How to do a good job in equipment management in chemical enterprises

Regular maintenance and daily care, enhanced safety inspections to identify minor issues promptly, employing the methods of observation, auscultation, interrogation, and palpation

Where should I start? I’m completely confused right now

You should now figure out what equipment you all have, in what way it might break down if it does, and then think of ways to prevent that from happening, as well as identify the causes

For equipment management, you first need to understand the equipment. Once you understand the principles, performance, and other aspects of the device, you will gradually learn how to assess it and maintain it. So for those who are just starting out now, you can try to first learn how to manage various types of records, as well as personnel.

There were no records of the equipment in the facility before; now, is it necessary to count all the equipment and then establish relevant regulations?

If you try to do it, you’ll find that you learn a lot from this process of organizing. A complete equipment profile will be of great use, both for your current management needs and for future management. Furthermore, as a equipment manager, there is never pure management – if you don’t understand the equipment, it’s fine in the short term, but over time you will encounter difficulties.

Management, maintenance, and repair – the field of equipment management is an evolving industry; there is no fixed set of management methods, and one has to figure things out as they go； Based on my many years of experience in equipment management, I would like to discuss the basic tasks of equipment management here. I. Proper management of equipment documentation Equipment management documents are the most fundamental records throughout the life cycle of a device; they document the entire process of a device, from planning and design to manufacturing, as well as use, maintenance, modification, upgrading, and disposal. It includes equipment manuals, drawing albums, technical standards, archives, and original records, etc. Its recording and use are of great practical significance in helping equipment managers to conduct a more detailed comprehensive assessment of management costs, to establish more accurate standards for maintenance and repair procedures, and to make decisions regarding the purchase of spare parts. As a equipment manager, on the one hand, it is necessary to use it to obtain management information related to the equipment, and on the other hand, it is required to continuously improve and complete it. Completeness means keeping detailed records of the operational status and maintenance of new equipment in a timely manner, for future reference. Improvement has two meanings: First, it refers to the fact that over the course of a device’s operational life, as wear and tear increase, its original performance and accuracy change, that is, it begins to age. In aged equipment, the nature and frequency of failures in the original components change, so the original inspection and lubrication standards should also be adjusted accordingly. As a equipment manager, one should not be afraid of trouble and, drawing on their daily management experience, carefully revise it again. Secondly, due to differences in the professional skills and experience of equipment managers, or as their skills and experience improve, they may become dissatisfied with the existing standards; therefore, whether it is for the purpose of saving energy and reducing consumption or ensuring safe use, such standards should be revised promptly upon approval by the higher-level authorities. II. Strengthening daily equipment maintenance 1. Establishing proper maintenance standards and strictly adhering to them There are mainly two types of such standards: inspection standards and lubrication standards. The proper establishment of these standards has a direct impact on the efficient use of equipment. ①Inspection: Inspection involves conducting a thorough and accurate analysis of the moving parts of a device, establishing standards such as temperature, pressure, vibration, noise, corrosion, leakage, etc., and then using various methods such as listening, observing, touching, and smelling to determine whether these parts are functioning properly at regular intervals and in accordance with the established standards. High-precision instruments such as vibration testers and magnetic particle flaw detectors should be used in critical areas; these are among the most effective methods for detecting equipment failures and preventing them from developing. The equipment management department should invest heavily in training inspection personnel and equipping them with high-precision instruments. ②Lubrication standards: The vast majority of equipment failures are caused by poor lubrication, which leads to increased wear on the equipment; therefore, attention should be paid to the establishment and implementation of lubrication standards. When formulating these standards, it is necessary to take into account various factors such as the speed of moving parts, clearance parameters, stress conditions, temperature rise, as well as the operating environment and performance of the equipment. This is to prevent the failure to form an oil film during actual lubrication, or an excess amount of oil that would fail to provide lubrication and instead cause contamination and waste of resources. The same equipment has different inspection and lubrication standards in various companies and over different periods; equipment managers should establish such standards based on local conditions, time factors, and their own experience, rather than following others blindly. After the standard is established, it should be reviewed together with production and maintenance staff before it is put into use in production. Strict supervision must be exercised to ensure compliance; regular checks should be carried out to verify that records are complete and that operations are conducted in accordance with the procedures – carelessness must be avoided at all costs. 