Digital maintenance plan: Planning makes perfect

According to the DIN 31051 standard, maintenance of machines and other equipment is a basic maintenance measure. The primary goal is to ensure the target condition and functional reliability of technical work equipment, systems or buildings and to maintain them for as long as possible. In order to achieve this systematically and during ongoing operation, it is advisable to use a maintenance plan. This contains, among other things, the tasks to be performed and, in addition to the classic documentation, instructions for cleaning, replacement or lubrication of certain spare parts. It thus provides plant and building technicians with a good overview in their daily work. Since every machine, every conveyor belt and every control box has different requirements, all of them naturally need their own plan with individual tasks and inspection specifications. Although many companies are talking about Industry 4.0 and more digitization, most of those responsible still note down maintenance logs in the classic way with pen and paper. In order to take the step into the modern age, it is worthwhile to rely on a software solution and implement it in everyday operations.

Maintenance against risks and side effects

In the best case, regular maintenance checks avoid high follow-up costs in the event of a sudden malfunction or failure. In addition, however, they also offer other advantages that prove to be a great benefit during ongoing operation and always justify the effort that regular checks entail. With periodic maintenance, companies ensure that their in-house equipment and machinery will last as long as possible. This allows production to continue sustainably without any stumbling blocks, while at the same time enabling those responsible to reduce the costs that would otherwise be incurred. In addition to streamlining operations, this approach often mitigates the risk of employee injury. This extra safety and effectiveness results in fewer problems, bottlenecks or errors in the daily work process.

Maintenance Plan: Once with everything and to go, please

Maintenance plans enable efficient organization and provide production security for many companies. In this context, however, the question arises as to what information an effective maintenance plan actually needs to contain. First and foremost, it is important to provide general information, including key data on the machine or equipment in question - for example, the system designation, type, location, type of use or acquisition period. Only on the basis of this data can those responsible carry out a proper inspection. In addition, there are, of course, requirements for documenting the maintenance. There is also a place for special tasks that are to be performed during this process. A digitally stored schedule including specified intervals or priorities as well as the corresponding responsible persons naturally facilitates the work, but must always correspond to the current status in order to provide real assistance.

Digital symphony or just music of the future?

To bring operations into the 21st century in terms of maintenance as well, it is advisable to use digital support for this documentation. This allows appointments to be made or managed directly online, and those responsible can be automatically reminded by e-mail of maintenance work that is due. In addition, this type of software enables the inspections themselves to be carried out digitally and all the important fields, including the required photos, to be filled in. In this way, those responsible save themselves a lot of paperwork or confusing documents and can easily keep track of all equipment, from fire extinguishers to production equipment, at a glance. In addition, stored operating instructions allow external employees to quickly and easily solve any problems that may arise during the inspection. In the event of an emergency, such software also allows the creation of a task with priority levels so that managers can quickly rectify an impending emergency. With digital maintenance support, failures and malfunctions can thus be quickly remedied or even completely avoided.

Author:
Carsten Müller is Managing Director of Echt! Smart Work GmbH and an expert in intelligent testing and maintenance processes. You can find more information at www.echt-smartwork.de.