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Equipment Health Assurance

Reduce failure-related repair and replacement costs and improve overall equipment reliability.

The list of factors contributing to equipment failure is long and can range from mechanical issues to human error. Different There is no one size fits all strategy, and selecting the right one often involves a trade-off between managing risk and investment. Here are some common causes of equipment failure and how they can be addressed:

  1. Poor Maintenance Practices: Lack of regular maintenance is one of the primary causes of equipment failure. Regular inspections, lubrication, cleaning, and calibration are essential to preventing failures in different types of equipment.

    How to address: Implement a preventive maintenance program that includes scheduled inspections and servicing of equipment. Use maintenance logs to track activities and identify potential issues before they lead to failure.
  2. Wear and Tear: Over time, components of equipment can degrade due to normal wear and tear, leading to failure.

    How to address: Replace worn-out parts before they fail. Keep spare parts in stock to minimize unplanned downtime. Ensure proper lubrication of parts to reduce friction.
  3. Overloading: Operating a piece of equipment beyond its capacity can cause stress on components, leading to premature failure.

    How to address: Ensure that operators are properly trained to use equipment within specified limits. Implement monitoring systems to alert operators when equipment is approaching its capacity.
  4. Misuse or Abuse: Improper operation or intentional misuse of equipment can cause damage and failure.

    How to address: Provide comprehensive training to operators on equipment usage and preventing equipment failure. Ensure that operation and maintenance manuals, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and maintenance checklists exist and are readily available.
  5. Electrical Issues: Power surges, voltage fluctuations, or electrical shorts can damage sensitive electronic components in equipment.

    How to address: Install surge protectors or voltage regulators to stabilize electrical supply. Regularly inspect electrical wiring and connections for signs of damage.
  6. Material Defects: Poor quality materials or manufacturing defects can cause equipment failure.

    How to address: Source equipment from reputable manufacturers known for quality and reliability. Conduct thorough quality control checks on incoming equipment.
  7. Lack of Training: Inadequate training of personnel can lead to operational errors that cause equipment failure.

    How to address: Invest in comprehensive training programs for equipment operators, maintenance technicians, and other personnel involved in equipment operation and maintenance. Provide ongoing refresher training to ensure skills remain up-to-date and that operators and technicians are properly trained.

By addressing these common causes of equipment breakdown through proactive maintenance, proper training, and appropriate operational practices, organizations can minimize downtime, reduce costs, and prolong the lifespan of their equipment.

How Allied Reliability Can Help

Allied Reliability’s Equipment Health Assurance consulting offering begins by addressing two basic but critical questions: “How Much?” and “How Well?” How much refers to the percentage of the asset base being covered and the number of failure modes addressed on those assets. How well refers to the amount of rigor being applied to these standards across all facilities.

Allied Reliability works within your organization to focus on the early identification and elimination of defects. This early identification of the defects will then lead to consulting and coaching on facilitating proactive work. This is in marked contrast to utilizing technologies to optimize a run-to-failure maintenance strategy.

If you have an optimized preventive maintenance (PM) / condition monitoring process that is failure mode driven, that process (including inspections and follow-up work orders) drives 75-85% of your workflow. It considers various factors, ranging from manufacturer information and equipment history to real-time data such as vibration analysis. If you plan your maintenance schedule, execute the work with precision, and have a continuous improvement process, you will be a pacesetter and generate a positive impact to your bottom line.

Equipment Health Assurance deliverables:

A graphical representation of the process is shown below.

Asset Health Assurance Process

Equipment Health Management/Equipment Health Program Design

The Equipment Health Management consulting deliverable begins by identifying and arranging all assets by criticality ranking and then positioning them on a proactive maintenance strategy matrix containing all possible predictive technologies, preventive tasks, and condition monitoring tasks.

Proactive strategies are then identified for each critical asset, making sure they are addressing specific asset failure modes. “Best Investment” is analyzed and evaluated comparing strategies against 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th levels of industry quartile coverage. An economic analysis then evaluates the appropriate quartile coverage for each asset with respect to the consequences of functional asset failures.

Allied Reliability consultants work with your team to design a fully customizable equipment maintenance strategy, with all pre-defined failure modes having specific technologies and PM tasks assigned that will allow for the identification of those defects. This includes all lubrication-related strategies and procedures.

Scope of deliverable:

  • Design/improvement of a PM/PdM Program
  • An at-a-glance view of the PdM technologies and PM tasks that will be used to address specific failure modes in your assets
  • Technologies and tasks assigned based on known failure modes of different components

Related Resources

Blog
Asset Criticality Ranking
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Ebooks
PdM Secrets Revealed
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Ebooks
Are You Doing Too Much PM? 16 Ways to Save Time and Money on Preventive Maintenance
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