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Acknowledgement
I also acknowledge with thanks Dr. Ken Robson for his invaluable advice, guide, patience, and
constructive criticism. His continuous guidance has contributed immensely to the evolution of
my ideas on the project.
I would also like to thank Dr. David Baglee, the management representative at AMAP who
provided necessary direction and information for the project.
Ultimately, I would like to thank all the staff of the University of Sunderland who contributed
both directly and indirectly to the successful completion of this project.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate current thinking on maintenance;
to investigate the various existing maintenance strategies and to critically evaluate their
respective strengths and weaknesses; to identify the main reasons why the existing maintenance
strategies are difficult to implement by some organisations and to propose a hybrid
maintenance model based on the good practices of existing maintenance strategies for a
machine shop at AMAP. Specifically, the proposed hybrid maintenance model aims at
facilitating the development of a maintenance strategy that best fits the needs and limitations
of the organisation whilst focussing on reducing complexity as well as implementation costs
and time of the strategy.
Findings The research on the state of the art in terms of maintenance led to exploration of
maintenance strategies such as corrective maintenance, preventive maintenance, Total
Productive Maintenance (TPM), Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) and Condition Based
Maintenance (CBM). The study determined that although the success of these maintenance
strategies are well documented, organisations still struggle to adopt and adapt them to their
contexts. Some reasons that account for the failure to implement these strategies are inherent
to the strategies themselves whilst other reasons are the result of the restrictions and limitations
of the organisation that want to adopt those strategies. For instance, it was found that these
strategies are complex and therefore require expert knowledge. Moreover, some companies
struggle to implement these strategies because of a lack of time, finance, management support
and misalignment of the maintenance strategy and business objectives. The interview
conducted with the representative at AMAP only confirmed these difficulties. Based on these
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
findings, a hybrid maintenance model was developed and applied to the context of the machine
shop at AMAP. The model incorporated known and proven tools from existing maintenance
strategies such as Failure, Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) from RCM,
condition monitoring and a number of pillars from Total Productive Maintenance. The idea
behind the model was to simplify these tools to reduce their complexity. The model was then
applied to the machine shop at AMAP. The model allowed for the maximisation of existing
resources of the workshop and contributed to define clearly the maintenance strategy
objectives. The model resulted in a maintenance strategy incorporating simple yet effective
tasks set out at appropriate intervals. Ultimately, recommendations concerning the
implementation the strategy are presented.
Research Limitations The scope of this study is to develop a maintenance strategy for the
machine shop at AMAP based on existing proven maintenance concepts. Further research
should involve a cost analysis and benchmarking of the maintenance strategy. Moreover, use
of CMMS could have been made.
Practical Implications The discussion from this study identified interesting maintenance
concepts that the machine shop has not implemented before such as condition monitoring and
the TPM philosophy. Such concepts can give direction to the management of the machine shop
at AMAP in terms of the various strategies that they can experiment with and eventually adopt.
Moreover, the study shed light on the strategic role of maintenance as a profit contributor. This
can help the management change their perspective of maintenance and the way they approach
it in the future.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
Table of Contents
Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 6
1.1. Overview of AMAP ........................................................................................................................... 7
1.2 The Objectives of the dissertation .................................................................................................... 8
1.3 The structure of the dissertation ...................................................................................................... 8
2.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 9
2.2. Maintenance an overview............................................................................................................. 9
2.3 Maintenance strategy ..................................................................................................................... 11
2.4 Evolution of maintenance ............................................................................................................... 12
2.5 Existing maintenance methodologies the state of the art......................................................... 15
2.5.1 Maintenance actions................................................................................................................ 16
2.5.1.1 Corrective maintenance .................................................................................................... 16
2.5.1.2 Preventive maintenance ................................................................................................... 17
2.5.2 Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) ...................................................................................... 19
2.5.3 Total productive maintenance (TPM) ...................................................................................... 21
2.5.3 Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) .................................................................................. 24
2.6 Need for a tailor-made maintenance strategy and its development ............................................. 26
3.1 The problem .................................................................................................................................... 29
3.2 The aim............................................................................................................................................ 30
3.3 Data collection ................................................................................................................................ 30
3.4 Design of the hybrid maintenance model....................................................................................... 30
3.4.1 Step 1 - Analysis of the current maintenance strategy and business context ......................... 31
3.4.2 Step 2 - Definition of objectives of the maintenance strategy ................................................ 32
3.4.3 Step 3 - Audit of existing resources ......................................................................................... 32
3.4.4. Integration of RCM elements.................................................................................................. 33
3.4.5. Step 4 - Determination of the most important system components ..................................... 33
3.4.7 Step 6 - Determination of maintenance actions ...................................................................... 36
3.4.8. Integration of TPM elements .................................................................................................. 37
3.4.9 Step 7 - Continuous improvement ........................................................................................... 38
3.4.10 Step 8 - Implementation ........................................................................................................ 38
4.3. Applying the hybrid model to the workshop at AMAP .................................................................. 39
4.3.1 Step 1 Analysis of the current maintenance strategy ........................................................... 39
4.3.2. Identification of objectives of the maintenance strategy....................................................... 41
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
Introduction
With the cutthroat competition that reigns on the global market, many companies nowadays
are facing immense pressure to achieve world-class performance in order to remain
competitive. According to Phusavat and Kanchana (2008) competiveness relies heavily on
quality, costs, delivery, flexibility, customer focus and know-how. Indeed, manufacturing
organisations are feeling tremendous pressure to ensure timely deliveries of higher quality
products at lower costs (Kumar et al., 2014 and Chand and Shirvani, 2000). Consequently,
many managers across the world have invested in innovative techniques such as Total Quality
Management (TQM) and Just-in-Time (JIT) which promise increased productivity and
competitiveness if properly implemented. However, as argued by McKone et al. (1999), the
benefits expected out of these programmes have been in many cases compromised because of
unreliable equipment. One element key to ensure equipment reliability is maintenance.
Over the years, companies and experts worldwide have realised the importance of maintenance
as a means to improve productivity and consequently the competitiveness of businesses. In
order to respond to the ever-evolving business environment, maintenance and its management
have to become more efficient and innovative. Maintenance contributes to the attainment of
business objectives. Indeed, there is the realisation that proper maintenance helps to reduce life
cycle costs of assets and it plays a vital role in the overall performance of an organisation
(Waeyenbergh and Pintelon, 2002). However, if incorrectly planned and carried out,
maintenance can contribute massively to the total expenditure of an organisation. This
highlights the need for a well thought out maintenance strategy.
Over the years, a number of innovative maintenance strategies and concepts has emerged from
various industries from different parts of the world. Nowadays, many organisations across the
world have recourse to such strategies in order to improve reliability of their equipment, which
in turn is synonymous with an increase in productivity and improved performance. However,
adopting a maintenance strategy does not result in overnight success. Whilst many companies
have acknowledged the importance of maintenance as a strategic function, they however still
struggle with the implementation of maintenance strategies.
As argued by Swanson (2001), these newer maintenance strategies require greater management
commitments in terms of training and resources, which are often costly. Consequently,
although many organisations want to implement these strategies, there are barriers and
limitations that greatly hamper the proper implementation of these maintenance concepts
within their organisations and ultimately leading to failure of their initiatives.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
Many studies in existing literature have explored the state of the art maintenance strategies
for quite some years. However, the number of companies that actually implement or succeed
to implement these strategies are relatively low. As a result, many companies are seeking to
implement their own tailor-made maintenance strategy (Waeyenbergh and Pintelon, 2002). The
existing maintenance strategy however provides very interesting and useful concepts and tools
that can help in devising a maintenance strategy that best fits an organisations requirements.
