Maintenance Plans & Preventive Care

TECH SPECS

Technical points & process standards

These are the key control points and acceptance criteria we hold to on site — standards first, data does the talking, and you can check us against the list.

1
The five fixed rules of lubrication: fixed point, fixed grade, fixed quantity, fixed interval, fixed person. Lubrication cards are built on these five elements and worked to.
2
Basis for oil selection: matched to duty temperature, load and contamination type against dropping point, viscosity grade and water-washout / extreme-pressure ratings — never picked by brand habit.
3
Condition monitoring methods: the standard trio — vibration points, infrared temperature and current trend — with early-warning thresholds set for degrading machines.
4
Accuracy acceptance criteria: geometric and running accuracy re-measured against factory standards and process requirements and filed, then folded into inspections to prevent drift.

CROSS SUPPORT

How this module supports the others

A one-off job fixes a one-off problem; systemic problems need the modules working together. This module works directly with:

Module 01 Equipment management system build-out — the inspection standards in the system are the basis for maintenance execution Module 03 Fault elimination and overhaul — fault-handling data feeds the maintenance strategy and cuts recurrence

WHEN YOU NEED THIS

When preventive maintenance is the right move

Preventive maintenance is not money spent for peace of mind - it has an account that can be worked out. In the situations below, its return is most direct.

Situation 1

Continuous lines, where one stoppage stops everything

On continuous or chained lines - feed, biomass pellets, building materials, wastewater treatment - any key machine going down breaks the whole line. These plants get the highest return from preventive maintenance: hold the degradation trends under control so overhaul falls inside a planned window instead of arriving at the moment orders are tightest.

Situation 2

The same fault keeps recurring

A replaced part lasts a few days, then fails again. That means the cause is still there: misalignment, improper lubrication, seal failure, a sudden load change. We do failure mode analysis and treat the causes together with the damage, while placing that location under focused monitoring and tracking the trend.

Situation 3

Repair costs rising year on year without explanation

With no maintenance plan, equipment reminds you only by failing. A large part of the repair bill could have been avoided by periodic lubrication, tightening, cleaning and adjustment. Classifying downtime records and repair spend by machine once usually shows which few machines the money went to.

Situation 4

Special duty, where the manual's intervals do not apply

In heavy dust, high humidity, high temperature or corrosive environments, copying the manufacturer's maintenance intervals breaks down. The same fan may need oil changes three times as often in a dusty shop as in a clean one. Intervals must be calculated from actual site duty, then verified with measured data.

Situation 5

Quality fluctuation suspected to come from the equipment

Out-of-tolerance parts, poor seals, low pellet formation rates, fluctuating effluent indicators - sometimes these are not process problems but drift in equipment accuracy or condition. Periodic accuracy calibration and condition monitoring can converge this kind of variation back into a controlled range.

Situation 6

Not enough maintenance staff, firefighting every day

In a plant short of hands, the fitters spend all day on emergency repairs with no time left for maintenance, so failures multiply and emergencies multiply - a vicious circle. Outsourcing the periodic maintenance lets your own people focus on daily inspection and minor work, and only then does the rhythm return to normal.

HOW WE DO IT

How preventive maintenance is implemented: five steps

The worst outcome for preventive maintenance is becoming 'change the oil periodically and sign a form'. Our approach is to bring every step down to actions that can be judged, recorded and reviewed.

1
Establishing the condition baseline: at first service, key equipment gets one comprehensive test - vibration severity, bearing temperature, motor current, insulation resistance, oil condition, clearance and alignment data - forming the baseline. Every subsequent reading is compared with the baseline: what matters is the trend, not any single value.
2
Setting maintenance strategy by failure mode: wear-type gets trend monitoring and life management; fatigue-crack type gets periodic flaw detection; corrosion type gets material and lubricant selection plus environmental control; electrical ageing type gets insulation monitoring and periodic replacement; misoperation type gets interlocks and standard work. Strategy follows the failure mode - one interval set is never applied to every machine.
3
Making lubrication management real: executed by the five fixed rules - fixed point, grade, quantity, interval and person. The grade is selected for the duty, the quantity judged by old grease being purged or by the level mark, and every lubrication point has its own card. Temperature rise and seal damage from over-lubrication are more common than from under-lubrication.
4
Accuracy calibration and tightening checks: critical joint torques, drive train clearances, coupling alignment, and guideway and bearing preload are rechecked periodically. These items degrade slowly but with clear consequences - waiting until they fail usually means paying for an overhaul.
5
Data review and interval correction: test records and trend data are kept monthly and reviewed quarterly: which machines are stable enough for longer intervals, which are degrading fast and need tighter ones, and which failure modes were not previously considered. Intervals change from 'copied' to 'calculated', and the plan evolves with the equipment condition.

MODULE FAQ

Common questions about preventive maintenance

How much money can preventive maintenance actually save?

The arithmetic is straightforward: multiply your unplanned stoppages over the past year by their duration and your loss per unit of time, then compare that with a year's preventive maintenance spend. Normally a single unplanned stoppage costs more than the whole year of preventive maintenance. We make no vague promises - we do this calculation with your own downtime records.

How long until results show?

The first month is mostly baseline and scheduling, and failures do not necessarily drop at once; after three months the trend data starts to speak, showing clearly which machines are improving and which are still degrading; plants that keep it up beyond three months generally see unplanned downtime fall by half or more. That is not a guarantee - it is the actual result of most of the projects we have run.

What exactly does an annual maintenance contract include?

Normally it includes: periodic patrols and condition testing (vibration, temperature, current, insulation), execution of periodic maintenance (lubrication, tightening, cleaning, replacement), accuracy calibration, emergency response to sudden faults, monthly test records with a trend report, and spare parts planning advice. The exact items and frequencies are tailored to your equipment list and duty, and written into the contract.

We have our own fitters - do we still need outsourcing?

In most cases it is a division of labour, not a replacement. Daily inspection, simple maintenance and minor handling are done by your team, with the standards and methods taught properly by us; periodic maintenance, accuracy calibration, difficult faults and condition monitoring are taken by us. Your people are freed from firefighting, and their professional capability rises through the coaching.

Do you specify lubricant brands? Will you push expensive ones?

We give the grade and performance class required by the duty - either a named brand or a range of equivalents - and you decide through your own purchasing channels. The criteria are temperature range, load character, dust and moisture levels, and the machine manufacturer's requirements, not price. The cost of a wrong lubricant selection is far higher than the price difference between lubricants.

Preventive plan development and implementation → Special-duty lubrication and lubricant selection → Case report: ring die bearing life from 40 days to 9 months → Case report: blower maintenance in corrosive duty at a wastewater plant → Equipment maintenance knowledge · eight categories →

Module 02 · Maintenance plans and preventive care