(POM)

Chapter 5

Maintenance Management and Wastage Management

Plant maintenance
Maintenance is defined as that function of production management concerned with the day to day
problem of keeping the physical plant in good operating condition.
Maintenance management is concerned with the direction and organization of resources in order to
control (improve) the availability and performance of the industrial plants to some specified level.
Plant maintenance is concerned with actions taken by the plant user to maintain an existing system
and facilities or to restore it to an operating condition.
OBJECTIVES OF PLANT MAINTENANCE
1. Minimize the loss of productive time because of equipment failure.
2. Minimizing the repair time and repair cost
3. Minimizing the loss due to production stoppages
4. Efficient use of maintenance personnel and equipment.
5. Prolonging the life of capital assets by minimizing the rate of wear and tear.
6. To keep all productive assets in good working conditions.
7. To maximize efficiency and economy in production through optimum use of facilities.
8. To minimize accidents through regular inspection and repair of safety devices.
9. To improve the quality of products and to improve productivity.
10. To minimize the total maintenance cost which includes the cost of repair, cost of preventive
maintenance and inventory carrying costs due to spare parts inventory
TYPES OF PLANT MAINTENANCE

Corrective Maintenance: It occurs when there is a work stoppage because of machine

breakdown. When there is breakdown, the plant equipment needs to be repaired and restored
to its acceptable performance.

Preventive Maintenance: It is undertaken before the need arises and aims to minimize the
possibility of unanticipated production interruptions or major breakdowns. Preventive
maintenance consists of:

Proper design and installation of equipment.

Periodic inspection of plant and equipment to prevent breakdowns before they occur.

Repetitive servicing, upkeep and renovation of equipment

Adequate lubrication, cleaning and painting of buildings and equipment.

Predictive Maintenance: When the maintenance is anticipated to gain increasing attention is

called predictive maintenance. It involves use of sensitive instruments such as vibration
analysers, audio gauges, optical tooling, pressure, temperature gauges, etc. to predict trouble
in the plant or equipment. This allows an extension of the service life without fear of failure.

TYPES OF PLANT MAINTENANCE

Routine Maintenance: This includes activities such as periodic inspection, cleaning, lubrication and
repair of production equipment through out their service life. Routine maintenance can be classified
as:
Running maintenance which involves maintenance work while the equipment is in the operating
condition. E.g. greasing or lubricating the bearings while the machine is running.
Shut down maintenance which involves maintenance work when the machine or equipment is shut
down. E.g. repairing the spare parts, etc.
Planned Maintenance: When the maintenance work is planned or predetermined in advance without
waiting till the machine breaks down is called Planned maintenance or scheduled maintenance or
productive maintenance. It involves inspection of all plant and equipments, machinery, buildings in
order to service, lubricate or repair before the actual break down.
Advantages of PLANT MAINTENANCE
Greater safety to workers
Reduction in production down time
Lesser expenditure on repairs due to fewer repetitive and large scale repairs
Less spare parts
Prolongs the life of the machine
Maintains quality and continuity of production
Reliability

Reliability has been defined as the probability of performing without failure, a specified
function under given conditions for a specific period of time

Thus, reliability means, the capability of a machine or a component to perform a particular

function without breaking down for a specific period of time under given conditions.

CLASSIFICATION OF RELIABILITY
Reliability can be classified into Component reliability and Product reliability or system reliability
COMPONENT RELIABILITY: When each part or component of a machine or equipment or
product is designed for a given level of reliability, it is known as component reliability. It is defined as
the probability that a type of part or component will not fail in a given time period or number of
trials under ordinary conditions of use

PRODUCT RELIABILITY: When all the components or parts are combined into a larger system
such as a machine or a product, the combined reliability of all the components or parts form the basis
for product reliability or system reliability.
MAINTENANCE SCHEDULING
Scheduling is the function of coordinating all of the logistical issue around the issues regarding the
execution phase of the work.
Scheduled of maintenance jobs basically deals with answering two questionsWho and When of
job, i.e., who would do the job and when the job would be started and done.
Effective scheduling essentially needs realistic thinking, based on substantial data and records.
Majority of scheduling work needs to occur in areas such as overhead labour hours safety and toolbox
meetings, break times and training times etc. Addition of corrective and approved improvement
actions as dictated by the prioritization system and operations plan etc.
modern scientific maintenance methods
Different types of schedules are made suiting the respective job plans and different techniques are
used for making and following those schedules.
The first step of all scheduling is to break the job into small measurable elements, called activities and
to arrange them in logical sequences considering the preceding, concurrent and succeeding activities
so that a succeeding activity should follow preceding activities and concurrent activities can start
together.
The following modern scientific maintenance methods are used in plant maintenance:
1. Reliability centered maintenance.
2. Six Sigma Maintenance
3. Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)
4. Computer Aided Maintenance
5. Lean Maintenance
1. Reliability centered maintenance
Reliability-Centred Maintenance, often known as RCM is a process to ensure that assets continue to
do what their users require in their present operating context.
RCM is a maintenance approach that prioritizes some machines over others to increase reliability and
optimize financial resources
It is an industrial improvement approach focused on identifying and establishing the operational,
maintenance, and capital improvement policies that will manage the risks of equipment failure most
effectively.
The primary goal of Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) should therefore be to insure that the
right maintenance activity is performed at the right time with the right people, and that the equipment