Few studies have explored the idea of integrating different concepts from existing maitnenacne
strategies. Therefore, there is the need to further explore this possibility of combining concepts
from existing maintenance strategies in order better respond to a companys needs in terms of
maintenance. This study seeks to achieve this by developing and applying a maintenance
hybrid model for a machine shop in an organisation called the Automotive & Advanced
Manufacturing Practice (AMAP) of the University of Sunderland in the United Kingdom.
The AMAP facility situated at the Industrial Centre in Sunderland has a Computer Aided
Engineering (CAE), a Visualisation suite as well as Factory facilities such as Rapid
Prototyping, 3D Scanning, inspection, reverse engineering and CNC Manufacturing processes.
The research will be conducted in the CAE centre. This is a machine shop consisting of a
number of CNC machines. The machines available are used for training, problem-solving
consultancy and for manufacture of specialised item in small batches for industries.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
2.1. Introduction
With the cutthroat competition that reigns on the global market, many companies nowadays
are facing immense pressure to achieve world-class performance in order to remain
competitive. According to Phusavat and Kanchana (2008) competiveness relies heavily on
quality, costs, delivery, flexibility, customer focus and know-how. Indeed, manufacturing
organisations are feeling tremendous pressure to ensure timely deliveries of higher quality
products at lower costs (Kumar et al., 2014 and Chand and Shirvani, 2000). Consequently,
many managers across the world have invested in innovative techniques such as Total Quality
Management (TQM) and Just-in-Time (JIT) which promise increased productivity and
competitiveness if properly implemented. However, as argued by McKone et al. (1999), the
benefits expected out of these programmes have been in many cases compromised because of
unreliable equipment. One element key to ensure equipment reliability is maintenance.
The combination of all technical and administrative actions, including supervision actions,
intended to retain an item in, or restore it to, a state in which it can perform a required
function.
The above two definitions highlight the disparity on the perception of maintenance in different
contexts. Nevertheless, maintenance is an issue of growing concern nowadays and its
objectives are numerous. As argued by Velmurugan and Dhingra (2015), the key objective of
maintenance is to preserve system function and system safety whilst maintaining energy
consumption at a minimum. However, in todays context, the objective of maintenance is not
limited to solely preserving system function. Maintenance today has costs and long-term
strategic implications and as a result, the role of maintenance has grown in importance.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
Previously regarded as a necessary evil, the maintenance function nowadays has become a
boardroom issue (Spires, 1996). Over recent years, the importance of maintenance and its
management has increased. Various authors have attributed a plethora of different reasons to
explain the rise in prominence of maintenance in the manufacturing sector. For instance,
Manufacturing industries nowadays acknowledge the fundamental role of their physical assets
in maintaining high levels of productivity and generating profits. Murthy et al. (2002) discussed
the adverse impact on profits when manufacturing equipment experience downtimes.
Deshpande and Modak (2002) on the other hand put forward that maintenance nowadays is a
strategic function in businesses. The operations and maintenance of equipment is nowadays
regarded a profit contributor (Deshpande and Modak, 2002 and Garg and Deshmukh, 2006).
According to Mobley (1990), 15-40% of the total production costs is a consequence of
maintenance costs. Moreover, these costs are expected to increase even further as technological
advancements and improvements in automation as well as robotics are expected to contribute
to the complexity of manufacturing equipment (Chan et al., 2005). Therefore, managing the
maintenance function has become imperative to give manufacturing companies a competitive
edge. With the increase in complexity of equipment, it is also becoming increasingly difficult
and time consuming to diagnose and isolate faults leading to large downtimes and expenditures
associated with corrective maintenance (Sharma et al., 2006). Ultimately, as argued by ,
manufacturing equipment are becoming increasingly expensive and hence manufacturers have
recognised maintenance as a crucial element in prolonging the life of their equipment in order
to postpone as far as possible expensive investments in newer technologies. Moreover,
maintenance is central to the successful implementation of many innovative manufacturing
policies such as TPM, lean manufacturing, asset management etc...
In the light of the above discussion, the importance of maintenance in manufacturing industries
is apparent. Previously considered merely as an inevitable part of production, maintenance
today not only acts as a profit contributor but it is also crucial in reducing life cycle costs,
ensuring smooth operations and is an important consideration in devising business strategies
(Pintelon and Parodi-Herz, 2008). Over the years, with the rise in importance of maintenance,
manufacturing industries and research bodies have explored and invested in various
maintenance strategies to better integrate maintenance within businesses. The next section
gives an insight into the need for a maintenance strategy and the evolution of maintenance
methods.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
There is still some ambiguity when it comes to the definition of the term maintenance strategy
in the existing literature. There appears to be quite some confusion concerning terminologies
such as maintenance strategies, maintenance policies, maintenance approaches, and
maintenance concepts. Different authors have used these terminologies interchangeably and
the following discussion gives an insight into the definition of maintenance strategy/concept
and its roles from the perspectives of various authors.
On the other hand, Shafiee (2015) highlighted the role of a maintenance strategy in lowering
maintenance costs and improving product quality and productivity. He argued that an
appropriate maintenance strategy should not only seek to minimise the probability of failure of
equipment but should also improve the operating conditions of equipment. Shafiee (2015) also
believes that maintenance strategy selection (MSS) is a complex multiple criteria decision-
making problem. He points out that MSS depends on the type of manufacturing system and
needs to be based on four criteria namely economic, social, technical, and environmental.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
Many authors have also viewed the maintenance strategy from a strategic level. They believe
that there is the need to align maintenance strategies with business or corporate objectives. For
instance, Waeyenbergh and Pintelon (2002) highlighted that the maintenance strategies should
aim at guiding an organisation in achieving its maintenance objectives of availability and
reliability in a structured manner. In his model of strategic approach to managing maintenance
performance, Tsang (1998) talks about the link between maintenance strategy and corporate
strategy. He points out that aligning the maintenance strategy with the corporate strategy is
way of integrating and supporting the corporate mission and core values of the organisation.
Other authors that uphold this view include Salonen and Bengtsson (2011), Pintelon et al.
(2006) and Alsyouf (2007).
A number of authors have also considered maintenance strategy from the perspective of type
of maintenance adopted. Swanson (2001) for instance classified maintenance strategies into
three categories namely reactive (fire-fighting approach), proactive (preventive and predictive
maintenance), and aggressive strategies (TPM). Gebauer et al. (2008) presented maintenance
strategy as a distinct subtopic in the field of operations management and grouped
maintenance strategies into four categories namely corrective, predictive, Total Productive, and
outsourcing of maintenance activities.
As highlighted by the above discussion, there is no clear definition for maintenance strategy.
Maintenance strategy has been considered from functional, operational, and strategic
perspectives. Whilst it is imperative that a maintenance strategy helps in preserving equipment
health, it is important that the maintenance strategy add value to the business in todays
competitive global business environment.
