What are the key points of equipment management?

Thread Content

The focus of equipment management – Introduction – The development of equipment management has always progressed in line with the requirements of enterprise production management and quality control; at the same time, it has also been striving to find its own value and role. In this ongoing process of evolution, equipment management also continues to draw on the best practices from the fields of production management and quality management, gradually developing its own systems and operational mechanisms. I. Why preventive maintenance is particularly important: As we know, from the most basic management perspective, companies strive to maximize the return on investment in equipment, that is, to maximize the efficiency of its use and operation. From this perspective, it is not difficult to understand the driving force behind the evolution of equipment management from \"reactive maintenance\" to \"preventive maintenance\". Only by properly addressing the disruption caused by sudden equipment failures to production plans and their negative impact on product quality can we even consider the issue of maximizing efficiency. Therefore, how to effectively \"prevent\" the occurrence of critical failures becomes an issue that all equipment managers must first consider and address. The implementation mechanisms for the preventive maintenance concept include a relatively mandatory execution of preventive maintenance plans (planned preventive maintenance system), as well as a preventive maintenance system based on inspections. The combination of the two is what many companies are familiar with today as the \"inspection-and-maintenance system\". Although the \"inspection and maintenance system\" is well-known to many companies, numerous problems still exist in its actual implementation. Including the issue of preventive maintenance plans not being able to be implemented effectively due to production schedules ； The issue of how to make the time periods and maintenance tasks of preventive maintenance plans more reasonable ； The responsibility, awareness, and capabilities of the inspection personnel affect the effectiveness of detecting equipment degradation ； The completeness of the elements in inspection standards, as well as the identification and assessment of inspection items ； Simple scheduled maintenance is unable to effectively prevent failures in complex equipment, and so on. It is to address these issues that, starting from the 1970s, efforts have been made to introduce new fault detection techniques and inspection methods in order to effectively monitor the trends and patterns of equipment degradation. Of course, although in the early days, due to technical limitations, it was not always possible to effectively monitor the trend of equipment degradation, efforts have been made to shift from time-based preventive maintenance to condition-based predictive maintenance (condition monitoring), and the technical methods for effective fault prevention and prediction are continuously being developed and improved. II. Do all devices require preventive maintenance? People continually deepen their understanding of the essence of things through practice. While equipment managers pursue \"preventive maintenance\" by continuously increasing investment in repairs—such as the labor costs associated with regular planned preventive maintenance activities and the costs of spare parts that need to be kept on hand—they have also begun to consider whether preventive maintenance is necessary for all equipment. For many types of manufacturing enterprises, high maintenance costs and the capital required for spare parts often increase production costs, thereby reducing the competitiveness of their products. As a result, it is only natural that corporate management asks equipment managers to find ways to reduce these maintenance costs. Moreover, such requests are usually made with the condition that the efficiency of the equipment remains unchanged; this also constitutes another important aspect in measuring and evaluating the core value of equipment management in a company. How can one have both fish and bear paws? How can horses run fast and stay in good health while eating less grass? It has become an unavoidable challenge for equipment managers, and we must find a solution to this dilemma. Since we need to focus on the balance between the \"losses caused by sudden equipment failures\" and the \"investments made to prevent such losses\", either extreme approach is not advisable. Since not all equipment requires preventive maintenance, and since businesses should seek a model that minimizes total costs, this brings up the issue of applying appropriate maintenance strategies. In other words, it is necessary to classify based on the characteristics of equipment failures, and to employ different maintenance strategies in order to achieve optimal overall costs. "The effective application of maintenance strategies becomes the second key point to be addressed in order to manage equipment well. Of course, a maintenance strategy is not simply a matter of deciding between reactive maintenance and preventive maintenance; in fact, maintenance strategies are very diverse and varied. If \"corrective maintenance\" is carried out to address design flaws in the equipment, it means not sticking to the original design but taking bold approaches to address the root causes of recurring faults ； Another example is how to effectively convey the causes of a device’s problems to the designers, or for similar machines, to address issues through analogous maintenance methods (similar to a car manufacturer’s