Maintenance Strategies

q
Maintenance evolution
1930 - 1950 1950 - 1980 1980 – 2000+
Condition monitoring
Fix it when it breaks Scheduled
maintenance Failure modes and
effects analysis
Planning systems
Computerized
Maintenance
Computerization
Management Systems
RCM - TPM

Modern Maintenance Strategies

6.1 Design-out Maintenance

 This is not really a pure maintenance strategy, but is listed as such because it is
used extensively by maintenance engineers.

 The objective is to redesign the particular system or component to decrease the

need for maintenance by removing unwanted failure modes.

6.2 Preventive Maintenance

All maintenance strategies aimed at preventing failure from occurring are of the class
Preventive Maintenance.

The traditional way of preventing failure from occurring is by replacing or reconditioning

the item (sub-system or component) before failure occurs. The intuitive argument is that
timely planned maintenance should lead to the prevention of unnecessary production
delays.
 Age based maintenance-maintenance actions are undertaken regularly based
on the age of the equipment. Examples are scheduled maintenance work based
on machine running hours, tonnage handled, production throughput and
kilometers travelled.
 Calendar based maintenance -maintenance actions are undertaken regularly
based on expired calendar time, irrespective of production intensity. Examples
are annual, bi-annual shutdowns to perform statutory work.

These tasks can be classified into of the following broad classes:

 Scheduled overhaul -the machine or component is completely stripped and

reconditioned to as near as the good-as-new condition as is possible.
 Scheduled replacement -the item (sub-assembly or component) is discarded
and replaced

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 Routine services -the plant/machine receives a service during which routine
checks are made, oils and filters changed, greasing done and adjustments made.

6.3 Predictive (Condition Based) Maintenance

The condition of the equipment/component is measured at predetermined intervals, so to
determine when the component will fail. Only then will a replacement/overhaul be
scheduled.

Two main types of condition based maintenance can be identified:

6.3.1 Inspection -use is made of the five senses of a person (engineer, foreman,
artisan) to determine the condition of the equipment or component. This can
include the use of instruments that enhances the use of the senses through
amplification or benchmarking.

6.3.2 Condition monitoring -some parameter is monitored to detect signs of imminent

failure. Examples of these are: (see attachment 1 for details of these)
a. Vibration
b. Shock Pulse
c. Oil condition
d. Acoustic emissions
e. Equipment Performance
f. Thermography

6.4 Corrective (Failure) Maintenance

This is a strategy of 'do nothing' or 'wait for failure'. It entails not trying to determine when
the component will fail (condition monitoring or inspection) or doing anything to prevent
the failure from occurring (use based). This is used when no other strategy can be
applied with better end results. Corrective maintenance can be further classified into the
following three classes:

 Replacement -this will be the strategy if the decision was to totally replace the
component or unit upon failure.
 Repair -this will be the strategy if the decision was to repair the component or
unit upon failure.
 Delayed decision -this will be the strategy if the decision was to either totally
replace the component or unit upon failure or to repair it, based on a in loco
inspection following failure.

6.5 Pro-active Maintenance

Pro-active maintenance is a philosophy that spans the whole of the maintenance

strategy structure as shown above. Instead of using information gained from monitoring
(or other means) to predict when a failure will occur, the same information is used to
eradicate failure completely. Pro-active action is taken to completely remove the root
cause of failure. To implement such a method, the correct instrumentation must be
available to facilitate the necessary measurements being taken. Design-out plays a
major role in Pro-active Maintenance.

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In order to set a maintenance strategy we must look at the item
failure pattern. We can use statistical methods to analyse
failures.

7. Reliability
Definition The probability that a system (product, item or service) will perform its
intended function without failure for a specified time under stated conditions.

7.1 Probability functions

7.1.1 The probability density function (p.d.f.) gives the probability of failure occurring
at any specific time. Its units are failure/item-time. Thus, at any point it gives the
probability of a failure occurring during the following time unit. [p.d.f. = f(t)]

The probability density function (p.d.f.)

is defined as:

f(t)=1 Dn
N Dt

Dn=number of fails in time [t,t+ Dt]

Dt=length of time interval
N=Original population

7.1.2 The failure distribution function

(c.d.f.) gives the cumulative probability
of failure. It is the cumulative sum of the
p.d.f. It thus represents the probability
that failure has occurred on or before a
certain time.

F(t) =  0t f(t) dt

It also states that all components will

eventually fail where
[F(∞) = 1]

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7.1.3 The Survival function is the

difference between the c.d.f. and
100%
therefore

R(t) = 1 - F(t)

7.1.4 The hazard rate gives the risk of

failure at any specific time. It is the conditional probability of failure at that time, given
that failure has not occurred before then.

z(t) = f(t) = f(t)

R(t) 1-F(t)

The shape of the hazard function to a large extend determines what maintenance
strategy will be used.

An increasing hazard rate lends itself to a policy of Preventive Replacement or Overhaul,

as the hazard after such action will be lower than before it. In the case of constant or
decreasing hazards the only policy choices available are condition monitoring or
inspection, corrective maintenance and redesign.

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7.2 Failure rate

The principal parameter of failure measurement is the failure rate () or its reciprocal
value of the mean time to (or between) failures (). Failure rate is expressed as a
number of failures per life unit.

The bath tub curve

Early Failure Phase Constant Failure Phase Wearout

 Manufacturing faults  Random failure due to change of  Material wear

 Inadequate conditions or accidents  Ageing
components  Inadequate maintenance
 Overstress
 Poor packaging  Design weaknesses
 Use in incorrect environment
 Incorrect installation  Short life components
 Abuse  Abuse
 Abnormal conditions
 Weak design

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• In a high proportion of cases (89%) use based preventive maintenance will not be
effective (hazard rate increasing with time) In these cases use Condition based,
Corrective or Redesign.
• A significant proportion of components (11%) will benefit from use based
maintenance. In these cases any of the strategies can be employed, depending on
the characteristics of the hazard curve, the economics involved and the
effectiveness of the different categories of tasks.
• In 72% of the cases an infant mortality zone, which is characterized by a
decreasing hazard, is present. This is typical of electronic equipment according to
Nowlan and Heap (figure 5.13 comments adjacent to graph F). In only a few cases
(4% - graph A) an infant mortality zone can be attributed to mechanical equipment
(although the authors do not state specifically that graph A was for mechanical
equipment, the full bath tub gives one that idea).
• In 7% of cases (graph D), the hazard increases fairly quickly as the sub-system
starts its operating life and then stabilizes at a constant level.

These conclusions seem to show that the Bath Tub concept, despite its limitations and
problem areas, is very valuable in the process of maintenance strategy setting.

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