Although manufacturing accounts for a large proportion of the UK’s average export earnings, it still suffers from under investment in the area of proactive, predictive maintenance. Without a doubt, many organisations do have excellent maintenance polices and procedures in place, however, there are also a large number that, unfortunately, still subscribe to the ‘run until failure’ philosophy. In the long run, this clearly is not good for the manufacturing industry and the wider economy. However, more importantly, when things go wrong, this lack of forethought means the company concerned can be the first to pay the price in lost production and revenue – all of which could easily be avoided with a little forward thinking.
The technology to assess and monitor factory-floor hardware, in particular rotating machinery, has been around for years. However, during the past five years, the condition monitoring industry has undergone massive changes that have resulted in huge leaps forward in instrument design and specification. Yet, some companies are still willing to risk huge financial penalties, extended periods of downtime and even health & safety violations by failing to adopt a proactive mentality towards condition monitoring.
It is frustrating to receive phone calls from companies that are only now looking at a condition monitoring solution, be it vibration measurement or another technique, because their machinery has actually failed. To use a popular analogy, it is somewhat like ‘shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted’. Often these companies claim to realise the benefits of condition monitoring for predictive/preventative maintenance, but still fail to install such systems on the basis of cost. Yet when their systems fail, they are the first to be on the phone demanding an immediate solution to prevent any future reoccurrence.
Effective condition monitoring, using techniques such as vibration measurement, can be achieved at a relatively low cost, when compared to lost production and repair of failed systems. Planning ahead, with an effective predictive maintenance routine goes a long way to ensuring that production is kept constant and a steady revenue stream is safeguarded. Without such a system in place production is disrupted, budgets are blown and jobs are put on the line. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but foresight is better.
The initial investment involved in installing a vibration sensor, for example, is so minute in comparison to the potential losses accrued through unplanned or unexpected machine downtime that it seems ludicrous that any modern manufacturing facility would entertain the notion of not having such a system installed. Yet some do.
Moreover, some companies cling to traditional methods of maintenance by demanding the services of maintenance teams 24 hours a day. Capital consequently becomes tied up in spare parts and the inevitable, but highly-unpredictable lapses in production result in missed delivery deadlines and customer dissatisfaction.
Once again, there is a clear comparison between the initial minimal outlay of monitoring equipment and the potential long-term damage of unfulfilled orders and a tainted reputation. It could be suggested that those firms willing to gamble by not installing monitoring equipment are playing a very dangerous game of Russian roulette.
With ever-tightening margins, many manufacturing firms are increasingly pushing their machinery until it is too late. Then, suddenly, as if out of the blue, production halts and there’s nothing that can be done, except sit back and wait for the service engineer. When this happens, it doesn’t matter if you’re an SME or a large-scale producer, the only certainty is that production will be affected and additional investment will be needed.
The time to act is now before the problems have set in. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, if you can afford it.
