Autonomous Maintenance or Planned Maintenance?

Both the Autonomous Maintenance and Planned Maintenance pillars of Total Productive Maintenance are used to improve production efficiency.

The pillars are both centred on improving or upskilling the people so that they can improve the equipment.

What you will discover when you start to deploy these pillars is that they both rely heavily on the same few people. This can be difficult to overcome. Which pillar comes first? Who takes the lead?

The smoothest approach is realised when the teams work together and alternate the lead. To help explain this let’s use a sporting analogy.

The Team Pursuit

In this endurance cycling event the team of 4 cyclists on the track take turns in the lead in a bid to get 3 of the team over the line in the fastest time. Check out the action at the Rio Olympics, where Team GB won gold in both the men’s and women’s events.

 

 

The key to winning an endurance race is the reduction of aerodynamic drag

However it’s not just the cyclists that make up the team. There are also trainers, bike designers and physiotherapists. All have a contribution to make.

• Designers reduce the weight of the bikes and improve the aerodynamics. They are constantly trying new materials and technologies.
• Trainers and physios work on getting the cyclists to peak fitness in time for each event and also, with the riders, work on the best sitting position to maximise power and reduce drag.
• Cyclists take turns in the lead. The riders in the slipstream can travel at the same speed but as there is less drag they expend less effort.

The deployment of Autonomous Maintenance and Planned Maintenance in order to improve production efficiency and achieve the goal of zero breakdowns is very much an endurance event. As well as making use of new technologies, materials and methods, both teams require training in the best techniques.

This is where taking the lead in different activities as well as utilising the support of other pillar teams becomes vital. Working together to change the mix of skills and activities undertaken by each team allows both teams to move to a more proactive way of working.

• Initially the Planned Maintenance team provide technical assistance to the Autonomous Maintenance teams to help them eliminate forced deterioration. The Training and Education pillar provides support here.
• This results in in less urgent breakdowns and failure intervals become stabilised. The Planned Maintenance team can now utilise the generated time to do corrective maintenance. This further lengthens the life of the equipment.
• As equipment becomes more reliable the Planned Maintenance teams can start to train the Autonomous Maintenance teams in general inspection techniques. The Autonomous Maintenance teams now move from preventing forced deterioration to monitoring natural deterioration. As the Autonomous Maintenance teams reduce the time to do their cleaning, inspection and lubrication (CIL) activities, they release time for further development.
• The Autonomous Maintenance teams to learn more about the materials being handled and enhance their skills in making correct adjustments and settings.
• Both teams can now move onto activities to build a periodic maintenance system.
• As the lifetime of the equipment extends further the Planned Maintenance teams generate time for training in predictive maintenance skills and exploring the use of new materials, methods and technologies.

You can read more about how to change the mix of skills and activities undertaken by the Autonomous Maintenance and Planned Maintenance teams here.

Or contact the IF team for more information on any aspect of Total Productive Maintenance.