2. Full participation in management: In many companies, there is a misconception that equipment management is the responsibility of equipment technicians and maintenance staff, and has nothing to do with production operators. In fact, production operators are the direct users of the equipment. Although they may not know as much about the structure and principles of the equipment as maintenance staff, they are much more familiar with its operational performance. Moreover, since they work with the equipment on a daily basis, it is usually they who detect abnormalities first and are able to prevent them from occurring. But precisely because they are not equipment specialists, what they can detect is usually quite obvious; it is difficult for them to identify more concealed issues in a timely manner. Therefore, it is up to the equipment managers to establish standards and assign responsibility to them. Detailed process operation procedures should be developed and their implementation strictly monitored. The correct operation of the equipment by the production operators has a direct impact on its performance and service life. Equipment managers and production managers should pay sufficient attention, jointly develop process operation procedures, and monitor them at all times. III. From the start of trial production to the time of disposal, maintenance of equipment generally goes through 3 stages: the running-in period, the normal use period, and the performance decline period. Its service life is determined by the degree of intangible wear and the quality of maintenance. 1. Improve the quality of personnel: First, through self-study, further training, and lectures, etc., enhance the technical and managerial skills of equipment management staff, so that they understand scientific management methods and are able to apply them. Second, improve the professional skills and ideological and political standards of maintenance personnel through multiple channels and at various levels. 2. Reasonably arrange the timing and scope of major, medium, and minor repairs. After equipment has been in operation for a period of time, its original precision may decline due to various factors such as vibration and corrosion; therefore, equipment managers should organize maintenance work at the appropriate time. Preparatory work should be carried out in advance, including pre-repair inspections (aimed at understanding the specific condition of the equipment and ensuring that all necessary spare parts and tools are available for the repair), preparation of spare parts, development of a plan, establishment of standards, and financial budgeting, so as to complete the repair tasks in the shortest possible time with minimal costs. 3. Equipment must never be used when it is malfunctioning. Once a fault occurs, personnel should be immediately dispatched to carry out repairs; it is absolutely unacceptable to use the equipment in such conditions. For critical components, strict maintenance standards should be established to provide guidance and proper oversight for the maintenance staff. 4. Maintenance quality inspection: After the equipment maintenance is completed, equipment managers and production technicians should jointly inspect the quality of the maintenance. The project includes structural inspection and precision inspection. A structural inspection checks whether the equipment after maintenance is complete and free of any omissions. Precision checking involves verifying whether the equipment after repair maintains its original precision and performance. Precision checking is a meticulous and important task. Experience shows that if the precision is not achieved, the same fault will occur in the repaired area soon; therefore, it is essential to carry out this task with patience. IV. Management of spare parts: Currently, companies generally use the ABC management method, classifying items with high value and long production times as Category A ； Those with moderate value, moderate frequency of use, and low importance are classified as Category B, such as small bearings, coils, small motors, etc.; others such as certain bolts and sealing components can be classified as Category C. Equipment managers must first have a thorough understanding of the spare parts inventory. By analyzing records of their usage, they can determine their service life; taking into account market sales trends and production cycles, they then submit procurement plans to the supply department at the appropriate time. Secondly, once the spare parts arrive at the warehouse, experienced measurement and maintenance personnel should be assigned to inspect them. Even if they are labeled as \"qualified products,\" they still need to be checked carefully. Unless their quality is confirmed to be satisfactory, they should be sent back to the supply department immediately. Any components that can be repaired should be fixed as soon as possible; one should not adopt a attitude of \"putting them aside to fix later,\" as over time this can lead to forgetting about them and resulting in waste ； Furthermore, rust on the parts makes repairs difficult. V. Arranging equipment maintenance and repair according to individual capabilities: Given the varying levels of skill and experience among operators and maintenance staff, maintenance work should be carried out in a manner that takes these differences into account. The ABC classification method can also be used; tasks are assigned based on the importance and complexity of the equipment, as well as the technical skills and competence of the staff involved. Equipment management is a complex and demanding task that requires equipment managers to possess certain professional skills and organizational abilities. Moreover, they need to have a high level of political awareness, truly adopting the mindset of treating the factory as their own home – caring for the equipment as they would take care of their own eyes and showing concern for it

First, go for a half-month inspection to get to know most of the equipment, and then look at the equipment documentation in my free time

That’s right; it’s necessary to understand things like the equipment’s performance and structure

Since there were no equipment records before, it was difficult to keep track of the equipment in the factory; now we can at least see the installation location and name of the equipment