Maximizing Equipment Reliability With Autonomous Maintenance: Going Beyond Breakdowns

As people go about their day-to-day activities, they are constantly surrounded by machines and other equipment that simplify and streamline their work. Nevertheless, just like everything else, these machines can experience mechanical failure, which can be extremely frustrating and inconvenient.

However, the recent developments in maintenance technology have resulted in the emergence of autonomous maintenance, ultimately transforming how people think about equipment dependability. 

In this article, we will discuss the advantages of autonomous maintenance and how it assists organizations in reaching their maximum level of reliability. 

What Is Autonomous Maintenance?

Autonomous maintenance is the first step of the Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) method, which is a comprehensive way to maintain and improve equipment. It is a strategy for caring for machines in which machine operators constantly check their tools, adjust, and do other small maintenance tasks. They are in charge of simple maintenance tasks like lubricating, cleaning, and doing safety checks so that experts can work on more complex tasks. The ultimate objective of autonomous maintenance is to develop a culture of proactive maintenance and continuous improvement.

This is based on the idea that operators closest to the equipment know a lot about how it works and can take the necessary steps to keep it in good working condition. These workers are in charge of basic equipment maintenance jobs like cleaning, lubricating, and checking. ​​

There are two core concepts that guide autonomous maintenance:

• Proper Use of Assets – This is the use of equipment correctly to reduce wear and tear and unplanned downtime.  
• Efficient Asset Management – This concept ensures that the company’s equipment is fixed so that it works as well as it did when it was new and is managed correctly throughout its life to improve its performance, lower its maintenance costs, and increase its value.

Benefits of Autonomous Maintenance

Most companies spend a lot of money to hire, train, and create a team of highly skilled maintenance workers that can figure out the causes of equipment failure and know how to fix them.

• Autonomous maintenance keep these workers from doing low-skill tasks like inspections, lubrication, and minor adjustments ensuring equipment reliability and availability. 

There are big perks that a business gets from autonomous maintenance.

• Less expensive labor is the main gain. This means cutting down on wasteful things like travel time and waiting around. When there is always a person next to a machine, these problems are less likely to occur.

• Independent maintenance improves teams by eliminating the “we/they” mentality. Traditionally, the operator has an “I use” mentality, while the maintenance technician has an “I maintain and fix” mentality. 

This changes into a more cohesive “we maintain” attitude that fits into the pillars of total effective maintenance.

Importance of Autonomous Maintenance

Autonomous maintenance is essential for companies that want to get the most out of their equipment while keeping costs and downtime to a minimum. 

• It can make machines more reliable and reduce the number of repairs that need to be done. It does this by giving operators control over routine maintenance chores.

• It helps equipment last longer and has less chance of breaking down unexpectedly, which can stop production. 

• By making the workers responsible for maintenance, the maintenance teams can focus on more complicated tasks, like fixing and troubleshooting more critical parts. 

In general, autonomous maintenance is a vital part of building a maintenance program that is sustainable and effective for companies in many different industries.

Why Are Maintenance and Reliability Important?

Maintenance means fixing problems before and after they happen. It keeps equipment that is needed for output in the best working condition. On the other hand, reliability includes how machines and equipment work over time and how they interact with the surroundings.

Reliability develops a more thorough plan addressing the real reasons why machines break down. The goal of upkeep and reliability in almost any business with mechanical equipment is to keep the system working well while keeping the costs low.

The analysis of the reliability process needs a much more complex interpretation and analysis to answer the issue of whether the maintenance process can reduce the cost of making a product by providing a stable and repeatable level of service that gets cheaper.

Keeping Up With Autonomous Maintenance

Once your operators have been appropriately trained on autonomous maintenance, the processes have been standardized, and a system for auditing is in place, it’s time to focus on keeping this process going. You can keep the autonomous repair process going with a couple of simple tools you can use daily.

A daily stand-up meeting is a good way for operators and their direct supervisors to discuss how things are going every morning. These meetings work because everyone goes around the circle and talks about what’s going well and what problems they’ve encountered. 

Other things that you can include on the agenda are the lessons learned, the status of staff,

updates from management, and the goals and tasks for the day.

• During daily stand-up meetings, talk about problems or hear about changes from higher-ups that need to be made. Single-point lessons are great for helping the team members make changes. 

• Remind them of the important step or talk about problems that have happened in the past to stop them from happening again. Most one-point lessons focus on equipment subsystems, safety points, and basic knowledge about how to use the equipment. 

One example of a one-point lesson is making a label that can be stuck right on a lever or guard to tell an operator who is having trouble remembering to turn the lever or guard back into the safe position before moving on to the next step.

Conclusion

Autonomous maintenance is an effective method for increasing equipment reliability and decreasing downtime. Companies can guarantee that equipment is adequately cared for, and potential concerns are spotted before they become severe problems by allowing frontline personnel to take responsibility during maintenance. Organizations can take their maintenance strategies to the next level with the proper methodology and technology, achieving new operational efficiency and success.