As previously discussed, the perception on maintenance has drastically changed over the last
few decades. Earlier perceived as an unavoidable by-product of production, maintenance has
since then gained in importance and many organisations nowadays view it as a strategic
business function. This change in paradigm can be associated with different scenarios or
circumstances that have emerged over the years.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
Pintelon and Parodi-Herz (2008) gave an insight into the evolution of maintenance methods,
policies, and concepts over time. Using the findings of Moubray (1997), Cooke (2003) on the
other hand, categorised the various maintenance philosophies developed over the past sixty
years into three generations. The findings from these two sources are summarised in Table 1
as shown below.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
Before the Second World War period, the manufacturing industry was highly labour intensive
and the equipment were simple and thus easy to repair (Sharma et al., 2006). During this period,
maintenance was considered merely as a downside of production and it did not receive much
attention. Maintenance was entirely reactive, with repairs and replacements done only when
the equipment encountered a breakdown. At this period, the competition on the market was
also more forgiving and downtimes in production machinery had lesser financial repercussions
than today. In addition, since the fire-fighting approach to maintenance was working
reasonably well at that period, the companies at that time did not consider any optimisation of
the maintenance activities (Pintelon and Parodi-Herz, 2008).
The 1960s witnessed large-scale industrialisation of Europe and America, and with it emerged
the concept of preventive maintenance. With the increase in complexity of equipment,
downtimes because of machine breakdowns became increasingly costly (Sharma et al., 2006).
Pintelon and Parodi-Herz (2008) also highlighted that businesses started to recognise
maintenance as a technical matter as technicians during that period realised that machine
failures are related to physical wear and ageing. Consequently, preventive maintenance became
the new trend as companies believed that they will save in terms of costs in the long run by
mitigating the failures due to wearing out of components.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, many companies found that the preventive maintenance
strategies were proving to be costly due to over-maintenance concerns. As a result, companies
turned their attention to predictive maintenance methods such as condition and/or inspection
based maintenance. Previously used only in high-risk applications such as the aircraft industry,
condition based maintenance slowly gained more ground in the manufacturing sector as the
technology became more affordable. The third generation also witnessed the adoption
manufacturing concepts such as JIT and TQM. These manufacturing concepts promote
maintenance as a vital component to their successful implementation. Moreover, companies
started to recognise the strategic role of maintenance in their businesses. Companies now view
maintenance as a profit-contributor. Consequently, many companies started to adopt
Businesses nowadays are talking about optimisation of the maintenance function and are
therefore seeking the development and implementation of new maintenance concepts and
strategies to achieve the latter. The development of a new maintenance strategy or concept
requires an in depth insight into the existing state of the art in terms of maintenance. As
argued by Pintelon et al. (2006), there is much confusion in the existing literature when it comes
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
to the definition of the term maintenance strategy. Pintelon et al. (2006) discussed that some
authors consider the definition of maintenance strategy from the perspective of maintenance
policies such as corrective maintenance and preventive maintenance. Other authors even
classify maintenance concepts such as TPM and RCM as maintenance strategies. In order to
avoid such confusion, Pintelon and Parodi Herz (2008) put forward the use of terms such as
maintenance actions, maintenance policies, and maintenance concepts. The following
discussion aims at looking into the various existing maintenance actions, policies, and concepts
in reasonable detail.
Since the corrective maintenance strategy does not involve any maintenance actions, it is a very
cheap option in the short-term. As highlighted by Swanson (2001), reactive maintenance allows
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
Although the general perception is that corrective maintenance strategy is expensive, adopting
such a strategy can still be cost-effective in some cases (Alsyouf, 2007). Sharma et al., 2005
put forward that corrective maintenance is a viable option in cases where customer demand is
greater than supply and where profit margins are large. Horner et al., 1997 on the other hand
recommended the use of corrective maintenance for less significant components that would not
require production to stop should they break down or malfunction. Bartz et al. (2014) advocate
the use of a corrective maintenance strategy where preventive and predictive strategies are too
costly.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
Bevilacqua and Braglia (2000) advocate the use of preventive maintenance for components
that are prone to wearing and degradation. Preventive maintenance usually consists of basic
maintenance activities such as lubrication, cleaning, adjustments, calibrations, and parts
replacements (Luxhj et al., 1997; Swanson, 2001 and Shafiee, 2015).
Many authors usually classify preventive maintenance into two categories namely time-based
preventive maintenance and condition-based preventive maintenance. Time-based
maintenance (TBM) is usually carried out at frequent scheduled fixed time intervals and is done
according to a pre-set plan (Hornet et al., 1997 and Eti et al., 2006). On the other hand,
condition based maintenance involves the carrying out of preventive maintenance tasks based
upon the condition or health of the equipment. As argued by Velmurugan and Dhingra (2015),
condition-based preventive maintenance allows better planning of preventive maintenance.
Section 2.5.1.3 covers condition-based maintenance and monitoring in detail.
Many authors advocate that preventive maintenance is a better strategy than corrective
maintenance. Swanson (2001) for instance argues that preventive maintenance has the merit of
reducing the risk of breakdown of equipment thereby extending equipments life. Moreover,
preventive maintenance leads to lower overall maintenance costs in the long term because the
strategy helps to avert catastrophic failures (Horner et al., 1997 and Velmurugan and Dhingra,
2015). Preventive maintenance is more production-friendly since it helps in better planning of
maintenance work when compared to corrective maintenance. This is because preventive
maintenance follows a predetermined plan and hence is not ad hoc as corrective maintenance.
However, preventive maintenance has a number of inherent problems associated with it. As
argued by Chinese and Ghirardo (2010), preventive maintenance schedules usually do not work
in harmony with production schedules because many organisation still view maintenance as a
support function to production (Chareonsuk et al., 1997). Consequently both departments do
not normally work together to develop their respective schedules and hence clashes are frequent
(Chareonsuk et al., 1997). Preventive maintenance strategies, if not properly planned, lead to
over-maintenance of equipment (Chareonsuk et al., 1997; Chan et al., 2005 and Eti et al., 2006).
This is because; preventive maintenance is prone to premature replacement of components of
equipment since PM involve the carrying out of maintenance tasks irrespective of the actual
condition of the equipment. Many manufacturers also follow the Original Equipment
Manufacturers (OEMs) recommendations concerning the scheduling of the preventive
maintenance tasks for their equipment (Eti et al., 2004). As such, Eti et al. (2004) proposed that
it is better to draw preventive maintenance plan from experience taking into consideration
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
As discussed by Bardey et al. (2005), maintenance managers are keen to improve the
productivity and availability of their production equipment though preventive maintenance,
however, they want to achieve this goal at the lowest cost. Therefore, the challenge is to strike
the right balance between the amount of preventive maintenance to perform and the associated
costs (Vanneste and Van Wassenhove, 1995). Hence, preventive maintenance scheduling is of
paramount importance. Over the years, experts and researchers have developed a plethora of
different models to help with the planning of the optimum amount of preventive maintenance
needed. For instance, Chareonsuk et al. (1997) developed a multi criteria decision-making
model to identify the optimal preventive maintenance intervals for production machines. Oke
and Charles-Owaba (2006) on the other hand developed a fuzzy logic model to help with the
scheduling of preventive maintenance. Cassady and Kutanoglu (2005) presented an integrated
model that combining preventive maintenance planning and production scheduling in order to
determine the optimum schedule.
Although preventive maintenance has proved its worth in extending equipment life, the
planning of preventive maintenance activities in todays competitive context is crucial in order
to minimise preventive maintenance related costs. Effective planning and judicious selection
of preventive maintenance intervals are therefore required to benefit fully from the preventive
maintenance strategy.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
As discussed by Jardine et al. (2006), CBM involves three important steps namely data
gathering, data processing and ultimately maintenance decision. The data gathering step
involves collection of two types of data through namely event data and condition monitoring
data (Jardine et al., 2006). Event data usually involves information about happenings that
occurred during the utilisation phase of an equipment such as installation or any repairs done.
