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Traditional maintenance
approaches relying by and large on OEM Preventive Maintenance (PM)
recommendations have been shown to be only marginally more effective
safeguarding against unplanned failures than a “run to failure” philosophy.
Such programs, over time, will often result in unmanageable levels of
reactive maintenance. As a result, greater maintenance costs are
incurred, asset reliability is reduced, maintenance planning is chaotic and
resource skills are ineffectively utilized.
 By comparison, Predictive
Maintenance (PdM) Programs have been proven to greatly increase asset reliability
and reduce or eliminate “fire drills” associated with a reactive maintenance
environment. A proactive approach allows controlled routine and outage
maintenance planning, effective utilization of skilled resources, increased
asset reliability and reduced maintenance costs. Such programs or
approaches have been shown to increase maintenance and reliability
effectiveness by 80% or more by incorporating “proactive” techniques
including periodic vibration analysis,
lubricant management,
thermography, ultrasonic inspections, and other
condition monitoring philosophies.
The
effectiveness
of integrated, condition based programs can be validated by independent
studies such those from NASA and United Airlines. For example, a study
performed by United Airlines concluded
 that
89% of component failures were
random or, more precisely failures were equally likely to occur within 2
months or 22 months. Such studies clearly illustrate that traditional
calendar based PM Programs are not an effective means of increasing asset
reliability, this due to the randomness of events.
This does not however, suggest that routine
periodic preventive maintenance should be eliminated. PM practices
should be designed to address historical asset failure modes in a condition
based approach, executed accordingly and integrated into a
comprehensive Predictive/Proactive Maintenance Program. This approach
will increase asset reliability and thus reduce maintenance costs and
unplanned downtime.
Additionally, dramatic results can be
further realized through Maintenance
Prioritization & Optimization
services also offered
by M&B.
M&B can provide a variety of proven support
services focused on establishing or enhancing a proactive maintenance
environment by employing a combination of Preventive, Predictive and
Condition Monitoring practices customized to your particular system, process
or facility.
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