recall system) and practices such as \"preventive maintenance\". The coexistence and integrated application of these multi-mode maintenance strategies provide equipment managers with a wealth of effective means to achieve optimal overall costs. III. Integration of engineering principles and life-cycle concepts: After equipment management entered the \"production and maintenance\" phase in the 1960s, none of the activities and technical applications based on its key management aspects saw any fundamental breakthroughs in terms of scope or management philosophy. What truly drives continuous progress in equipment management is the systems engineering approach from the UK, which advocates life-cycle management. This approach shifts the focus of equipment management from merely focusing on usage and maintenance to covering the entire process of a device, from its planning stage all the way to its disposal at the end of its life. This has greatly enhanced companies’ understanding of the scope of equipment management, particularly regarding how to improve early-stage management in order to achieve minimal overall costs over the entire life cycle. Integrated equipment engineering was proposed by the Britishman Dennis O’Bucks. The scope of work in equipment systems engineering includes the planning and design of equipment and structures, as well as their reliability and maintainability. It also covers various aspects such as the installation, commissioning, maintenance, modification, and upgrading of equipment. One of the key points of systems engineering is to seek the most economical cost over the equipment’s life cycle. Many studies indicate that the total cost of a device throughout its entire life cycle is determined at the time it leaves the factory. In other words, the price of the equipment determines the setup cost, while its reliability determines the maintenance cost. A device with good mechanical performance, reliability, and maintainability not only maintains high work efficiency but also reduces costs associated with maintenance, upkeep, and energy consumption during use. Therefore, the decisions made at the beginning of equipment use have a significant impact on the economic efficiency over the entire life cycle, and should be given due attention. Integrated equipment engineering is a systematic approach to equipment management that incorporates the theories and research findings of systems engineering. It is also a management philosophy that considers equipment maintenance and management issues from the perspective of overall system optimization. In other words, the equipment system should be viewed from the perspective of systems engineering; by considering the entire lifecycle of the equipment, technical, economic, and organizational aspects can be planned and optimized as a whole to achieve the best results in terms of low costs and high efficiency. By thoroughly understanding the essence of comprehensive equipment engineering and establishing a systematic approach to equipment life-cycle management in practice, it becomes possible to consider the advantages and disadvantages of equipment management and maintenance from an overall perspective rather than focusing on just a particular stage or area. Therefore, \"lifecycle management of equipment\" is the third key to effective equipment management. IV. The Importance of Full Staff Involvement in Equipment Management Japan has long adopted equipment management practices based on those of the United States. In the early 1970s, after incorporating the principles outlined in Ansteel’s charter in China – such as ensuring that each piece of equipment is under someone’s supervision and that everyone has a specific responsibility – which emphasized worker participation, a people-oriented approach, as well as the promotion of rationalization suggestions and labor competitions – Japan recognized the importance of full staff involvement in the implementation of PM practices. In other words, it is not only equipment specialists who need to consider equipment management and maintenance strategies; it is also essential to acknowledge the important role that operators at the workstations play in this area. The impact of operators on equipment management includes both positive and negative aspects. On the positive side, they can take advantage of their daily exposure to the equipment to gain an understanding of its conditions, which enables them to identify early signs of malfunction and address issues before they escalate ； To eliminate negative impacts, it is necessary to regulate their behavior in order to effectively reduce repetitive human errors, prevent the deterioration caused by such errors, and slow down the occurrence of equipment failures. This concept of full participation in equipment management has significantly transformed the composition of the equipment management team, aiming for the active contribution of both operators and maintenance staff to maximize the overall efficiency of the equipment. From a practical perspective, full employee involvement in equipment maintenance is an effective, low-cost, and straightforward approach to equipment management and maintenance. It not only helps to identify and resolve equipment failures at an early stage but also frees maintenance personnel from the vicious cycle of dealing with numerous, frequent, low-quality, and reactive on-site failures. This allows them to have the time and energy to focus on more fundamental aspects of equipment management and maintenance, to better understand the patterns behind equipment failures and the means to control them, as well as to carry out more effective preventive maintenance.