Air Precision Elt 96 Maintenance Manual
Pamula Harrison
Precision maintenance is a method of performing maintenance tasks so they are always done with consistency, accuracy, and in line with industry best practices. This strategy encourages attention to detail, efficiency, and safety through training, standard processes, and data.
Because precision maintenance involves creating a culture of accuracy across an organization, there are many ways in which it can be applied. Here are five main examples of precision maintenance in the day-to-day operation of a maintenance team:
Precision maintenance typically takes years to achieve, but the benefits are worth the wait as it plays a key role in reducing downtime, increasing production, boosting efficiency, and reducing costs. By training employees to perform required maintenance tasks quickly and efficiently, and undertaking regular assessments of maintenance, companies will see the benefits of precision maintenance. Organizations that are able to build a culture of precision maintenance will reap the rewards of a healthier bottom line, a safer workplace, and more productivity throughout the facility.
Precision maintenance is a strategy in which maintenance tasks are completed according to well-defined standard operating procedures (SOPs). This ensures operational reliability regardless of who completes a task.
The cornerstone of a successful precision maintenance program is documented standard operating procedures (SOPs) that leave no room for error. Clearly articulated SOPs, and proper team training, guarantee consistent task outcomes regardless of who is completing a work order. Precision maintenance SOPs should be detailed, accessible, and up to date.
In the absence of clearly defined SOPs, technicians might complete assigned work orders differently from one another. Varying work experiences, education levels, and skill levels may yield inconsistently approached projects, which may produce undesirable results.
Another popular component of precision maintenance is reducing machine vibration levels as much as possible. Excessive machine vibration is often a sign that a piece of equipment is not functioning correctly and that it may soon break down and need expensive repairs.
Maintenance guarantees that facility assets are fully operational at all times and perform according to industry standards. It ensures that all equipment functions optimally, is safe to use, and meets local and national environmental protection guidelines and requirements. Maintenance is a key element in maintaining all production utilities in good working condition or repairing them to restore their full serviceability.
Maintenance includes the inspection, testing, servicing, repairing, and replacing of all necessary equipment, machine parts, or infrastructure. Thanks to precision maintenance, facilities can operate at their optimal capacity while minimizing the financial burden of unexpected downtime or the breakdown of a piece of equipment. When implemented correctly, it can greatly improve the quality of maintenance, thus reducing costs and downtime.
Facility equipment must be correctly maintained to function at maximum efficiency and capacity. The best way to achieve this objective is by combining a solid predictive or preventive maintenance program with the consistent execution of precision maintenance principles.
Enlist the support of maintenance managers and experienced technicians to perform hands-on training sessions. Here they can teach precision maintenance procedures step-by-step while replicating real-world situations. According to Ian McKinnon, the founding principal of Reliability Solutions, hands-on training is crucial for maintenance personnel to fully understand the value of performing precision maintenance.
Use a CMMS to track all maintenance work in order to identify your highest-maintenance equipment over time. These assets are most likely to benefit from precision maintenance and deliver the highest ROI.
Create clear, step-by-step procedures and workflows. Procedures should be highly detailed and leave no room for interpretation. Document all requirements, including torque, pressure, and alignment numbers. Be sure to detail each process so that maintenance technicians never have to guess.
Standard operating procedures should be up-to-date, well-organized, and understandable for everyone. You also need to document all completed maintenance work in order to further analyze your results, streamline processes, and improve procedures.
Finally, you may be wondering about the history of precision maintenance. Dr. Wernher Von Braun pioneered the philosophy at NASA during the 1960s. With the help of his team, Braun discovered that reducing vibration had a significant impact on the life cycle of bearing parts.
Thanks to his devotion to educating maintenance professionals, we now understand the value of vibration reduction. Based on their findings, precision maintenance nowadays uses diverse detection and analysis methods, such as vibration monitoring, energy use analysis, thermography, and more. In the past decades, maintenance managers have used precision maintenance worldwide to improve asset reliability and minimize the risk of downtime.
Precision maintenance is a strategic approach in which maintenance tasks are performed consistently, accurately, and with a high level of precision. To succeed, management must document SOPs, eliminate maintenance personnel skills gaps with training, and track KPIs. The rewards of a strategic precision maintenance program are reduced downtime, improved asset performance, reduced costs, and greater equipment predictability.
Precision maintenance is a system of equipment maintenance techniques that are always followed in the same way. This extends to the conditions that trigger maintenance, the tools and parts used, and the technician skills and training required.
Since you will be running your maintenance procedures frequently and without deviation, these are good training opportunities for new staff to shadow current workers and learn these maintenance skills.
First clearly determine what precision maintenance skills and certifications are required to perform each of your maintenance tasks. Then, assess the skillset of each of your team members. Consider which people can quickly take on some of your current tasks and who needs training.
When a fan belt needs replacing, have a clear step-by-step procedure for the whole process: safely shutting down equipment; removing every piece of guarding in the correct order; replacing the belt; setting and verifying tension; replacing guarding in the correct order; and testing operation. Give all these steps a clear sign-off space in the maintenance record as proof the technician followed the procedure. These will be records to fall back on if the machine experiences a breakdown that must be investigated.
Maximise life expectancy of machinery: Significantly reduce equipment breakdowns and downtime, and the financial and lost-time headaches that come along with them. You can also correct problems in their early stages to avoid later incidents.
Easily meet industry standards: Quality management systems, such as ISO 9001, speak the same language as precision maintenance methods when it comes to establishing and following procedures and documenting them.
Increased safety: Any detailed maintenance procedure that you want performed successfully, frequently, and reliably by different people will naturally create good safety practices. This will further strengthen the certainty that your company is proactively avoiding disastrous problems.
Precision maintenance techniques will employ more and more automation. Artificial intelligence and machine learning will play a greater role in the data analytics behind precision-maintenance best practices.
Learn how to easily double or triple rotating equipment life by making vibration much lower through the elimination of common assembly errors and adherence to rigid precision installation, rebuild, and maintenance standards which we will show you how to achieve with little or no extra downtime.
Participants will dis-assemble, re-assemble, correct defects, perform precision alignment for both in-line coupled & v-belt driven machines, and measure the noticeable improvements as common field & shop assembly errors are eliminated from our running and static simulators.
We offer training classes for every level of maintenance professional which cover relevant subjects such as shaft alignment, vibration data collection and analysis, efficient maintenance strategies, and beyond.
The Reliable Precision Maintenance course is a three and a half day intensive training program that covers the principles and techniques of shaft alignment, vibration data collection and analysis, balancing, precision measuring tools, lubrication, mechanical seals, and efficient maintenance practices.
You are in the right place if you are looking to take your vibration analysis career to the next step. Our VCAT-II ISO Category II course teaches you what you need to know to be a successful, confident, and competent vibration analyst.
The Category III course is intended for people who are confident with spectrum analysis but who wish to push on and learn more about signal processing, time waveform and phase analysis, cross-channel testing, machine dynamics, and fault correction. If you wish to truly advance in vibration analysis and be able to run a successful condition monitoring team, then you are ready for this course.
Onsite training means that our expert trainers come to you and teach at your facility, wherever it is located within any of the 50 U.S. states. Students have the opportunity to learn the same subjects taught in our Richmond, VA classes such as shaft alignment, vibration analysis, balancing, and maintenance strategies onsite where they work every day. We wanted to provide this flexible training option so that those who cannot feasibly travel to us can still take advantage of our exceptional training classes.
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