble-free. There will always be potholes and detours that we must be prepared for and learn how to navigate around these obstacles, constraints, and issues.

The reward at the end of the journey however will be huge and of great benefit to ourselves and the company we work for.

For more information email us at info@strobe-al.co.za or visit www.strobe-al.co.za