![Field repair of aircraft engine 1915-1916](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Field_repair_of_aircraft_engine_1915-1916.jpg)
The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment,
machinery
A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolecule ...
, building infrastructure, and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installations. Over time, this has come to include multiple wordings that describe various cost-effective practices to keep equipment operational; these activities occur either before
or after a failure.
Definitions
Maintenance functions can defined as maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), and MRO is also used for maintenance, repair and operations. Over time, the terminology of maintenance and MRO has begun to become standardized. The
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
uses the following definitions:
Federal Standard 1037C
Federal Standard 1037C, titled Telecommunications: Glossary of Telecommunication Terms, is a United States Federal Standard issued by the General Services Administration pursuant to the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, a ...
and from MIL-STD-188
MIL-STD-188 is a series of U.S. military standards relating to telecommunications.
Purpose
Faced with "past technical deficiencies in telecommunications systems and equipment and software…that were traced to basic inadequacies in the applicat ...
and from the
* Any activity—such as tests, measurements, replacements, adjustments, and repairs—intended to retain or restore a
functional unit
In computer engineering, an execution unit (E-unit or EU) is a part of the central processing unit (CPU) that performs the operations and calculations as instructed by the computer program. It may have its own internal control sequence unit (not ...
in or to a specified state in which the unit can perform its required functions.
* All action taken to retain material in a serviceable condition or to restore it to serviceability. It includes
inspection
An inspection is, most generally, an organized examination or formal evaluation exercise. In engineering activities inspection involves the measurements, tests, and gauges applied to certain characteristics in regard to an object or activity. ...
s, testing, servicing, classification as to serviceability, repair,
rebuilding
Remanufacturing is "the rebuilding of a product to specifications of the original manufactured product using a combination of reused, repaired and new parts". It requires the repair or replacement of worn out or obsolete components and modules. P ...
, and reclamation.
* All supply and repair action taken to keep a force in condition to carry out its mission.
* The routine recurring work required to keep a facility (plant, building, structure,
ground facility, utility
system
A system is a group of Interaction, interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment (systems), environment, is described by its boundaries, ...
, or other real property) in such condition that it may be continuously used, at its original or designed capacity and efficiency for its intended purpose.
Maintenance is strictly connected to the utilization stage of the product or technical system, in which the concept of
maintainability
In engineering, maintainability is the ease with which a product can be maintained to:
* correct defects or their cause,
* Repair or replace faulty or worn-out components without having to replace still working parts,
* prevent unexpected working ...
must be included. In this scenario, maintainability is considered as the ability of an item, under stated conditions of use, to be retained in or restored to a state in which it can perform its required functions, using prescribed procedures and resources.
In some domains like
aircraft maintenance
Aircraft maintenance is the performance of tasks required to ensure the continuing airworthiness of an aircraft or aircraft part, including overhaul, inspection, replacement, defect rectification, and the embodiment of modifications, compliance w ...
, terms ''maintenance, repair and overhaul'' also include inspection, rebuilding, alteration and the supply of spare parts, accessories, raw materials, adhesives, sealants, coatings and
consumables
Consumables (also known as consumable goods, non-durable goods, or soft goods) are goods that are intended to be consumed. People have, for example, always consumed food and water. Consumables are in contrast to durable goods. Disposable produc ...
for aircraft maintenance at the
utilization stage. In international civil aviation maintenance means:
* The performance of tasks required to ensure the continuing airworthiness of an aircraft, including any one or combination of overhaul, inspection, replacement, defect rectification, and the embodiment of a modification or a repair.
This definition covers all activities for which
aviation regulations Most country's administrations have regulatory authorities devoted to producing and publishing regulations for aeronautical operations.
Countries, organizations and publications
In Canada, the publication is called ''Canadian Aviation Regulations'' ...
require issuance of a maintenance release document (aircraft certificate of return to service – CRS).
Types
The marine and air transportation, offshore structures,
industrial plant
Physical plant, mechanical plant or industrial plant (and where context is given, often just plant) refers to the necessary infrastructure used in operation and maintenance of a given facility. The operation of these facilities, or the department o ...
and
facility management
Facility management or facilities management (FM) is a professional management discipline focused on the efficient and effective delivery of logistics and other support services related to real property and buildings. It encompasses multiple disc ...
industries depend on ''maintenance, repair and overhaul'' (MRO) including scheduled or preventive
paint
Paint is any pigmented liquid, liquefiable, or solid mastic composition that, after application to a substrate in a thin layer, converts to a solid film. It is most commonly used to protect, color, or provide texture. Paint can be made in many ...
maintenance programmes to maintain and restore
coatings
A coating is a covering that is applied to the surface of an object, usually referred to as the substrate. The purpose of applying the coating may be decorative, functional, or both. Coatings may be applied as liquids, gases or solids e.g. Powder ...
applied to steel in environments subject to attack from erosion, corrosion and environmental pollution.
The basic types of maintenance falling under MRO include:
*
Preventive maintenance
The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure, and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installa ...