is operated in a way that maximizes its opportunity to achieve a reliability level that is consistent with
the safety, environmental, operational, and profit goals of the organization.
The Seven Questions of RCM
There are seven basic questions used to help practitioners determine the causes of system failures and
develop activities targeted to prevent them.
The questions are designed to focus on maintaining the required functions of the system.
1. What are the functions of the asset?
2. In what way can the asset fail to fulfil its functions?
3. What causes each functional failure?
4. What happens when each failure occurs?
5. What are the consequences of each failure?
6. What should be done to prevent or predict the failure?
7. What must be done if a suitable preventive task cannot be found?
2. SIX SIGMA MAINTENANCE
Six Sigma is a set of techniques and tools for process improvement. It was developed by Motorola in
1986,
Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of
defects (errors) and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes. It uses a set
of quality management methods, including statistical methods, and creates a special infrastructure of
people within the organization who are experts in the methods.
The main methodologies of Six Sigma are Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control (DMAIC)
and Design for Six Sigma (DFSS).

1. Define: This step involves determining benchmarks, determining availability and reliability
requirements, getting customer commitments and mapping the flow process.
2. Measure: This step involves development of failure measurement techniques and tools, data
collection process, compilation and display of data.
3. Analysis: This step involves checking and verifying the data and drawing conclusions from
data. It also involves determining improvement opportunities, finding root causes and map
causes.
4. Improve: This step involves creating model equipment and maintenance process, total
maintenance plan and schedule and implementing those plans and schedule.
5. Control: This step involves monitoring the improved programme. Monitor improves
performance and assesses effectiveness and will make necessary adjustments for the deviation
if exists
Six sigma value table
Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)
Enterprise asset management is an information management system that connects all departments
and disciplines within a company making them an integrated unit.
EAM is also referred as computerised maintenance management system. It is the organized and
systematic tracking of an organizations physical assets i.e., its plant, equipment and facilities.
EAM aims at
Best utilisation of its physical assets.
It ensures generation of quality data and timely flow of required data throughout the organization.
It reduces paper work, improves the quality, quantity and timeliness of the information and
Provides information to technicians at the point of performance and gives workers access to job
specific information at the work site.
Computer-aided maintenance
Computer-aided maintenance: refers to systems that utilize software to organize planning,
scheduling and support of maintenance and repair.
A common application of such systems is the maintenance of computers, either hardware or software,
themselves.
It can also apply to the maintenance of other complex systems that require periodic maintenance, such
as reminding operators that preventive maintenance is due or even predicting when such maintenance
should be performed based on recorded past experience.
Lean Maintenance

Lean maintenance is the application of lean principle in maintenance environments. Lean system
recognises seven forms of waste in maintenance. They are over production, waiting, transportation,
process waste, inventory, waste motion and defects.
In lean maintenance, these wastes are identified and efforts are made for the continuous improvement
in process by eliminating the wastes.
Thus, lean maintenance leads to maximise yield, productivity and profitability.
WASTE MANAGEMENT
The industrial waste and scrap consists of spoiled raw-materials, rejected components, defective parts,
waste from production departments etc. involves some commercial values. They should be disposed
of periodically and proper credit of the amount should be taken in the books of accounts.
Hence, waste management plays an important role in managing operations. Wastes can be categorised
into obsolete, surplus and scrap items.
Waste categories
1. Obsolete items: These are those materials and equipments which are not damaged and which have
economic worth but which are no longer useful for the Companys operation owing to many reason
such as, changes in product line, process, materials, and so on.
2. Surplus items: These are those materials and equipments which have no immediate use but have
accumulated due to faulty planning, forecasting and purchasing. However, they have a usage value in
future.
3. Scrap: It is defined as process wastage, such as, turnings, borings, spruces and flashes. They may
have an end-use within the plant having commercial values. Hence, should be disposed of
periodically.
REASONS FOR GENERATION AND ACCUMULATION OF OBSOLETE, SURPLUS AND
SCRAP ITEMS
Following are the reasons for the generation and accumulation of obsolete, surplus and scrap
items:
1. Changes in product design: This may lead to some items getting invalid so far as the final
product is concerned. Hence, the entire stock of such items as surplus obsolete.
2. Rationalization: Sometimes raw materials are rationalized so as to minimise variety and
simplify procurement. The rationalization process renders some items as surplus or obsolete.
3. Cannibalization: When a machine breakdown occurs, sometimes it is rectified using parts of
an identical machine which is not functioning due to various reasons. This process of
cannibalization is not uncommon in many project-based industries. When continued
unchecked, this results in obsolete and scrap items.
4. Faulty planning and forecasting: The marketing department may have projected a sales forecast
which might be on the higher side. Any material planning has to be based on sales forecasts and this
could result in surplus items. Wrong indenting by the user departments also leads to accumulation.

