5 ways to optimize your Preventative Maintenance operations overnight

By Business Solutions Lead | October 30, 2018

Better scheduling. Better data. Better insights.

Preventive Maintenance programs strive to enhance the OEE and performance of machines. But what do you use to enhance the performance of your PM program? Here are some tips for you to consider that may help you increase the efficiency and productivity of your team.

1. Create an accountable inspections schedule

If you don't schedule it and make staff accountable, it is not going to happen. It is a reality of our industry that only the things that need to happen will happen on the shop floor. Everything else is pushed off until another time.

Creating a schedule of machine inspections is the first and most important step in any preventive maintenance process because if you do not have machine inspection data you do not have a PM program.

Our customers use tablets on each line (or work area) that staff use to understand the inspections that are due today, this week and so forth. The schedule is visible to all, so if they don't happen everyone knows who is lagging behind.

2. Guide the inspections process to ensure is it completed correctly

Many maintenance managers are challenged with finding a way to ensure inspections are not "pencil whipped" by operators. If inspections are not completed correctly, the data is tainted and its hard to trust the process.

Use a form builder to add photos and even videos of the correct process so that staff can follow along. Ask them to input information as they go so that you have a better sense that the data is real and not added quickly at the end of a form.

3. Make the information gathering experience easier and more intuitive

Using a complex ERP is another way of losing the interest and engagement of your staff. Enterprise software can be great for certain operations, like crunching big data sets, but they generally are found less user friendly.

There can also be issues with providing access and on-boarding. Some of our customers use our software as an intermediary between staff and their ERP.

Our software is far easier to use and it is personalized for each user. As a result, staff jobs done quicker and complain less about the user experience.

4. Provide information to technicians to save time

Like all processes in manufacturing, little improvements to your PM operational performance can have a huge impact. An example of this is the time saved with better job routing, especially in a large facility.

By alerting maintenance teams with comprehensive information about an inspection failure or breakdown, maintenance teams can collect the parts and tools they need before running to the machine.

By understanding the status of assemblies and parts, maintenance teams can better schedule their routes around the facility. Saving 10 minutes a day can mean additional days of maintenance time per year.

5. Continuously improve through real-time insights

Managing PM operations by "gut" and "instinct" is great and comes with experience, however, it is easier to "manage up" and access resources if you have concrete evidence and insights gathered from real inspections data.

Weever provides you with Form Reports that shows insights at-a-glance, so you can stay on top of your PM program and one step ahead of the Factory Director.

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Posted in Best Practices, Change Management, Digitization Mavericks, Employee Engagement, Operational Excellence