Condition monitoring entails the use of appropriate techniques to gather data about the health
of the system. Such techniques involve use of sensors to measure vibration and thermal cameras
to give indication of potential overheating spots amongst others. These collected data go
through the data processing stage where data cleaning and image processing techniques are
applied to tap meaningful relevant data about the health of the system. The last step involves
maintenance decision-making whereby data processed in the last step are analysed and
appropriate maintenance decisions are taken. CBM can involve two types of decision strategies
namely diagnostics and prognostics Diagnostics decision aims at identification and isolation of
a problem within a system when it fails while prognostics decision aims at predicting that a
fault is going to occur based on data collected. As argued by Jardine et al. (2006) both strategies
are needed. While prognostics ensures equipment reliability by aiming zero downtime
performance, diagnostics ensures that any faults are dealt with should the prognostics step fails.
Many authors advocate that CBM is generally a better maintenance strategy than time-based
preventive maintenance (TBM). For instance, Velmurugan and Dhingra (2015) argue that
CBM facilitates and promotes better planning of preventive maintenance. Therefore, CBM
encourages better spare parts management and enhances human resource planning thereby
reducing unplanned maintenance costs (Jardine and Banjevic, 2006). Grall et al. (2002) also
put forward that CBM is effective in improving operational safety as the strategy helps in
curbing the frequency and severity of in service breakdowns. Scarf (2006) on the other hand
discussed the role of CBM in reducing uncertainty in the maintenance field. Scarf (2006)
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
promotes that CBM gives maintenance and production personnel confidence about short-term
operation of equipment, which consequently adds flexibility to the maintenance and production
schedules. This is particularly helpful in meeting deadlines for instance, where maintenance
work can be postponed to allow for timely delivery of the products to the customer. The
decision to postpone maintenance work in this case will largely depend on the condition of the
equipment that is constantly monitored when CBM strategy is used.
However, in spite of so many benefits, CBM is still less popular than TBM and corrective
maintenance (Gebauer et al., 2008). Gebauer et al. (2008) and Scarf (2006) argue that the high
investment costs is the main reason why firms do not practise CBM. Indeed, CBM requires
investments in condition monitoring equipment, which can be expensive. CBM is a relatively
new maintenance strategy in the manufacturing industry and thus firms need to spend money
on training of their maintenance personnel. In addition, as argued by Scarf (2006), CBM does
not always guarantee returns on investment. Moreover, CBM is not always a viable option
especially in cases where the components to be monitored are physically difficult to reach.
One maintenance strategy that has gained much attention in research over the past few years is
TPM. Ever since its inception by the Japanese in the 1971, TPM has gained worldwide
recognition. Based on the concept of preventive maintenance, the Japanese developed the
concept of TPM in order to respond to the increasingly competitive market that forced firms to
eliminate wastes, maximise equipment effectiveness and reduce to a minimum production
downtime (Blanchard, 1997; Ireland and Dale, 2001; and Rodrigues and Hatakeyama, 2006).
TPM is a support function to many manufacturing strategies such as JIT and TQM and its role
is to ensure equipment effectiveness which is central in the successful implementation of the
afore-said manufacturing strategies (Ahuja and Khamba, 2008 and Gupta and Garg, 2012).
Seiichi Nakajima is widely regarded as the father of TPM in the current literature (McKone et
al., 2001; Sharma et al., 2006) and he is responsible for the promotion of TPM in throughout
Japan. The Japanese Institute of Plant Engineers (JIPE - now known as the Japanese Institute
of Plant Maintenance), managed by Nakajima defined TPM as follows:
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
TPM is in fact more than just simply a maintenance strategy. As argued by Ahuja and Khamba
(2008) and Gupta and Garg (2012), TPM is a philosophy, a culture and an innovative approach
to maintenance. Patterson et al. (1995) on the other hand described TPM as a philosophy that
offers a holistic, people-oriented approach to maintenance with the objective of achieving more
with less. Aspinwall and Elgharib (2013) promoted TPM as a holistic approach to maintenance
with teamwork as an essential element. Hence, TPM lays much emphasis on the role of people
in achieving world-class manufacturing performance. As discussed by Ahuja and Khamba
(2008b), an effective TPM strategy should encourage the empowerment and motivation of the
people across all levels of the organisation. As argued by Gupta and Garg (2012), TPM in
essence seeks to involve all the organisation functions, especially maintenance and production
in order to promote the continual improvement of quality, operational effectiveness, and safety.
TPM therefore encompasses everyone in an organisation - from the top management to the
shop floor workers all working together with the ultimate goal of attaining world-class
manufacturing performance.
The TPM philosophy as highlighted by Rodrigues and Hatakeyama (2006), Arca and Prado
(2008) and Shaaban and Awni (2014) rests on eight pillars, which are summarised in Table 1
as follows:
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
TPM has the objective of maximising production efficiency through reduction of the six big
losses (Chand and Shivarni, 2000; Chan et al., 2005). Singh et al. (2013) gave a description of
the six losses that occur on the manufacturing shop floor. These six big losses as a result affect
quality, performance, and availability. The Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) takes into
account the six big losses is in essence a quantitative performance metric to gauge the
efficiency of a production system (Jeong and Phillips, 2001 and Blanchard, 1997). OEE as
defined by Andersson and Bellgran (2015) is a TPM operational performance metric used to
benchmark production performance and serves as an indicator for process improvement
activities. Blanchard (1997), referring to Nakajima, considered an OEE of 85% as World-class.
The benefits of a correctly implemented TPM strategy are numerous and well documented. For
instance, McKone et al. (1999) investigated the relationship between manufacturing
performance and TPM. They found that TPM positively influences manufacturing
performance. McKone et al. (1999) highlighted the role of TPM in improving the parameters
of competitiveness namely cost, delivery, and quality. Moreover, as highlighted by Seth and
Tripathi (2005), TPM in an organisation not only helps in improving productivity,
competitiveness, and employees morale but it also contributes improving the working
environment and safety.
As discussed above, TPM has numerous benefits associated with it. However, as largely
discussed in existing literature, TPM implementation can be very challenging. As discussed by
Aspinwall and Elgharib (2013), not all TPM implementations are successful. There are many
cases where TPM initiatives have resulted in failure. Rodrigues and Hatakeyama (2006)
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
analysed the failure of TPM in companies that have managed to cement the eight pillars of
TPM but eventually abandoned TPM. They found that management negligence concerning the
progress of the TPM program and their excessive focus to satisfy audits are reasons why many
companies eventually fail to implement TPM. Other barriers that hamper TPM implementation
include the strong resistance to change by employees to adopt a novel working method, lack
of top management support and commitment; lack of finance, departmental silos that impede
teamwork, substandard training, and lack of standardisation of processes (Panneerselvam,
2012; Ahuja and Khamba, 2008 and Cooke, 2000). Baglee and Knowles (2010) on the other
hand analysed the barriers of TPM implementation in Small and Medium Enterprises. They
found that the management do not view maintenance as a key function in pursuing their
business objectives and hence focus primarily on production. This lack of awareness and
interest in maintenance as a function leads to improver finance allocations to implement
maintenance strategies like TPM. Moreover, Baglee and Knowles (2010) also indicated that
the management are reluctant to implement TPM because they think that implementing a
maintenance strategy takes time and identifiable benefits from the strategy take a long time to
be visible. Indeed, TPM takes time to implement. As highlighted by Ahuja and Khamba (2008),
it usually takes 3-5 years to see significant results from TPM.