5. Faulty purchase practices: Sub-optimizing decisions like buying in bulk to take care of discounts
and transportation economy without taking into account factors such as, shelf life, storage space
requirements and technological changes once again lead to the accumulation of surplus and obsolete
stocks.
6. Other causes: Many items are held as insurable spares for many years without any consumption.
Faulty store-keeping methods, without adequate preservation, lead to spoilage. Inferior materials
handling, improper codification and poor manufacturing methods also result in obsolete, surplus and
scrap items. Poor maintenance of machine tools may result in excessive tools wear and greater
process scrap.
SCRAP AND SURPLUS DISPOSAL
The term scrap and surplus disposal refers to disposal of waste in a systematic and effective manner
which can result in handsome returns to the organization.
An effective disposal requires a continuous market survey on the prices of various categories of scrap
generated in the plant. The organization needs to have constant touch with the industries which
generate similar scrap and with the end-users to know the prices of various categories.
When costly scrap such as copper, aluminium and tungsten are involved, it is imperative that they are
segregated as returns are huge and price levels are different.
Hence, it becomes important for an organization to segregate the scrap according to different types so
that it can result in optimum usage of materials and also fetch a handsome returns to he organization
Automation
Automation is a technology concerned with the application of mechanical, electronic, and computer
based systems to operate and control production. This technology includes automatic machine tools to
process parts, automatic assembly machines, industrial robots, automatic material handling and
storage systems, automatic inspection systems for quality control, feedback control and computer
process control, computer systems for planning, data collection and decision-making to support
manufacturing activities.
ADVANTAGES OF AUTOMATION
Following are some of the advantages of automation:
Automation is the key to the shorter workweek. Automation will allow the average number of
working hours per week to continue to decline, thereby allowing greater leisure hours and a higher
quality life.
Automation brings safer working conditions for the worker. Since there is less direct physical
participation by the worker in the production process, there is less chance of personal injury to the
worker.
Automated production results in lower prices and better products. It has been estimated that the cost
to machine one unit of product by conventional general-purpose machine tools requiring human
operators may be 100 times the cost of manufacturing the same unit using automated mass-production
techniques. The electronics industry offers many examples of improvements in manufacturing

technology that have significantly reduced costs while increasing product value (e.g., colour TV sets,
stereo equipment, calculators, and computers).
ADVANTAGES OF AUTOMATION
The growth of the automation industry will itself provide employment opportunities. This has been
especially true in the computer industry, as the companies in this industry have grown (IBM, Digital
Equipment Corp., Honeywell, etc.), new jobs have been created. These new jobs include not only
workers directly employed by these companies, but also computer programmers, systems engineers,
and other needed to use and operate the computers.
Automation is the only means of increasing standard of living. Only through productivity increases
brought about by new automated methods of production, it is possible to advance standard of living.
Granting wage increases without a commensurate increase in productivity will results in inflation. To
afford a better society, it is a must to increase productivity.
DISADVANTAGES OF AUTOMATION
Following are some of the disadvantages of automation:
Automation will result in the subjugation of the human being by a machine. Automation tends to
transfer the skill required to perform work from human operators to machines. In so doing, it reduces
the need for skilled labour. The manual work left by automation requires lower skill levels and tends
to involve rather menial tasks (e.g., loading and unloading work part, changing tools, removing chips,
etc.). In this sense, automation tends to downgrade factory work.
There will be a reduction in the labour force, with resulting unemployment. It is logical to argue that
the immediate effect of automation will be to reduce the need for human labour, thus displacing
workers.
Automation will reduce purchasing power. As machines replace workers and these workers join the
unemployment ranks, they will not receive the wages necessary to buy the products brought by
automation. Markets will become saturated with products that people cannot afford to purchase.
Inventories will grow. Production will stop. Unemployment will reach epidemic proportions and the
result will be a massive economic depression.
CONCLUSION
Thus, we can conclude stating that automation has both advantage and disadvantages.
While it is advantages to those who equip themselves with the knowledge of fast growing
technological changes which is a major contributor to ever increasing automation in every field, it is
disadvantageous to those who do not cope up with the technological changes.
It is advantageous for mass production and reduction of price of goods. But it reduces the creative
ability of human beings which can be used in the production of goods.