How To Improve Equipment Reliability

Maintenance and asset management will vary by industry. However, certain effective best practices stay fairly consistent. In this article, we will explain why it’s important to maintain equipment reliability and provide some key tips and best practices for improving it. Further, we will discuss the advantages of using LLumin’s Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS+) software, which can help you fully optimize your maintenance operations approach.

Tips for Improving Equipment Reliability

Before exploring ways to improve equipment reliability, we should discuss its importance. Unreliable equipment often results in lower productivity, higher safety risks, and costly emergency repairs. Additionally, unexpected breakdowns, downtime, and poor equipment performance can impact product quality, production throughput, and customer satisfaction.

Because of these costs and risks, ensuring equipment reliability is paramount. Whether your organization is in the energy sector, hospitality, manufacturing, or otherwise, several effective strategies can help deter poor outcomes. By following best practices, you can avoid the negative consequences associated with unexpected downtime and ensure smoother operations. We’ve listed them below for your consideration. 

1. Root Cause Analysis

Root cause analysis helps address the underlying causes of equipment failure at their source. It will require a systematic approach and evaluation of break-down incidents to identify the factors and conditions that contributed to them. 

Infrequent maintenance, operator errors, wear-and-tear, and design flaws are some of the most common causes of equipment failure. When an organization understands why equipment failures occur, it can implement more effective solutions to prevent those failures from reoccurring, resulting in long-term improvements in equipment reliability.

2. Preventive Maintenance 

Preventive maintenance (PM) addresses equipment issues before they escalate into high costs and emergency repairs. This strategy requires scheduling and performing maintenance regularly to prevent maintenance issues from occurring. When implemented effectively, PM can dramatically improve equipment reliability, reduce the risks of unexpected failures, and extend equipment lifespan. 

A few common examples of preventive maintenance tasks include:

• Regular inspections and servicing of equipment.
• Replacing worn-out parts before they fail.
• Lubricating moving components to reduce wear. 

3. Employee Training

Maintaining equipment reliability will be challenging if operators and maintenance technicians lack the necessary knowledge to manage company assets and equipment. The best way to ensure that your teams have these skills is to provide initial training programs for new employees, regular refresher courses to keep skills current, and additional hands-on training for specialized equipment. 

Investing in employee training can provide several important benefits, including, but not limited to, reducing human error and improving equipment performance.

4. Condition-Based Monitoring

Condition-based monitoring (CBM) uses Internet of Things (IoT) technology, machine-level sensors, and maintenance management software to continuously monitor and evaluate the health and performance of equipment in real-time.

Instead of relying on time-based or usage-based methods alone to determine when maintenance should be performed, the CBM approach enables businesses to detect emerging issues as they show early failure patterns. It also enables businesses to benefit from data collection and analysis while making data-driven decisions to improve reliability outcomes.

The following condition-based monitoring techniques are commonly used: 

• Vibration analysis to identify imbalances and misalignments.
• Thermal imaging to detect overheating components.
• Oil analysis to monitor lubrication quality.

5. Standard Operating Procedures

Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are designed to ensure consistency in equipment operations and maintenance by providing detailed, step-by-step instructions for tasks. Standardizing information in this way helps reduce human error risks and ensure consistency in equipment operation and maintenance. 

SOPs should be clearly written and easy to understand. They should also be regularly reviewed and updated to ensure they contain current information and reflect best practices. These documents should also be reinforced and referenced during employee training sessions. 

6. Lubrication and Cleanliness

In addition to routine maintenance and inspections, equipment should be cleaned and lubricated regularly. Lubrication can help reduce friction and wear, while keeping equipment and the facility clean can help prevent contamination-related equipment failures.

Refer back to manufacturer recommendations to help you with these efforts. Generally, the idea is to lubricate equipment at regular intervals and regularly clean equipment and facilities to ensure they are free of dust and other contaminants. Consistent efforts in these areas can help you avoid equipment failures due to environmental factors and simple wear and tear.

7. Inventory Management 

Maintenance operations can easily be disrupted by a lack of critical parts, materials, and resources. Stockouts can thwart the best maintenance strategies. 

If you need to improve in this area, start by identifying and stocking critical inventory items, implementing an advanced inventory management system, such as LLumin’s CMMS+, and developing solid relationships with reliable suppliers. These efforts will help ensure that you always have the right parts at the right time and that your maintenance team can quickly address issues and restore normal operations. 

Leverage LLumin’s CMMS+ Software for Reliability

LLumin’s cloud-based, mobile-ready CMMS+ is an advanced solution designed to optimize maintenance and asset management efforts. It provides features such as automated work order creation, condition-based monitoring, asset tracking, inventory management, and more. 

While this is not an exhaustive list, LLumin can help improve equipment reliability through the capabilities and benefits below.

LLumin’s Honed Implementation Process

To implement and benefit from a new CMMS, it’s necessary to provide employee training and ensure your new solution’s full integration with existing processes. Deploying a new CMMS software can be complex and challenging when mismanaged, resulting in costly delays. 

LLumin addresses these challenges head-on with a Honed Implementation Process (HIP) designed to facilitate seamless integration, data initialization, and user adoption. This approach helps our customers get up and running quickly while ensuring minimal disruption to normal operations and maximum benefits.

How to Improve Equipment Reliability With LLumin

Improving equipment reliability hinges on best practices and proactive maintenance management. When paired with LLumin’s advanced CMMS+, the strategies discussed here can lead to measurable equipment performance and reliability improvements. 

Equipped with the right tools and support, your employees will be empowered to make more effective operation and maintenance decisions, resulting in increased safety, productivity, and cost savings. Join the growing number of satisfied customers using LLumin’s CMMS+ to boost equipment reliability today!