How the Maintenance Department Can Contribute to the Bottom-line of Companies

Regular maintenance and repair can, and should be a part of a businesses strategy. Consistent maintenance helps prevent problems before they arise, avoiding expensive equipment failure and production downtime. Maintenance departments are often limited in their operations by arbitrary cost cutting from the top. To the extent that funding is available, preventative or predictive maintenance efforts can help limit the need for personnel and minimize expensive equipment failure and replacement. Implementing combined comprehensive preventive and predictive maintenance programs can, however, better help maintenance departments support their businesses by minimizing unnecessary costs and maximizing production uptime. Here are a couple of ways maintenance departments create great ROI and can contribute to the bottom line of your business.

PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE‍

True to its name, preventive maintenance addresses issues before they arise. At a basic level, this is similar to performing routine lube service on a vehicle or regularly checking the functionality of fire extinguishers. By investing a little money in preventive maintenance now, the idea is that one can save a lot by not having to replace the engine or repair a building after fire damage later.

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Preventive maintenance for large facilities works in the same general manner but with far greater complexity given the interconnectedness of machines and computers. A comprehensive preventive maintenance program will need to account for the type, quantity, age, and annual expense of preventive maintenance for every single piece of equipment in a building or facility.

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While the undertaking can be daunting at first and will require an initial investment. However, the savings to the company overall can be substantial, especially for a business that is prone to production downtime due to equipment failure. An accurate calculation of the value of preventive maintenance will vary somewhat by facility, but the average financial model will take into consideration the following:

Preventive Maintenance Costs: The actual cost of performing preventive maintenance and implementing a preventive maintenance plan, including software programs, outside consultants, etc.

Corrective Maintenance Costs: The costs associated with making necessary equipment repairs at the time the preventive maintenance plan is implemented.

Equipment Replacement Costs: The costs associated with making necessary equipment replacements at the time the preventive maintenance plan is implemented.

Equipment Lifetime Differential: The difference between the expected life of a piece of equipment based on historical treatment and use compared to the expected life the same piece of equipment receiving preventive maintenance.

Equipment Maintenance Differential: The difference between how often a piece of equipment requires repair if it is not maintained compared to how often the same piece of equipment requires repair while receiving preventive maintenance (ideally the latter is zero).

Energy Differential: The difference between the energy consumption from performing preventive maintenance compared to the energy wasted from failing to address problems before they arise.

PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE

A predictive maintenance program isn’t right for every facility but can provide a huge savings to facilities that have the capability and need to continuously diagnose critical machinery. As with preventive maintenance, predictive maintenance helps maintenance departments address production-threatening problems before they arise, and it does this by monitoring the actual performance of machines and their essential parts.

With equipment with an estimated maximum lifetime, such as an air handler with a life expectancy of 12 to 15 years, preventive maintenance is essential to being able to utilize as much of the 12 to 15 years as possible. The more life a business gets out of a piece of equipment, however, the more likely individual parts are to wear out or fail, making predictive maintenance even more beneficial.

Predictive maintenance can be used to get the most usability with the least risk of downtime, especially when coupled with a preventive maintenance plan. With proper predictive maintenance, the same air handler can be monitored—on whole and by its parts—so repair or replacement may be conducted before a small problem created by a worn out valve, for example, becomes a much bigger problem.

When a facility considers the impact of implementing a predictive maintenance program, it must consider various aspects of both increased revenue and decreased cost metrics, including:

Fewer Safety and Environmental Violations: The savings in fines and lawsuits due to safety incidents and environmental infractions compared to the reduced likelihood of the same incidents under a predictive maintenance program.

Reduced Production Loss and Unplanned Downtime: A facility’s expected loss from production downtime due to equipment failure.

Reduced Maintenance Costs: The difference in cost required to make major repairs due to failure to detect small equipment problems compared to the costs necessary to address those same small problems.

Extended Equipment Life: The difference between the life expectancy for each piece of equipment with and without predictive maintenance.

Reduced Inventory Holding Costs: The difference between the cost of storing inventory parts due to an inability or inefficiency in using or incorporating those items compared to the costs associated with storing inventory under a predictive maintenance program.

Improved Production Output and Revenue: The difference in revenue compared to the current system, assuming all systems are functional at the maximum of co-functioning time.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Predictive and preventative maintenance can save you cost in repair, downtime and days off for injury. If you want to protect your equipment and bolster your ROI, look into implementing a predictive and preventative maintenance strategy.  

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