Therefore, in order to for TPM to be successful, the right conditions need to be in place. For
instance, commitment of and patience from the top management is imperative. Cooke (2000)
also talks about the importance to recognise the benefits of TPM implementation and hence
education and training of personnel are key to successful TPM implementation.
Ever since its inception back in the Aviation Industry in the 1960s, Reliability Centred
Maintenance (RCM) has gained much recognition as a maintenance strategy over the past few
years. According to Cheng et al. (2008), RCM is a procedure that helps to determine and
optimise preventive maintenance activities for complex systems. However, RCM does not
exclusively deal with preventive maintenance. It also helps to plan and optimise the
maintenance strategy for a piece of equipment or system. As argued by Afefy (2010), RCM is
a planning tool that helps in providing an optimum blend of corrective, preventive, condition
based and proactive maintenance strategies instead of applying them independently. Marquez
et al. (2003) viewed RCM from a broader perspective and defined RCM as a process used to
plan maintenance activities for a physical asset in order to preserve important system functions.
Souza and Alves (2008) on the other hand promotes RCM as a maintenance tool that aims to
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
rationalise and systemise the selection of the maintenance tasks to be adopted for a
maintenance plan. Souza and lvares (2008) further argued that RCM encourages the
justification of a particular maintenance task before executing it. Therefore, RCM is an analysis
tool that provides rules and precise criteria that help to decide between corrective or preventive
maintenance actions with the goal of preserving system functions.
Afefy (2010) discussed the various steps in implementing RCM. It involves system selection,
data collection, system boundary definition, FMEA or FTA analysis, criticality analysis, and
finally task selection. Rausand (1998) put forward that an RCM analysis involves consideration
and answering of the following seven questions:
1. What are the functions and associated performance standards of the equipment in its present
operating context?
It is common to use Failure Tree Analysis (FTA) or Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
(FMEA) in answering the seven RCM questions when conducting an RCM analysis. The FTA
and FMEA are tools of product and processes analysis that provides a systematic and
standardized evaluation of possible failures, establishing the consequences and guiding the
adoption of corrective or preventive actions (Souza and Alvares, 2008). According Cheng et
al. (2008), the FMEA helps to identify the functionally significant items - which in essence are
the most critical parts or components of a system - together with their failure mechanisms.
Functionally significant items according to Cheng et al. (2008) are those items whose failures
have substantial economic and/or safety effects or may compromise the organisations mission.
Hence, adequate routine maintenance activities are then preconized for such items to prevent
their failure. Conversely, non-significant items are those that do not pose a threat to safety,
environment, and the organisations mission. Such items can then be run-to-failure. In fact, the
main objective of RCM is to cut down on maintenance costs by concentrating efforts on the
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
most important functions of the system and at the same time ensuring good levels of reliability
and safety (Selvik and Allen, 2011). Hence, RCM also has as objective of improving machine
uptime based on current context of use and it provides organisations with a deeper
understanding of the level of risks they are dealing with. Also, RCM eliminates unnecessary
maintenance tasks and allow efforts to be concentrated on activities that matter.
RCM generally finds application in large industries such as the aeronautical, nuclear, coal
mining, petroleum and the railway industries. Whilst RCM is successful in large industries,
smaller industries usually struggle to implement it. The main problem of RCM as argued by
Waeyenbergh and Pintelon (2001) is its complexity. RCM requires large amounts of data,
which can be difficult to keep track of due to the absence of an effective data storage systems
such as a Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS). In addition, an RCM
analysis requires experienced personnel with good technical knowledge. Therefore, RCM can
be very expensive and represents high start-up costs associated with staff training and
equipment and software procurement for enterprises. As argued by Deepak and Prabhakar
(2014), another barrier of RCM is that it requires extensive analysis through an FMEA and is
therefore very time-consuming. Moreover, because of it takes time to conduct a complete
FMEA, no concrete short-term results are visible during the analysis period to the management.
Hence, the savings because of RCM implementation are quite difficult to see by the
management. Waeyenbergh and Pintelon (2001) also noted that RCM places a lot of emphasis
on reliability and not enough on maintainability and availability.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
Waeyenbergh and Pintelon (2009) highlighted the various problems associated with the
modern maintenance strategies. They argued the maintenance strategies described in the
literature require considerable management attention and are very resource intensive in that
these strategies need highly trained and qualified labour, which is also very costly. Moreover,
Waeyenbergh and Pintelon (2009) put forward that these maintenance strategies are only
applicable to a particular industry or equipment. Hence, they are not easily transferable in terms
of industry and equipment thereby making their implementation difficult.
As discussed in section 2.5.1.4, TPM implementation does not yield instant results and
according to Ahuja and Khamba (2008), a period of 3-5 years is required to notice appreciable
results. Consequently, this does not favour quick returns on investment which senior managers
usually seek (Baglee and Knowles, 2010). Therefore, justification for investment in such a
maintenance strategy becomes increasingly difficult thereby imposing financial constraints in
its implementation. Moreover, as discussed by Baglee and Knowles (2010), top management
of companies usually associate the implementation of a new maintenance strategy with an
increase in maintenance costs due to the possible need to purchase new equipment and need to
invest in training of the workforce. This as a results make a run-to-failure strategy justifiable
in terms of costs.
The cost to train the existing workforce is another reason that discourages managers to
implement maintenance strategies such as RCM, TPM and CBM. Moreover, as highlighted by
Baglee and Knowles (2010), training of personnel can be a time-consuming process. This,
coupled with the increased prioritisation of production activities by the management deter the
implementation of a new maintenance initiative. Baglee and Knowles (2010) also pointed out
that there is lack of awareness by the management of important link between maintenance and
production. In addition, Baglee and Knowlges (2010) highlighted that many companies do not
acknowledge the role of maintenance in achieving overall business objectives. Therefore, a
lack of finance, awareness, and time are serious constraints that prevent proper implementation
of maintenance strategies in organisations.
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long-term maintenance strategy. Outsourcing leads to the misalignment of the business and
maintenance objectives because of the disparity in the long-term goals of the business and the
maintenance service provider (Murthy et al., 2002). Hence, outsourcing maintenance is not
always the answer to failed maintenance strategies implementation. Instead, the management
of businesses should play a prominent role in supporting the implementation of maintenance
strategies.
As highlighted by the discussion above, selecting the right maintenance strategy can be a very
tough challenge for companies. No maintenance strategy yields guaranteed success and
adoption of an off the shelf maintenance strategy can be very expensive and time-consuming.
Bearing that in mind, many authors have created models with a view to selecting the best
maintenance strategy for an organisation. For instance, Chareonsuk et al. (1997) created a
multicriteria decision model namely PROMETHEE whose goal was to optimise preventive
maintenance activities and their scheduling based on two criteria namely the expected costs per
unit time and reliability. Triantaphyllou et al. (1997) on the other hand proposed an Analytical
Hierarchy Process (AHP) considering four maintenance criteria: cost, reparability, reliability
and availability. Bertolini and Bevilacqua (2006) created an integrated Analytical Hierarchy
Process and Goal Programming (AHP-GP) model that aimed at helping maintenance managers
to prioritise their equipment in terms of criticality and selecting the best maintenance strategies
thereafter. Although many models have been developed, their application is somehow limited
because of their complexity and non-transferability to other applications they were not
designed for. In addition, many of these models require past maintenance data thereby limiting
their application to organisations that have a proper CMMS.
