What Are the Various Plant Maintenance Types & Objectives?

Every organization is equipped with lots of assets, and all organizations rely on some type of maintenance. Organizations that are into production and manufacturing, such as oil & gas, electronics, and pharma, heavily rely on maintenance. A manufacturing unit utilizes plant maintenance! Don’t know what exactly plant maintenance is? In this blog, we will learn about plant maintenance types and their objectives. So, let's begin with basic definitions first.

What Is Plant Maintenance?  

Plant maintenance is an execution process of repairing or servicing the asset to avoid breakdown, as it can be a big problem. As we know, assets in the plant are huge and work continuously; as a result, performance can decrease, and breakdowns can occur.  

If a sudden equipment failure occurs, the whole production work can be halted, or the speed of production can be decreased. When production work is delayed, delivery will be delayed, and it can lead to customer disappointment. That is why wear and tear parts and rusty parts of assets are addressed to avoid equipment failure.

Plant maintenance can be scheduled and unscheduled. It depends on the importance & priority of the asset. When the priority is high, then asset maintenance is done proactively. However, there are several factors included in proactive maintenance such as asset utilization, performance, and how old assets are, and so on.

Plant maintenance can lead to increased downtime as asset maintenance is a long process and they are not in working condition. That is why maintenance must be planned in a way so that machine downtime can be minimized. For example, maintenance can be performed on holidays and on the night shift.

What Are the Objectives of Plant Maintenance?

1. To minimize equipment maintenance & decrease downtime.

2. Ensure asset breakdown does not occur.

3. Utilize assets to their fullest potential & capacity.

4. To keep assets well maintained and optimize asset performance.

5. Minimize the total maintenance cost including using spare inventory.

6. Optimize asset life by providing maintenance.

These are the objectives of plant maintenance.

What Are the Various Types of Plant Maintenance?

Below we have discussed various types of plant maintenance:

1. Preventive Maintenance  

Preventive maintenance is one of the most important proactive & plant maintenance types. Preventive maintenance can be applied in two ways: first is usage-based and the second is calendar-based preventive maintenance.

In this strategy, when an asset covers a particular distance, the maintenance is scheduled, for example, if the vehicle has covered 1000 (This distance is also set as per requirement) kilometers, the organization will provide maintenance to that asset.

On the other hand, in time-based preventive maintenance, whether the asset works or not, it will be given maintenance after a particular time of 15 days, 30 days, 3 months, as per the organization's requirements.

2. Predictive Maintenance  

Predictive maintenance also enables organizations to schedule maintenance in advance. In a predictive maintenance strategy, the organization predicts when asset failure can occur, and right before it can occur, maintenance is provided to that asset.

For this purpose, asset monitoring, asset analytics & performance are analyzed regularly so that anticipation can be made. This is one of the most used plant maintenance types as no plant manager wants unexpected asset failure.

According to Allied Market Research, “The global predictive maintenance market size was valued at $4,331.56 million in 2019, and is projected to reach $31,965.49 million by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 28.8% from 2020 to 2027.”

3. Condition Monitoring Maintenance  

Condition monitoring maintenance can be a very effective maintenance strategy. However, it is expensive, and a skilled maintenance team is required. Why? Because it is proactive, and the asset is utilized to its full capacity and potential right before asset failure, maintenance is performed.

In this way, asset uptime increases and downtime decreases. For this purpose, sensors and artificial intelligence are used so that predictions can be made without compromising accuracy.

4. Corrective Maintenance  

Some people also refer to it as breakdown maintenance. Corrective maintenance is mostly reactive, but it can be proactive as well. When a high-priority asset suddenly stops working, then corrective maintenance is used.

In this technique, the machine is brought back into running condition, but the root cause is not identified. Mostly corrective maintenance is used on those assets which are run to failure.

In corrective maintenance, no planning is required, but when a failure occurs, the maintenance team is under a lot of pressure as they must fix an issue as quickly as possible. There are several organizations that use this plant maintenance type.

5. Emergency Maintenance  

Emergency maintenance is maintenance in which asset failure has occurred, and it needs to be brought back into running condition as soon as possible. Emergency maintenance is utilized on those assets which are highly reliable but are not working.

This maintenance is reactive in nature as asset failure has occurred. Emergency maintenance is very costly.

Conclusion  

So, these were the various plant maintenance types. If you are thinking about which plant maintenance type will be suitable for your business, then this software is essential.

Why? Because lots of organizations still use manual methods, as a result, frequent asset failure occurs. For them, the option is to utilize Helpdesk and Ticketing software that will automate the maintenance process and several other benefits will be achieved as well.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)  

What Are the Advantages of Using Helpdesk and Ticketing software?

1. Avoiding sudden equipment failure.

2. Minimizing maintenance expenses.

3. Optimizing asset performance.

4. Eliminating ghost assets.

5. Asset & inventory tracking.

6. Fast & effective audit.

7. Ensure compliance.

What Is a Plant?

A plant is a manufacturing unit where raw material (inventory) is brought and a wide range of complex machinery (assets) is used in order to create a final product. These machines are operated by workers who process them.

Which Industry Is Equipped with Plants?

1. Mining Oil & Gas.

2. Petrol refining.

3. Food process.

4. Electronic.

5. Automobiles.

6. Pharmaceutical.

7. Apparel.

These are a few of the industries equipped with plants.