, where equipment is checked and serviced in a planned manner (in a scheduled points in time or continuously)
*
Corrective maintenance
Corrective maintenance is a maintenance task performed to identify, isolate, and rectify a fault so that the failed equipment, machine, or system can be restored to an operational condition within the tolerances or limits established for in-servi ...
, where equipment is repaired or replaced after wear, malfunction or break down
* Reinforcement
Architectural conservation
Conservation and restoration of immovable cultural property describes the process through which the material, historical, and design integrity of any Cultural property, immovable cultural property are prolonged through carefully planned interve ...
employs MRO to preserve, rehabilitate, restore, or reconstruct historical structures with stone, brick, glass, metal, and wood which match the original constituent materials where possible, or with suitable polymer technologies when not.
Preventive maintenance
![C-130J Hercules cleaning](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/C-130J_Hercules_cleaning.jpg)
Preventive maintenance (PM) is "a routine for periodically inspecting" with the goal of "noticing small problems and fixing them before major ones develop."
Ideally, "nothing breaks down."
The main goal behind PM is for the equipment to make it from one planned service to the next planned service without any failures caused by fatigue, neglect, or normal wear (preventable items), which Planned Maintenance and Condition Based Maintenance help to achieve by replacing worn components before they actually fail. Maintenance activities include partial or complete overhauls at specified periods, oil changes, lubrication, minor adjustments, and so on. In addition, workers can record equipment deterioration so they know to replace or repair worn parts before they cause system failure.
The New York Times gave an example of "machinery that is not lubricated on schedule" that functions "until a bearing burns out." Preventive maintenance contracts are generally a fixed cost, whereas improper maintenance introduces a variable cost: replacement of major equipment.
Main objective of PM are:
# Enhance capital equipment productive life.
# Reduce critical equipment breakdown.
# Minimize production loss due to equipment failures.
Preventive maintenance or preventative
maintenance (PM) has the following meanings:
* The care and servicing by personnel for the purpose of maintaining equipment in satisfactory operating condition by providing for systematic inspection,
detection {{Unreferenced, date=March 2018
In general, detection is the action of accessing information without specific cooperation from with the sender.
In the history of radio communications, the term " detector" was first used for a device that detected ...
, and correction of incipient failures either before they occur or before they develop into major defects.
* The work carried out on equipment in order to avoid its breakdown or malfunction. It is a regular and routine action taken on equipment in order to prevent its breakdown.
* Maintenance, including tests, measurements, adjustments, parts replacement, and cleaning, performed specifically to prevent faults from occurring.
Other terms and abbreviations related to PM are:
* scheduled maintenance
* planned maintenance,
which may include scheduled downtime for equipment replacement
* planned preventive maintenance (PPM) is another name for PM
*:
fixing things only when they break. This is also known as "a reactive maintenance strategy" and may involve "consequential damage."
Planned maintenance
Planned preventive maintenance (PPM), more commonly referred to as simply planned maintenance (PM) or scheduled maintenance, is any variety of scheduled
maintenance
Maintenance may refer to:
Biological science
* Maintenance of an organism
* Maintenance respiration
Non-technical maintenance
* Alimony, also called ''maintenance'' in British English
* Champerty and maintenance, two related legal doctrine ...
to an object or item of equipment. Specifically, planned maintenance is a scheduled service visit carried out by a competent and suitable agent, to ensure that an item of equipment is operating correctly and to therefore avoid any unscheduled breakdown and downtime.
The key factor as to when and why this work is being done is timing, and involves a service, resource or facility being unavailable.
By contrast, condition-based maintenance is not directly based on equipment age.
Planned maintenance is preplanned, and can be date-based, based on equipment running hours, or on distance travelled.
Parts that have scheduled maintenance at fixed intervals, usually due to wearout or a fixed
shelf life
Shelf life is the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale. In other words, it might refer to whether a commodity should no longer be on a pantry shelf (unfit for use), or no longer on a ...
, are sometimes known as time-change interval, or TCI items.
Predictive maintenance
Predictive maintenance techniques are designed to help determine the condition of in-service equipment in order to estimate when maintenance should be performed. This approach promises
cost savings over routine or time-based
preventive maintenance
The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure, and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installa ...
, because tasks are performed only when warranted. Thus, it is regarded as condition-based maintenance carried out as suggested by estimations of the degradation state of an item. The main promise of predictive maintenance is to allow convenient scheduling of
corrective maintenance
Corrective maintenance is a maintenance task performed to identify, isolate, and rectify a fault so that the failed equipment, machine, or system can be restored to an operational condition within the tolerances or limits established for in-servi ...
, and to prevent unexpected equipment failures.
This maintenance strategy uses sensors to monitor key parameters within a machine or system, and uses this data in conjunction with analysed historical trends to continuously evaluate the system health and predict a breakdown before it happens.
This strategy allows maintenance to be performed more efficiently, since more up-to-date data is obtained about how close the product is to failure.
Predictive replacement is the replacement of an item that is still functioning properly.
Usually it's a tax-benefit based replacement policy whereby expensive equipment or batches of individually inexpensive supply items are removed and donated on a predicted/fixed
shelf life
Shelf life is the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale. In other words, it might refer to whether a commodity should no longer be on a pantry shelf (unfit for use), or no longer on a ...
schedule. These items are given to tax-exempt institutions.