As discussed in this section, the implementation of existing off the shelf maintenance
strategies or solutions does not always guarantee good performance of the maintenance
function in an organisation. Waeyenbergh and Pintelon (2009) argued that it is important to
consider the current situation and operating context of the organisation. As such, the
maintenance strategy to be adopted by a particular company needs to be customised to fit their
culture and objectives. However, the various maintenance strategies described in the literature
provide interesting and proven concepts that can be used to devise a tailor made maintenance
strategy.
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3. METHODOLOGY
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maintenance strategy that fits their operating context, budget and that maximises their existing
resources.
We select the semi-structured interview method of data collection. This method of data
collection is more appropriate in this case because of the nature of the information required.
The information needed is qualitative in nature. Inputs on the workshop operations, work
procedures, difficulties experienced etc is unique to the workshop at AMAP and hence
flexibility of the data collection method is important. As opposed to questionnaires, the semi-
structured interview is less rigid and it enables the interviewee to express their opinions,
concerns, and feelings.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
Determination of
Determination Criticality most important
Implementation
of maintenance Analysis system
activities components
Kaizen
RCM
Continuous
improvement -FMEA
Figure 1. The proposed hybrid maintenance model for the machine shop
3.4.1 Step 1 - Analysis of the current maintenance strategy and business context
As discussed in section 2.5, it is important to consider the current situation and operating
context of an organisation when developing a maintenance strategy. This ensures that the
strategy fit the culture and objectives of the organisation. The first step of the proposed model
aims to achieve this by analysing the current maintenance strategy and the business context of
the company. The objective of this step is several fold. Firstly, the process of analysing the
current maintenance strategy will help identify what the organisation is doing right and wrong.
The goal here is to uphold the right things and eliminate the wrongs. Upholding the right things
ensures familiarity and continuity regarding the work methods and procedures amongst the
workers while knowledge of the wrong things offers the opportunity to improve. Another goal
of this step is that it will serve as a knowledge and experience capture initiative. Maintainers
and operators are the ones who work daily with the machines and hence their experience and
knowledge are valuable. Therefore tapping this experience and knowledge is important.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
The first step of the proposed model also encompasses an analysis of the business context,
which will give an insight into the operations of the organisation. As discussed previously in
the literature review in section 2.6, it is important to acknowledge the role of maintenance in
ensuring smooth operations, which is ultimately synonymous with improved productivity.
Therefore, an analysis of the business context will give valuable information regarding
operations such as the frequency of use of the machines, the stakeholders, the companys
business objectives, and the business risks associated with the breakdowns of the machines.
Hence, this will help to ensure judicious scheduling of the maintenance tasks such that there
are no clashes between the operations and maintenance functions.
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The questionnaire as depicted in figure 3 can be used to determine the most important system
components. The questionnaire takes into consideration the frequency of use of the system
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
components as well as the effects of their breakdown on production, environment, and safety.
A ranking system at the end of this step will determine the most important system components.
Only the most important components will make it to the next step of the proposed model
namely the FMEA. The rest of the components will be allowed to run until they fail. The main
advantages of this step is that it is simple to use and greatly reduce the complexity of the system.
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
This step will determine the most critical components of the most important systems of the
equipment identified in the previous step. The Failure Mode, Effects, and criticality (FMECA)
Analysis usually is very detailed and takes a lot of time because of its technical complexity and
it normally requires considerable inputs and data from the relevant staff and equipment
manuals. In order to minimise complexity and time taken to carry out the analysis, there is the
need to simplify the process. Waeyenbergh and Pintelon (2002) proposed a simplified FMECA
template and an adapted version of the latter would be used for the proposed hybrid model.
The objective of the FMECA in the context of the proposed model is to determine those system
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
components whose failure can adversely affect the environment, safety, or performance. The
FMECA in essence assigns criticality scores to system components and help identify the failure
modes that defeat system function. Figure 4 gives a representation of a sample of the simplified
FMECA questionnaire.
FMECA QUESTIONNAIRE
MIC Date
Start
Class A
End
Figure 5. Algorithm for the determination of criticality class of the components(based on Afefy (2010)
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
as shown in figure 7. The goal behind the RCM logic tree is to ease the process of selection of
maintenance actions associated with each component of the system.
Whilst the RCM process contributes to determine the maintenance actions, it is also important
for the responsible employees to carry out the maintenance tasks in the most efficient manner.
As discussed in section 2.5.2.3, TPM is a maintenance philosophy encompassing everyone in
the organisation and which aims to maximize equipment effectiveness by emphasising on
improvement through people. TPM offers a number of interesting concepts that can help in
maximising the potential of the organisations current workforce. The following discussion
highlights those elements of TPM, which can contribute to implement the maintenance
strategy, developed from the proposed hybrid model.
Will the failure have a Will the failure have a Will the failure have a
N N direct impact on
direct impact on direct impact on
environment, health, and performance? performance?
safety?
Y Y
Y
Y Y
The integration of this pillar in the proposed hybrid model can help to maximise the potential
of operators and maintainers. This aim of this pillar is to cultivate a culture of ownership of the
equipment within the operators so that they bear responsibility for some basic maintenance
routines such as cleaning, visual inspections, and even basic lubrication. This pillar can also
prove beneficial in cases where maintenance staff is limited or non-existent.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
Planned maintenance will allow the operators/engineers to develop and schedule their
maintenance tasks. The importance of scheduling of maintenance tasks was discussed in
section 2.5.2.3 and this pillar is a step forward in ensuring proper scheduling of maintenance
tasks such that there are no conflicts between the operation and maintenance functions.
Pillar of training
Training is of utmost importance to ensure good levels of competency of the staff. Training in
this case will be useful to help implement the first pillar of TPM namely autonomous
maintenance. Initiating the operators to basic training on cleaning, inspection, and lubrication
is therefore important. It is important to note that training does not necessarily have to be
academic training. On-the-job training is also possible especially in cases where the activities
on which the operators are to be trained are fairly simple and straightforward. Moreover, it is
cheaper.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
Following the interview carried out with a management staff at AMAP, we determined that no
formal preventive maintenance strategy currently exists for the vertical machining centre. The
machine operates on a run-to-failure basis, with maintenance works carried out only when the
machine break downs and hampers production activities.
As highlighted by the management staff interviewed at the workshop, the operator sometimes
carry out basic cleaning activities on the machine. However, such basic maintenance activities
are not done on a regular basis because there is no formal maintenance strategy that properly
defines what needs to be done and at what interval.
As it stands, when the machine breaks down during production, the procedure is to stop the
production and repair the machine before continuing with the job. Three scenarios are possible.
Possibility 1 Minor breakdown, repair the machine and continue the work
If the breakdown is minor, the operator will carry out the needed maintenance on the spot and
then continue with the job. This does not usually entail large downtimes and does not lead to
high costs repairs and delays.
Possibility 2 Major breakdown, transfer to another machine and continue the work
This scenario applies to major breakdowns where the machine cannot be restored to its full
working condition immediately. In this case, the vertical machining centre is stopped and the
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
job is transferred onto another machine. The vertical machining centre is then restored back to
working condition after the job is complete and delivered to the customer However, this
possibility is not always applicable. The eventuality of completing a job on another machine
largely depends on the nature of the job at hand and on the capabilities of the other machines.
