The 4 best practices for industrial machine maintenance

In industrial companies, maintenance is an essential, if not the most important, link in ensuring that production activities are kept at their optimum level. With the automation of tasks, more and more high-performance industrial machines and equipment are located in logistics warehouses: ensuring their proper functioning is therefore imperative. In order to deal with the many breakdowns or malfunctions that can occur, maintenance plays an indispensable role in companies in the industrial sector. According to an AFIM study published in 2021, more than 12 billion euros were spent on industrial products and components in the maintenance sector.

Find out from Viaposte how to guarantee efficient industrial maintenance in 4 key steps!

What is industrial maintenance ?

Definition of industrial maintenance

Industrial maintenance, as its name suggests, consists of ensuring the proper functioning of industrial machinery. To do this, a maintenance technician is responsible for checking the general condition of the equipment in order to correct any malfunction or breakdown that may occur. Industrial maintenance is also a real anticipatory task by providing regular maintenance on these machines. In the event of a problem, the entire production chain is interrupted for a period of time that can sometimes jeopardise the company's activity.

Industrial maintenance takes several forms: preventive maintenance and corrective maintenance.

Preventive maintenance

This type of industrial maintenance is the most common. It consists in intervening on industrial machines and equipment at regular intervals, usually planned in advance to provide a classical maintenance of the equipment. Preventive maintenance is carried out in intervals set up according to the manufacturer's recommendations, the industrial maintenance standard, but also the needs of the company's maintenance manager.

By acting preventively, many breakdowns can be avoided to ensure that industrial machinery and the company are protected:

> a reduction in production stoppages;
> an increase in their lifespan;
> a significant reduction in repair costs;
> better management of the intervention schedule for the maintenance technician and his teams;
> a better working environment with more safety measures.

Industrial curative and corrective maintenance

Curative industrial maintenance, also known as corrective maintenance, is carried out as soon as a fault, breakdown or malfunction is detected in a machine. It is then up to the maintenance technician to repair, or sometimes even replace, the equipment to ensure that the company's production is not interrupted for too long. Corrective maintenance operations can be carried out quickly if a maintenance programme has been drawn up in advance.

In addition to continuity in production activity, corrective maintenance offers many advantages for the company:

> maintenance actions linked to real needs;
> improved task planning and better prioritisation: less internal disruption to each department, for example;
> lower costs in the event of a breakdown that is easy to resolve: corrective maintenance only corrects proven operating problems.

Why maintain industrial machinery and equipment?

Industrial maintenance limits production stoppages

The primary objective of the maintenance of industrial machines and equipment is to maintain production activities within the company. By anticipating and preventing each breakdown or operating problem, the reactivity of the maintenance technician and his teams will only be improved. To ensure that this objective is achieved, regular training of each person involved in the operation of machines and equipment is necessary. Indeed, by knowing the components and particularities of each machine, the maintenance team will be able to carry out adjustments and corrective actions prior to a possible breakdown.

Industrial maintenance for cost-effective repairs !

It is well known that a breakdown cannot be prevented and represents a certain cost! By developing a well-defined preventive maintenance plan, corrective action on defective machines and equipment will be less costly. Indeed, anticipation saves a considerable amount of time thanks to the prior planning of precise scenarios and processes and reduces the probability of major breakdowns.

Industrial maintenance ensures the performance of your machines and equipment

By increasing the number of maintenance activities on your machinery, the company can ensure that its equipment is working at its best. Detection of weakened components, adjustments to be made, overheating: industrial machines and equipment can show the first signs of defectiveness before breaking down.

Regular and thorough maintenance will prevent malfunctions while bringing your machines to their highest level of performance.

4 tips for optimal industrial maintenance !

Identify industrial maintenance needs

The first step to ensuring the success of your industrial maintenance operations is to gather as much information as possible to determine your real needs. You can do this by :

> listing your machinery and equipment;
> consulting the manufacturers' recommendations;
> analysing the history of breakdowns and changes of parts or components;
> prioritising machines according to their indispensability in the company's production chain;
> taking stock of your maintenance team to identify any recruitment and training needs.

Develop a maintenance plan

Drawing up a maintenance plan is an essential part of helping the maintenance technician to ensure that operations run smoothly. The maintenance plan is particularly important for distributing tasks and assignments among the various members of the team deployed:

> data on each maintenance technician;
> the main objective of the plan and the rules for its application in the company ;
> details of the equipment and machines to be maintained: history, operating instructions, changes to parts or past malfunctions;
> maintenance planning.

Getting the right tools and software

In order to ensure proper planning of maintenance operations, it is necessary to have support tools such as CMMS software. This software is essential for setting up a maintenance programme within the company. It allows :

> regular analysis of machine performance;
> an online storage space for useful documents without risk of loss;
> more accurate, real-time monitoring of the progress of maintenance operations;
> better access to the task planning for the allocation of maintenance interventions;
> a centralized communication space between all team members;
> a post-maintenance analysis tool to review processes if necessary.

Relying on industrial maintenance professionals

Viaposte, with its multi-technology expertise, can take care of the maintenance, upkeep and optimisation of all your industrial equipment to ensure that it is working properly. Whether in shifts, partial presence or customised intervention, we intervene according to your company's needs, surrounded by the best tools that we deploy in your warehouses: CMMS software, method audits, performance reporting, etc. With Viaposte, your industrial machines and equipment have a bright future ahead of them!

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