Well-developed maintenance contributes to increased profitability

If I buy a brand new car, I want to keep my car in good condition. On the one hand, it’s nicer to drive it when it feels fresh and nice, and on the other hand, the car works better if I take care of it. The same should be true in industry. If I buy millions of dollars worth of equipment, I want to maintain the capacity and life of the equipment. Wear and tear no longer works.

Good maintenance is crucial for companies to produce cost-effectively. It goes without saying that machines and equipment work when production is up and running and production staff are in place. Maintenance is essentially about returning machinery and equipment to its baseline condition and then ensuring that this condition is maintained.

That’s pretty much how it works in most industries. But not everywhere. There are industries where maintenance has historically been taken quite lightly. Whether it was a lack of time, resources or interest, we’ll leave it at that. One consequence of unstructured maintenance is fire-fighting and breakdowns when a machine needs to be repaired quickly so that production does not suffer. An even worse consequence of neglected maintenance is the fact that many accidents occur when breakdowns and repairs have to be carried out in a hurry. Accidents that could easily have been avoided.

Well-developed maintenance thus leads to increased profitability and is essential for cost-effective production. Organisations that take a holistic approach to maintenance and integrate it into the company’s technological development can create even more benefits. The lessons learned within the maintenance department can contribute to better maintenance development but also create the conditions for strategic investments by the company. This knowledge will make the company a better supplier of machinery and equipment and increase the likelihood that equipment and machinery will meet the needs it actually has. Having the knowledge of maintenance and equipment within the organisation also helps to ensure that the company does not end up “in the hands” of its suppliers.

Improved maintenance increases both availability and asset utilisation and also contributes to increased efficiency, which in turn can be reflected in the bottom line of the financial statements. In my opinion, this is a good enough reason to spend time, effort and money on maintaining the car, sorry, industry. Not to mention “Industry 4.0” – if we are to successfully upgrade industry to 4.0, maintenance will be a crucial part. In the future, we will talk about zero tolerance on stoppages related to deferred maintenance on critical machines. This is the way forward for industry.

“Thus, well-developed maintenance leads to increased profitability and is crucial for cost-effective production.”

TINA

Factsheet

World-class maintenance, a book that provides a complete description of how to achieve world-class maintenance through systematic and results-oriented work.

Number of books sold: 5000

Authors: Leo Hagberg and Tomas Henriksson have been developing maintenance organisations for over 40 years. Over the years, they have accumulated a wealth of experience and good examples of how to run an effective maintenance organization.

• Processes included in the book:
• Performance Processes
• Production capability and economics
• Plant status, environment and safety
• Collaboration and commitments)
• Support processes
• Strategy
• Leadership
• Organisational development
• Competence assurance
• Information Management
• Key processes
• Procurement and modification
• Planning
• Preventive maintenance
• Remedial maintenance
• Spare parts management
• Improvement work