Consequently, this is rarely applied. As highlighted by the management staff at AMAP:
And sometimes, not always 20% chance, he (the operator) can move to another machine.
So he can take the part off, put it on another machine, and go back to do the maintenance. Then
again, there are only some components that can be mounted the other machines like the other
day, he was making a camshaft for some students, and the machine broke down. Therefore, he
put it on another machine. It took three times as long but he got it done. Then he went back to
do the maintenance on the faulty machine. So this can happen but not very often.
This procedure is however not flawless since it does not solve the problems of delays and losses
due to defective products. In addition, carrying out the job on another machine usually takes
more time because of the limitations of the capabilities of the machine. Although this reduces
the delay, it does not always eliminate it. Therefore, such a method serves only as a means of
damage-limitation and does not entirely solve the problem of delays and defective items.
Possibility 3 Major breakdown, repair the machine and continue the work
This scenario arises when the machine encounters a major breakdown during production and
neither immediate repairs nor continuing of the job on another machine due is possible. This is
the costliest scenario in terms of both time and money. Firstly, when the machine breaks down,
the operator stops the production and diagnoses the problem if he can. The management then
orders the necessary spare parts and the operator carried out the necessary repairs following
which the production job is continued. In extreme cases where the repairs are complex, the
workshop management then outsources the maintenance of the vertical machining centre.
A faulty component on the machine can lead to the production of defective items that are not
fit for rework. This is in essence is synonymous with a waste of money and time. Major
machine failures also lead to delays in production due to machine downtime and this negatively
affects customer satisfaction and subsequently the workshops image.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
As highlighted by the interviewed staff, the main objective of the workshop from a business
perspective is to ensure the satisfaction of their clients.
.and at the end of the day its about producing what our clients want on time, at the quality
they want and at the price they want
As discussed in section 2.3.4 of the literature review, it is important to align the objectives of
the maintenance strategy to those of the business. In order to achieve this, the objectives of the
maintenance strategy were discussed with the clients. The first objective of the maintenance
strategy therefore is to maximise machine uptime in order to ensure on time delivery, quality,
and price competitiveness. This ensures customer satisfaction.
The definition of objectives of the maintenance strategy took into consideration the current
operating context of the machine, along with the various restrictions and difficulties faced by
the organisation. The interview conducted with the AMAP representative helped to identify the
specific objectives that the facility wants to achieve through the maintenance strategy. Data
from the interview were classified into individual objectives as shown in Figure 1.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
(2) Cost effective The maintenance strategy should not be expensive to implement and
should aim at minimising costs of staff training or recruitment and equipment procurement.
The strategy should aim at maximising the potential of existing resources and ensure that over-
maintenance does not become an issue. The AMAP representative also points out that they are
willing to invest in equipment if it is beneficial to the organisation.
(3) Low complexity The maintenance strategy should not be overly complex technically. It
should be easy to learn, manage, and implement.
(4) In line with business and corporate objectives The objectives of the maintenance
strategy should be realistic and should be in line that of the business. As discussed in section
2.1, this is important in ensuring that maintenance function contributes to achieve the business
and corporate objectives.
(6) Not time-consuming The maintenance strategy should not be time consuming and should
yield quick results. This facilitates justification of maintenance expenses with the senior
management. In addition, as highlighted by the AMAP representative in the interview, the
operator of the machine has a tight schedule and the maintenance strategy therefore should be
sufficiently basic so that it accounts for the lack of time.
(7) Take into consideration current business context As discussed in section 2.5, it is
important to consider that the current organisational culture and business context when
designing a maintenance strategy.
(8) Flexible The maintenance strategy should be flexible enough to accommodate changes
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
The machine shop is a fully equipped one with all basic tools and equipment needed to conduct
maintenance tasks. However, the machine shop do not possess condition-monitoring
equipment such as Thermal infrared gun or oil analyser. Upon inspection of the manual of the
Vertical Machining Centre, it was determined that the machine has an in-built vibration
analyser that gives vibration data for various components of the machine. The in-built vibration
analyser has never been used for maintenance purposes.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
Cooling 1 2 3 4 5 1 1 1 8
system
Lubricating 1 2 3 4 5 1 0 1 6
system
Drive 1 2 3 4 5 0 0 1 6
system
Tooling 1 2 3 4 5 1 0 1 6
system
Enclosures 1 2 3 4 5 1 0 0 2
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
to complete it. The following tables depict the results of the FMECA analysis. Each table
analyses a separate system and highlights the main components that are susceptible to have an
impact on the correct operation of the system.
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MIC Cooling system Function Provides cooling and lubrication to the various components of the vertical machining centre
5. Failure effect 6. 7. Class
1. 3. Functional
2. Function 4. Failure mode Criticali
Component failure 0 1 2 3
Criticality score ty index
Filters Filters the coolant 3.1 Do not filter 4.1. Deterioration No Yes
the coolant Safety, S
4.2 Clogging of the No <1hr 1hr < t < 2days >2days
3.2 Clogging of filter by abrasive Performance, P D
the filter particles 0.25
No Yes
Environment, E
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MIC Lubricating system Function Pumps oil and lubricates all the moving components of the vertical milling machine
5. Failure effect 7.
6.
1. 3. Functional Class
2. Function 4. Failure mode Criticality
Component failure 0 1 2 3 index
Criticality score
Oil pump Pumps oil to the oil Improper or no 4.1 Dirty oil filter No Yes
line for lubrication lubrication of Safety, S
of components such mechanical 4.2 Oil contaminated No <1hr 1hr < t < 2days >2days
as gearbox etc components with metal chips Performance, P C
leading to 1.50
excessive noise No Yes
Environment, E
and vibration
Low Medium High
Repair cost, C
Oil lines Carries lubricant to Oil leaks leading 4.1 Ageing of oil lines No Yes
the various to improper or no Safety, S
components of the lubrication of 4.2 Faulty seals
No <1hr 1hr < t < 2days >2days
vertical milling components Performance, P
machine that needs
0.25 D
lubrication No Yes
Environment, E
Oil filter Filters the oil from Does not filter the Clogging of filter No Yes
solid contaminants oil leading to element Safety, S
dirty lubricant
<1h
which can affect No
r
1hr < t < 2days >2days
oil lines and oil Performance, P
pump 0.25 D
No Yes
Environment, E
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Table 4.1 illustrates the maintenance schedule for the most critical components of the Vertcial
Machining Centre. The spreadsheet illustrates the recommended maintenance actions and their
respective intervals. In devising the various maintenance actions, considerations were given to
the resources available already at the organisation as far as possible. This highlights the need
to conduct a resource audit before devising the maintenance schedule.
