To ensure better results in your company’s maintenance management, it is important to create effective maintenance plans. Learn how through these 7 steps.

There is no doubt that the maintenance management of organizations has become a strategic area for business. Through it, it is possible to increase assets availability, increase operational efficiency and, consequently, increase profitability. But to ensure these results, it is necessary to implement effective maintenance plans.

In this article, we’ll consider 7 practical steps for you to create a maintenance plan that actually works. Understand each step of this planning and what resources and tools are needed to ensure its effectiveness.

1. Map all equipment

The first step in implementing effective maintenance plans is to create what we call machine and equipment inventory. This tool is used to maintain an internal control of the exact record of all equipment and the respective services necessary for its maintenance.

This record must be accompanied with different information about equipment, such as:

  • Equipment ID;
  • model;
  • specifications;
  • local use;
  • manufacturer;
  • date of acquisition

2. Map all services

With the list of all equipment, the next step is to indicate what type of maintenance should be done for each machine model.

It is good to remember that each asset can receive different types of service. For example, monthly verification may include a general inspection of the equipment, while annual maintenance may accommodate the replacement of specific parts or a deeper cleaning.

3. Perform the procedures for each equipment

It is important to standardize the maintenance procedures for each type of equipment, because each of them receives a differentiated type of attention, however, equal models receive similar procedures. This standardization streamlines the process ensuring that the procedures can be performed with greater efficiency and agility.

4. Plan maintenance routines

A maintenance routine is nothing more than a calendar of predefined activities to make up that plan. In this planning, you define the dates on which the interventions will be made, the service manager, and the resources or tools required for the task.

The maintenance routine should be elaborated based on some criteria and the main one is the level of criticality of the equipment. This criterion refers to the importance of the activity within the plan and in general is evaluated based on 4 aspects:

  • the time used for the action to be corrected thus the longer the time the greater criticality;
  • the frequency at which the asset is used in the company, because the higher its use, the greater its importance;
  • the impact that equipment unavailability or failure generates on production;
  • number of stops.

5. Draw up a budget

Budget is one of the most important points for creating effective maintenance plans. The idea is to define a budget available for maintenance and, after that, compare the cost of maintenance with the expenses generated to correct the defects in the machines.

On the basis of this budget and the monitoring of expenditure it is possible to determine, for example, whether or not maintaining the correction of equipment is more feasible than acquiring a new.

6. Team training

An effective maintenance plan should also address how employees will be trained to maintain proper maintenance routines. With proper training, it is possible to reduce the service time during maintenance, increase the quality of execution of tasks and, with this, even increase the life cycle of equipment.

7. Track indicators

Indicators are the most efficient tools to track the performance of the maintenance plan. These metrics can report different data, such as:

  • time of technical assistance
  • number of accidents;
  • number of emergency corrections required;
  • availability of equipment.

Some of the main indicators used in efficient maintenance plans are:

  • Maintenance cost per billing (%);
  • Maintenance cost per replacement value;
  • Physical availability of equipment;
  • Average time between failures;
  • Average time between stops;
  • Average time to failure;
  • Average repair time.

Effective maintenance plans can be created from these 7 simple steps. If managed in the right way, they can reduce maintenance costs to increase asset availability and thereby significantly increase the professional efficiency not only of the maintenance team, but also of all company teams.

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