por He Preventive Maintenance It is a type of maintenance whose performance is planned in advance, with the aim of extending the useful life of a machine or installation. It may include 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 the industry, and the need for continuity in the 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 carry out repairs before problems occur or the machine breaks down. Although this implies an additional cost, it is much less than what 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 inconveniences occur, and optimizing the company’s time and resources.
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Preventive Maintenance Characteristics
The main characteristics of preventive maintenance are the following:
– It is carried out periodically and routinely.
– It is a type of maintenance whose tasks and budgets are planned. It has a start and end time.
– It is carried out under total control conditions to avoid accidents, while the equipment is stopped.
– It seeks to anticipate future equipment failures or damage.
– The manufacturer generally recommends when to do it, through technical manuals.
– The activities that are carried out follow a previously prepared program.
– Offers the possibility of updating the technical configuration of the equipment.
Types of preventive maintenance
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.
Predictive Maintenance
This type of maintenance aims to reduce the number of tasks to be carried out in 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 piece can be obtained from personal experience, or from the data provided by the manufacturer of the machine, among others.
Scheduled maintenance
Scheduled maintenance is a type of maintenance that runs on predetermined dates, for example, weekly, quarterly, or annually.
An example of this type of maintenance is that of an iron smelting furnace, which operates for 24 hours every day. Due to this, it is scheduled to stop every 3 months to carry out the necessary maintenance tasks.
opportunity maintenance
Opportunity maintenance is generally carried out at times when a machine is not being used, or also before it is required with a heavy workload.
For example, in a factory, maintenance tasks can be carried out during the vacation period of the staff or at times when the machinery is not used.
Objectives of preventive maintenance
The main objectives of preventive maintenance are to extend the useful life of a machine, and 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, to avoid an unexpected stoppage 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 breakage 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.
preventive maintenance of a computer
Carrying out preventive maintenance on a computer is of vital importance so that it can function correctly. 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 ventilation grills, necessary to lower the temperature inside.
These grilles 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 the components due to decreased cooling.
To carry out 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 not doing so can slow down its performance.
In this sense, using the tools that the system brings, possible errors are searched for and corrected on the hard disk, and it is defragmented. In addition, both temporary files and those found in the recycle bin must be deleted.
Additionally, it is convenient to search for system updates and run the antivirus to optimize its performance.
This type of preventive maintenance is recommended to be performed at least once a year.
Corrective maintenance
Corrective maintenance is the one that is carried out when a machine or plant presents a fault or error. This can lead to the malfunction of the machine, or even damage to it.
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 tends to be more expensive. This occurs because when a machine is damaged, a production stoppage occurs that was not contemplated, which generates setbacks that, generally, cost money.
Additionally, in most cases of failure, the number of parts that are damaged are greater than those that are changed in preventive maintenance.
However, the fact that a machine breaks down does not mean that the company does not do preventive maintenance. The machinery can 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 the machines. Although, once the machine is repaired, it is useful to investigate the reason that caused the damage, and include it in the preventive maintenance planning so that it does not happen again.
Advantages of preventive maintenance
Among the advantages of preventive maintenance are the following:
– Reduced cost in relation to corrective maintenance.
– The risks due to equipment failures or leaks are significantly reduced.
– Extends the useful life of the equipment.
– Fewer errors are generated in daily operations.
– Substantially improves the reliability of the equipment.
– Reduces the risk of injury to operators.
Disadvantages
In reality, preventive maintenance has very few disadvantages. Some of these are the following:
– The maintenance of the equipment must be carried out by specialized personnel who are generally outside the company, for which they must be hired.
– Given that the maintenance tasks of the equipment are carried out with a certain periodicity, they do not allow the exact determination of the depreciation or wear of the pieces of the equipment.
– The company must adhere to the manufacturer’s recommendations to schedule maintenance work. For this reason, it may happen that a part must be changed when perhaps it can have a longer useful life.
References
Alberti, A. (2020). Preventive maintenance: what is it and how to do it? Retrieved from alsglobal.com
Gunsmith Kreisberger, S. (2011). Computer maintenance. Retrieved from metalibrary.org
(2020). The Ultimate Preventive Maintenance Guide: Nearly Everything You Need to Know. Retrieved from getmaintainx.com
Peycheva, R. (2018). Systematic Preventive Maintenance: Definition and Objectives. Retrieved from mobility-work.com
Trout, J. (2020). Preventive Maintenance: An Overview. Retrieved from reliableplant.com