Industrial maintenance comes in several levels, each offering its unique benefits. The five types of industrial maintenance are: curative maintenance, palliative maintenance, systematic preventive maintenance, conditional preventive maintenance and predictive maintenance. These types revolve around two main families: corrective maintenance and preventive maintenance.
Introduction to Industrial Maintenance
Industrial maintenance plays a key role in the efficient operation of any manufacturing establishment. It is defined in 2001 by the AFNOR standard (French Standardization Association) NF-X 60 000, is “the set of all technical, administrative and management actions during the life cycle of an asset, intended to maintain it or to restore it to a state in which it can perform the required function. ". It therefore encompasses a range of services, including the repair, installation, adjustment and overhaul of hardware devices, while aspiring to the improvement of industrial mechanisms.
This approach is part of a voluntary process of cost control; a well-maintained machine consumes less energy, reduces production time and minimizes waste. For example, in 2021 large factories were still losing an average of 25 hours per month due to unplanned downtime. This can cost up to $2 million in losses per hour of unplanned downtime in the automotive sector.
It is therefore essential for factories to implement an effective maintenance strategy that meets the needs of their business.
What are the two aspects of corrective maintenance?
Palliative maintenance
Palliative maintenance operations (MPa) take place once the breakdown has been identified. It is essentially troubleshooting because MPa is performed after a fault is detected and intended to return an item to a state in which it can perform a required function.
MPa, often considered a temporary solution, is like a bandage applied to an injury to prevent immediate worsening. It is not intended to resolve the root cause of the problem, but rather to ensure the continued operation of the equipment or system until a more lasting solution can be implemented. This approach is particularly useful in situations where immediate shutdown of the machine or equipment would have major economic or operational consequences.
However, it is essential to understand that Mpa is not a long-term solution. It is often used as an emergency measure, allowing maintenance teams to buy time to plan and execute more extensive repairs or to order replacement parts. By relying too much on this form of maintenance, an organization risks experiencing repeated failures, thereby increasing operational costs and reducing the overall life of the equipment.
Curative maintenance
Curative maintenance occurs after the detection of a breakdown or malfunction on equipment or a system. Its main objective is to restore the proper functioning of the equipment as quickly as possible. In many industrial sectors, an unresolved outage can lead to costly production downtime, financial losses, and even safety risks. Thus, curative maintenance is essential to guarantee the continuity of operations and the safety of users.
Curative maintenance can be either immediate, where the equipment is repaired on the spot without in-depth analysis of the underlying cause, or deferred, where the repair is scheduled for a later date after a detailed assessment. The latter approach is often adopted when the failure does not result in an immediate shutdown of production or when specific spare parts are required. It is crucial for maintenance teams to have a good knowledge of the systems they manage, as well as the appropriate tools and spare parts, to carry out efficient and lasting repairs.
Although curative maintenance is essential, it presents certain challenges. First, it is often more expensive than preventive maintenance because it can result in unplanned production downtime and costs associated with emergency repairs. Additionally, repairing equipment without identifying and correcting the root cause can lead to recurring failures. This is why many companies are investing in predictive and preventative maintenance strategies, which aim to anticipate and prevent breakdowns before they occur.
What are the two types of preventive maintenance?
Preventive maintenance is a proactive approach to preserving and restoring the reliability of equipment or a system before failures occur. This approach aims not only to avoid unexpected breakdowns, but also to maximize the lifespan of equipment, thus ensuring better availability, increased efficiency and cost optimization.
Systematic preventive maintenance
Systematic preventive maintenance is based on interventions orchestrated according to a schedule established at fixed periods, without taking into account the apparent condition of the equipment. Its primary purpose is twofold: to minimize the probability of failure and to guarantee constant performance of machines and systems. By relying on well-defined inspection, control and component replacement cycles, this strategy offers companies the opportunity to prevent anomalies before they occur and thus extend the longevity of their installations.
However, one of its main criticisms involves replacing or maintaining parts that may still function properly for an extended period of time. Which can lead to unnecessary additional costs and increased resource consumption. Furthermore, by relying solely on a fixed schedule without taking into account the actual conditions of use of the equipment, certain unforeseen failures may occur between two scheduled interventions. It is therefore essential to combine this systematic maintenance with other maintenance methods, such as condition-based maintenance.
Conditional preventive maintenance
Conditional maintenance is characterized by its reactivity to the degradation of equipment or a service. Rather than acting according to a pre-established schedule, it focuses on specific, pre-defined criteria that reflect the current state of the system. This method relies on careful monitoring of relevant indicators; when these cross a certain threshold, this signals an imminent risk and justifies intervention.
The major distinction of this approach lies in the timing of the decision. Instead of relying on probabilities or expected deadlines, as is the case with systematic preventive maintenance, condition-based maintenance emphasizes discerning the critical threshold and making appropriate decisions. This offers the major advantage of identifying anomalies as soon as they arise, well before they result in obvious dysfunctions. Thus, interventions are finely adjusted to current needs, guaranteeing optimization of resources and better conservation of equipment.
What is predictive maintenance?
Predictive maintenance represents a significant advance compared to traditional maintenance methods. It goes beyond simple mechanical monitoring or machine vibration analysis to anticipate problems. Instead of relying solely on the average lifespan of industrial equipment to plan interventions, this form of maintenance relies on real-time monitoring of mechanical condition, system efficiency and other indicators. to determine the true moment when intervention is necessary.
Unlike condition-based maintenance which is based on indicators to trigger interventions after crossing a threshold, predictive maintenance aims to be anticipatory. It draws on a multitude of data collected continuously to predict potential failures well before they manifest themselves.
Predictive maintenance is not a simple compilation of tools or techniques like thermography, lubricant analysis or vibration. It embodies a philosophy that focuses on using the actual operational status of equipment and systems to optimize a plant's overall operations. This approach goes well beyond simply reacting to failures; it anticipates and minimizes costs and unplanned downtime by providing factual data on the actual mechanical condition of equipment.
Five non-destructive techniques generally dominate predictive maintenance:
- vibration monitoring
- monitoring process parameters
- thermography
- tribology
- visual inspection.
Each technique provides a unique data set that helps maintenance managers determine the true need for intervention. For example, although vibration monitoring is often the primary tool, it does not provide information about electrical equipment, areas of heat loss, or lubricating oil condition, which are also crucial .
The real added value of predictive maintenance therefore lies in its ability to provide the maintenance manager with concrete data to plan activities. This data can minimize unplanned breakdowns and ensure that repaired equipment is in good mechanical condition. Additionally, by detecting problems early, major repairs can often be avoided.
This maintenance revolution lies in its extensive integration with artificial intelligence (AI). While we've explored the basics and benefits of predictive maintenance, it's essential to look to AI to understand how these predictions are made possible.
Industrial maintenance plays a key role in the efficient operation of any manufacturing establishment. It is defined in 2001 by the AFNOR standard (French Standardization Association) NF-X 60 000, is “the set of all technical, administrative and management actions during the life cycle of an asset, intended to maintain it or to restore it to a state in which it can perform the required function. ". It therefore encompasses a range of services, including the repair, installation, adjustment and overhaul of hardware devices, while aspiring to the improvement of industrial mechanisms.
This approach is part of a voluntary process of cost control; a well-maintained machine consumes less energy, reduces production time and minimizes waste. For example, in 2021 large factories were still losing an average of 25 hours per month due to unplanned downtime. This can cost up to $2 million in losses per hour of unplanned downtime in the automotive sector.
It is therefore essential for factories to implement an effective maintenance strategy that meets the needs of their business.
