Equipment Maintenance Challenges - The hidden threats to operational excellence.
It’s 3 AM when a plant manager phone rings and he receives the information that the production has ground to a halt as the main equipment in the manufacturing plant has failed to function. Now, what next, he immediately calls the equipment maintenance & service providers and waits for the engineer to arrive at the plant to diagnose and resolve the issue.
Till the time the maintenance or service engineer reaches, things become worse, costing the entire system to shut down as critical components cascade into failure. The situation became even more drastic when the engineer who reached on-site failed to bring the right tools to diagnose it, as more machinery errors were on the way to shut the complete system down. Well, this all could have been prevented, if the plant manager had known the potential challenges that seem to multiply before the actual problem comes into play.
So here, in this article we will dive into those top 5 Equipment Maintenance Challenges that every facility manager must know and what they can do and more importantly how to address them quickly in an effective way.
1. When Unplanned Downtime Meets Aging Infrastructure & Neither Wins:
It’s a common sight across industries where the old and aging infrastructure meets the modern production demands, creating a perfect pathway for unplanned downtime. Each piece of the machinery tells its own wear and tear story while some are getting old without retiring and unexpected machine failure is a hit, resulting in productivity losses, customer dissatisfaction, costly repairs & employee morale going down from constant firefighting with the old ones.
Solution: Traditional maintenance methods may not prevent this unexpected failure but the modern approach can. Proactive and predictive maintenance or inspection strategies combining advanced technology and equipment maintenance tools or software, real-time monitoring of equipment health can address potential issues before they turn into costly breakdowns. Upgrading worn out equipment and prioritizing maintenance tasks based on critical and risky situations can help to minimize such downtimes.
2. The Documentation Struggle: An important information goes unrecorded:
Inadequate maintenance documentation is another hidden challenge that severely affects the production. Imagine a scenario where important information exists only in the minds of long-term employees or gets mixed with a number of papers if jotted down as a note. But is it worth it, what about if the personnel is unavailable at the time of need and nobody knows what had been wrong with that poor machinery.
Solution: Implementing a digital maintenance management system or software that document your information can help to capture and utilize critical equipment knowledge. This modern approach of creating a knowledge base where the history of the machinery is recorded along with methods of diagnosing errors, accessible through text notes, images, videos, or AR manuals can help to keep the critical information safe and available when necessary. Creating a documentation culture where valuable insights and knowledge is shared will not only help the existing employees but also the newly hires to better understand the situation.
3. Skill & Knowledge Transfer Gap: When expertise retires & newcomers are welcomed:
Knowledge crisis and skill set is another gap that creates hurdles. You might have gone through the situation where a veteran maintenance professional having a long term experience of a particular machinery quickly notices the errors with just a few taps on it or listening to its crackled voice. But what will happen next, when they get retired taking along that valuable experience with them walking out of the door without transferring that knowledge to the newly hired or unskilled workers struggling to find the solution and the managers finding possible ways to train them.
Solution: A well-trained team with correct knowledge is capable of handling the tough situation. Documenting expertise knowledge and equipping maintenance technicians with the advanced techniques & training tools such as Augmented Reality Training can help them to train faster and better by engaging in an immersive environment where they experience reality with the digital world.
4. Communication & Compliance Chaos: Maze of shifting regulations & teams operating in different worlds:
Poor collaboration, ineffective communication and fast regulatory changes is another challenge in effective maintenance. Technicians or teams often work in different locations and duplicate the efforts as they lack clarity about ongoing activities. This missed opportunity of knowledge sharing or communication makes it impossible to coordinate efforts effectively. Also, keeping up with the changing regulations is another problem, all leading to extended equipment downtime and increased operational costs.
Solution: Stay informed about industrial maintenance & operations regulatory standards and foster clear communication and collaboration by using remote assistance tools. Adopt new ways to provide quick support to technicians in remote locations and information sharing amongst the teams or cross-functional departments, irrespective of where they are geographically located.
5. Resistance to Change: When you know but not embracing the future:
Teams often lack consistency when they are reluctant to embrace the change due to fear of unknown consequences, affecting their judgement and performance. In this fast moving world of technology accepting the new innovations and implementing the advanced techniques or systems is necessary. Despite recognizing the benefits of new methods or technologies and clinging to the old traditional ways or outdated procedures will place them behind in the race to competitiveness & innovation.
Solution: Forward thinking organizations acknowledge the need for change and embrace it as a catalyst for growth and innovation. Be proactive to adopt the latest technologies and foster a culture of continuous innovation and improvement within the organization. Train workers with new training methods and equip them with advanced tools and maintenance practices and communicate the benefits of change to make them self-sufficient to tackle the challenges.
The challenges we have discussed so far are not just the problems to solve but the opportunities to transform how we approach maintenance. The question is not about how to address these challenges, but how quickly you take the step forward to start and implement the solutions. Stay updated, embrace the technology, take proactive measures and adapt to the futuristic possibilities of solutions, because in the world of maintenance, the decision made today is the success for tomorrow.
