When it comes to heavy equipment like construction machines, regular maintenance is essential to improve not only equipment performance but also the safety of the operators. Preventative maintenance is one of the integral factors in cost and facility management.
In the U.S. alone, there are about 7.7 million construction industry production employees with the global construction equipment market estimated to be worth around $145.5 billion. This show just how much capital intensive this sector is and why preventative maintenance is important for your business. Perhaps you are not sure on where to start. Here are three simple steps to maximize uptime and improve equipment life.
1. Routine
Conducting regular inspection and strictly following maintenance schedules are some of the basic measures to improving your equipment performance. Preventative maintenance programs will help you detect equipment problems before they become worse, allowing prompt corrective actions to be applied.
Daily inspections may involve elements like component tracking rebuild, performance testing, modification and replacement of components, machine diagnostic and analysis. It’s however recommended to have an organized inspection schedule that will maximize both physical and visual inspection.
Other than improved equipment reliability and performance, routine preventative maintenance will also help reduce the overall cost of maintenance, improve resale value and excellent inventory management.
2. Monitoring
For enhanced efficiency, experts recommend constant monitoring of your equipment. It’s an effective approach that ensures your machine always operates at peak levels with minimum breakdowns. Although proper maintenance is crucial for the performance of your equipment, continuous monitoring can help uncover some minor errors that could have lead to machinery breakdown.
During inspections, it’s important to know that there are types of machinery failure. Sudden breakdown occurs prematurely without warning, while intermittent stoppage happened sporadically. Gradual equipment failure, on the other hand, is the most preventable form of machine failure and is easily averted by regular maintenance. Lastly, ensure to document every detail including the uncovered system errors and the corrective actions you’ve taken to fix the problem.
Hire experienced technicians
Another way to ensure you have excellent performing equipment is to work closely with your operators and technicians. These are the people on the ground who operate and interact with machines in different capacities. They have an in-depth knowledge and better understanding of how well equipment should operate. As such, it’s important you listen to them and at least try to acknowledge their contribution.
As part of preventative maintenance strategy, hire qualified machinery operators who are experienced in equipment handling. Knowledgeable operators will also ensure that the working environment is safe for everyone.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the actualization of preventative maintenance strategy, the process can be costly and time-consuming. This raises a lot of questions as to whether preventative maintenance is a worthy investment for construction equipment businesses. But considering how expensive it can be to fix a machine that has broken down completely, you’d understand why maintenance programs are important.
