An audit was conducted on a large food processing plant and it revealed poor maintenance practices...

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Mechanical Engineering

An audit was conducted on a large food processing plant and itrevealed poor maintenance practices resulting in numerous andrepeated equipment failures, low reliability and availability. Youare required to recommend the key elements of an effective, optimaland proactive maintenance programme that will ensure sustained andcontinuous improvement which will result in world class standardsof reliability and availability.

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One route for managing these challenges is a proactive and wellimplemented preventive maintenance strategy supported by a computerized maintenance management system CMMS and properly trained staff CMMS is designed to help you schedule monitor and automate your proactive maintenance work which enables you to stay in complete control of your maintenance operations at all times Three of the most common maintenance challenges being experienced in the food industry and some recommendations on how to deal with them 1 Maintaining Complex Equipment A typical food plant today would be fitted with an array of complicated and highly sensitive equipment From peeling machines to refrigeration plants and very complex packing machinery every component demands constant attention Each one of these assets is part of a fastmoving production line that require specialized skills to monitor and keep in peak operating condition In addition this industry is under constant pressure to both improve and modify existing machinery while also adopting new technology especially automation Many food processors need to run their production 247 to stay competitive It is apparent that the maintenance team has a lot to handle under such conditions To maintain the highly automated systems and keep equipment running optimally food production and maintenance managers must stay on top of new techniques They need to research provide ideas and adopt newer and better maintenance strategies Although its expected that there would already be some maintenance schedule in place just any old routine will not work To run such a sensitive system on reactive maintenance alone where components are left to fail before repairs are carried out Downtime would be disproportionately high and the enterprise runs the risk of shortening the lifespan of their assets Instead it is advisable to switch from reactive to preventive maintenance or look to implement any of the other proactive maintenance strategies like predictive maintenance or reliabilitycentered maintenance RCM is a structured process that identifies problems which when solved increases the productivity of your equipment and assets while reducing maintenance costs Reliability centered maintenance isnt necessarily a maintenance method its more of a method of analyzing breakdowns to identify which maintenance methods will work best for each piece of machinery The primary RCM principles are 1 RCM is Function Oriented It seeks to preserve system or equipment function not just operability for operabilitys sake Redundancy of function through multiple equipment improves functional reliability but increases life cycle cost in terms of procurement and operating costs 2 RCM is System Focused It is more concerned with maintaining system function than individual component function 3 RCM is Reliability Centered It treats failure statistics in an actuarial manner See Answer

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