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2.1.2 Check for loose parts, cables,wirings, spindle motor fan dirt and for any IN x Carry out 2.1.3 if any problem detected
leakages
2.1.3 IN Use dry compressed air to blow dirt (less than 50lbs)
Tighten loose parts, blow dirt and replace components if needed
2.1 Spindle Motor A Use thermal IR gun. Conduct daily if temperature rises
2.1.4 Monitor and record temperature of windings CM x
frequently
2.1.5 Check motor amperage IN x
2.1.5 Monitor vibration using in built analyser CM x Correct values: 8000 CPM and 0.08 mil (max)
2.1.6 Conduct Insulation resistance test CM/IN x
2.1.7 Rewind motor IN
2.2 Spindle motor 2.2.1 Inspect fan for dirty blades IN x Carry out 2.2.2 if blades are dirty
D
fan 2.2.2 Clean motor fan IN
2.3.1 Check for unusual noise and vibration IN x
2.3.2 Mobil SHC
x
Check gearbox oil level IN 625 Add oil if level is low
2. Drive Mobil SHC
2.3.3 x
Sytem Drain and Renew gearbox oil PM 625 1 litre of Gearbox oil to be used
2.3.4 Check belt for unusual noise or vibration IN x
2.3 Gearbox C
2.3.5 Tension belt correctly IN If noise or vibration persists carry out 2.3.6
2.3.6 Replace belt IN Spares
2.3.7 Check for backlash on gearbox (Optional) x Requires expert intervention. Can be costly if gears are
IN to be replaced.
Carry out 2.3.3 if oil is contaminated and ignore
2.3.8 CM x
Oil analysis* (optional) interval
2.4.1 Check for unsual noise IN x Carry out 2.4.2 if there is an unsual noise at the spindle
2.4.2 Check belt and gearbox IN
2.4.3 Check temperature of spindle after every tool change CM x Use thermal IR gun. Carry out 2.4.4 if temperature
exceeds 65 degrees celcius.
2.4 Spindle drive C 2.4.4 Allow spindle to cool down before tool change CM/IN
Conduct 2.4.5 if spindle vibrates excessively. Use a dial
2.4.4 Check for excessive vibration of spindle* CM x indicator between spindle housing and table. Readings
in excess of 0.001" indicates serious vibration
2.4.5 Check belt, gearbox and spindle drive condition IN Replace spindle drive if none if found faulty
2.4.6 Check air pressure to spindle purge IN x Adjust air pressure between 3-4 psi
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3.2.3 Test for damaged bearing sleeve CM x Move axis back and forth and check temperature of
motor. If very hot carry out 3.2.4
4.1.1 Check oil tank level IN x Carry out 4.1.2 if oil level is low
Mobil DTE
4.1.2 IN
Add oil to tank 25
4.1.3 Clean/Change oil filter PM Spares x
4.1.4 Check oil pump for excessive vibration IN In built vibration analyser can be used for that purpose
4. 4.1 Oil pump C 4.1.5 Check oil flow IN x Wearing of ballscrew can indicate inadequate oil flow
Lubricating If thick and dark, but free of metal chips, change oil.
system Wet and black lube indicates contamination and
4.1.6 Conduct visual inspection on oil IN x
components need to be checked for wear and excessive
clearances.
Mobil DTE
4.1.7 PM x
Clean entire lube system, drain and replace oil 25 Use 2.25 quarts of oil.
4.2 Oil line D 4.2.1 Inspect oil line for leaks IN x
Legend
IN - Inspection PM - Preventive Maintenance CM - Condition Monitoring
D - Daily W - Weekly M - Monthly 3M - 3 Monthly 6M - 6 Monthly Y - Yearly 2Y - 2 yearly
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
The proposed strategy is also in line with the planned maintenance pillar of TPM. This is
because the maintenance schedule gives the operator at the machine shop a plan of the
maintenance actions that need to be performed at a particular interval. As such, the operator
has a clearly defined maintenance plan which in turn will help him/her better plan the
production activities such that no conflicts exist between the two functions.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
As a result, section 2.0 of this paper critically evaluates the state of the art in terms of
maintenance strategies highlighting their respective strengths and weaknesses. It was
determined that although the existing maintenance strategies have been successfully
implemented in various cases, they do not guarantee success largely because they are complex,
time-consuming, costly, and are adapted to fit a particular industry. A hybrid maintenance
model was then created based on the results of the literature review in order to amalgamate and
simplify good practices of existing maintenance strategies. The model was then applied in the
context of the machine shop at AMAP to create a maintenance strategy that best addresses its
needs. The aim of the model is to reduce complexity and to maximise the potential of already
available resources thereby minimising the cost of implementation of the strategy.
The proposed model required the conduction of an interview with a representative of the
machine shop at AMAP. A semi-structured approach to the interview was adopted. The
interview enabled valuable inputs from the machine shop and shed light on the operating
context as well as the objectives that they want to achieve. The objectives of the maintenance
strategy were also discussed with the AMAP representative. As argued in section 4.3.2, the
management of AMAP wanted a strategy that is easy to adopt and cost-effective. The Vertical
Machining Centre at the machine shop is a complex system having a large number of
components that work together to accomplish the primary function of the machining.
Nowadays, many OEMs provide recommended maintenance strategies for their machines that
end-users can adopt. Whilst such maintenance strategies will greatly minimise the risk of
breakdown of the machines, they however are not sustainable. OEM maintenance strategies
usually rely heavily on preventive maintenance and can often lead to over-maintenance. Over-
maintenance is not cost effective and can involve unnecessary tempering with machine
components. Moreover, valuable time and effort are wasted in maintaining components, which
are still in good running condition.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
The proposed maintenance model for the AMAP workshop involved the identification of the
Most Important Components (MIC) of the machine. This step helped in identifying the most
frequently used and important systems of the machine thereby reducing the perceived
complexity. Moreover, the FMECA contributed in breaking down the MICs into individual
components. The failure modes and effects of these components were consequently determined
following which the components were classified in order of priority based on their criticality
index. This process helped in identifying the most critical components of the VMC in order to
make sure efforts, time and money are not wasted in maintaining components that are not too
critical in the operating context of the AMAP machine shop. The FMECA process as argued
in section 2.5.3 takes time to complete. In the case of the proposed model however, a simplified
template of the FMECA was used so that complexity of the process is reduced thereby requiring
less time to conduct the analysis.
Another advantage of the model is that it involves the carrying out of an audit of existing
resources. The audit was carried out for the machine shop and it was determined that they
already possess the necessary human resources and basic equipment to carry out the
maintenance strategy. The audit also determined that the only item to be procured is an infrared
thermometer that will help to conduct basic condition monitoring maintenance on the VMC.
The maintenance schedule developed for the VMC as a result of application of the hybrid
model depicts that no excessive preventive maintenance is required. It rather involved a number
of simple yet effective inspections and cleaning activities set at appropriate intervals to prevent
degradation of the most critical components. The activities in the maintenance schedule are
also easy to carry out and therefore the strategy does not necessitate expensive training or
equipment.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
Firstly, the scope of the project is limited. Whilst the proposed model aimed at reducing
complexity, costs and time in implementing a new maintenance strategy, the model however
does not cater for measurement of the performance of the maintenance strategy. Although
benchmarking does not fall within the scope of the requirements of the client, benchmarking is
an important aspect of ensuring proper implementation of a maintenance strategy. Moreover,
although costs were taken into consideration while devising the maintenance schedule, the
strategy does not explicitly include a way of doing a cost analysis of the maintenance strategy.
Another limitation is that the model was applied only to one machine because of time restraint.
These limitations can be improved by further investigating into Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and
how it can be integrated within the maintenance strategy. In addition, use of a CMMS can be
made in order to keep track and give reminders of the maintenance activities that need to be
conducted on the Vertical Milling Machine. Also, the same model can be applied to the rest of
the machine at AMAP.
Finally, although the project was designed for the machine shop at AMAP, the interview could
have been done with a number of companies in order to have a better insight into the problems
being faced my machine shops. The model could then be adapted accordingly.
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Department Of Computing, Engineering And Technology Muhammad Nawaz Rumjaun (139067125)
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