Condition-based maintenance
Condition-based maintenance (CBM), shortly described, is maintenance
when need arises. Albeit chronologically much older, It is considered one section or practice inside the broader and newer predictive maintenance field, where new AI technologies and connectivity abilities are put to action and where the acronym CBM is more often used to describe 'condition Based Monitoring' rather than the maintenance itself. CBM maintenance is performed after one or more indicators show that equipment is going to fail or that equipment performance is deteriorating.
This concept is applicable to mission-critical systems that incorporate
active redundancy
Active redundancy is a design concept that increases operational availability and that reduces operating cost by automating most critical maintenance actions.
This concept is related to condition-based maintenance and fault reporting.
History
...
and
fault reporting
Fault reporting is a maintenance concept that increases operational availability and that reduces operating cost through three mechanisms.
* Reduce labor-intensive diagnostic evaluation
* Eliminate diagnostic testing down-time
* Provide notificati ...
. It is also applicable to non-mission critical systems that lack redundancy and fault reporting.
Condition-based maintenance was introduced to try to maintain the correct equipment at the right time. CBM is based on using real-time data to prioritize and optimize maintenance resources. Observing the state of the system is known as
condition monitoring
Condition monitoring (colloquially, CM) is the process of monitoring a parameter of condition in machinery (vibration, temperature etc.), in order to identify a significant change which is indicative of a developing fault. It is a major component o ...
. Such a system will determine the equipment's health, and act only when maintenance is actually necessary. Developments in recent years have allowed extensive instrumentation of equipment, and together with better tools for analyzing condition data, the maintenance personnel of today is more than ever able to decide what is the right time to perform maintenance on some piece of equipment. Ideally, condition-based maintenance will allow the maintenance personnel to do only the right things, minimizing spare parts cost, system downtime and time spent on maintenance.
=Challenges
=
Despite its usefulness of equipment, there are several challenges to the use of CBM. First and most important of all, the initial cost of CBM can be high. It requires improved instrumentation of the equipment. Often the cost of sufficient instruments can be quite large, especially on equipment that is already installed. Wireless systems have reduced the initial cost. Therefore, it is important for the installer to decide the importance of the investment before adding CBM to all equipment. A result of this cost is that the first generation of CBM in the
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
and gas industry has only focused on vibration in heavy rotating equipment.
Secondly, introducing CBM will invoke a major change in how maintenance is performed, and potentially to the whole maintenance organization in a company. Organizational changes are in general difficult.
Also, the technical side of it is not always as simple. Even if some types of equipment can easily be observed by measuring simple values such as vibration (displacement, velocity or acceleration), temperature or pressure, it is not trivial to turn this measured data into actionable knowledge about the health of the equipment.
=Value potential
=
As systems get more costly, and instrumentation and information systems tend to become cheaper and more reliable, CBM becomes an important tool for running a plant or factory in an optimal manner. Better operations will lead to lower production cost and lower use of resources. And lower use of resources may be one of the most important differentiators in a future where environmental issues become more important by the day.
Another scenario where value can be created is by monitoring the health of a car motor. Rather than changing parts at predefined intervals, the car itself can tell you when something needs to be changed based on cheap and simple instrumentation.
It is Department of Defense policy that condition-based maintenance (CBM) be ''"implemented to improve maintenance agility and responsiveness, increase operational availability, and reduce life cycle total ownership costs".''
=Advantages and disadvantages
=
CBM has some advantages over planned maintenance:
* Improved system reliability
* Decreased maintenance costs
* Decreased number of maintenance operations causes a reduction of
human error
Human error refers to something having been done that was " not intended by the actor; not desired by a set of rules or an external observer; or that led the task or system outside its acceptable limits".Senders, J.W. and Moray, N.P. (1991) Human ...
influences
Its disadvantages are:
* High installation costs, for minor equipment items often more than the value of the equipment
* Unpredictable maintenance periods cause costs to be divided unequally.
* Increased number of parts (the CBM installation itself) that need maintenance and checking.
Today, due to its costs, CBM is not used for less important parts of machinery despite obvious advantages. However it can be found everywhere where increased safety is required, and in future will be applied even more widely.
Corrective maintenance
Corrective maintenance is a type of maintenance used for equipment after equipment break down or malfunction is often most expensive – not only can worn equipment damage other parts and cause multiple damage, but consequential repair and replacement costs and loss of revenues due to down time during overhaul can be significant. Rebuilding and resurfacing of equipment and infrastructure damaged by erosion and corrosion as part of corrective or preventive maintenance programmes involves conventional processes such as welding and metal flame spraying, as well as engineered solutions with
thermoset polymeric materials.
See also
References
Bibliography
*''Maintenance Planning, Coordination & Scheduling'', by Don Nyman & Joel Levitt Maintenance
Further reading
*
''9 Types of Maintenance: How to choose the right maintenance strategy'', Erik Hupje, Road to Reliability™ (2020)
Sources
*
{{Authority control
Maintenance,
Mechanical engineering
Planning
Prevention
Product lifecycle management
Reliability engineering
Reuse