Preventive Maintenance

Preventive maintenance is a significant practice in many industries. Essentially, this approach aims to improve operational continuity and efficiency by regularly maintaining equipment or systems, detecting faults in advance, and preventing potential problems. Its purpose is to help prevent unexpected breakdowns and interruptions, extend equipment life, and reduce operating costs by minimizing the probability of failures. In this context, it is an indispensable strategic maintenance for many industrial companies.

What Are the Types of Preventive Maintenance?

These types are formed by using different methods and various maintenance strategies. These techniques are listed below.

• Predictive maintenance: It relies on predicting potential failures based on machine life, performance data, and other factors. This way, problems can be identified and resolved reactively before they arise.
• Basic maintenance: It is a method where maintenance activities are performed at specific intervals. Maintenance can be performed after a specific period or operating hours, for example.
• Condition-based maintenance: It monitors the working condition of the equipment and ensures maintenance is performed when a specific criterion or threshold is exceeded. Sensors and monitoring systems are often used to implement this method.
• Pre-scheduled maintenance: It is a technique that involves replacing equipment or system components after a specific period or operating cycle. This is planned considering the wear and tear processes of the components.
• Protective maintenance: It is a type of maintenance that ensures protection against environmental effects. For example, it may include routine operations such as lubrication, cleaning, and seal checks.

These methods are generally used together, and the appropriate ones are selected according to an enterprise's needs, characteristics, and working conditions. This variety increases the flexibility and effectiveness of preventive maintenance.

Examples of Preventive Maintenance Planning

They should be customized and optimized according to the features and needs of the enterprise. These plans should include a specific system and elements. For example, the dates when device maintenance will be performed and application steps should be determined, safety systems for fault detection should be identified, and details such as temperature and vibration measurements for applications should be planned. In addition, repair priorities determined as a result of risk analyses and condition analyses based on physical evidence are also important.

For example, while creating a machine maintenance plan in a production facility, the working hours and dates of the machine can be considered. Routine maintenance can be performed after a certain period or operating hours. This maintenance may include simple operations such as lubrication, cleaning, and filter replacement. A plan can be created to periodically review and replace performance-affecting parts as needed. Additionally, planning maintenance in a power plant can be more complex. Here, revisions or major part replacements can be performed after a specific period or operating cycle.

To automatically generate a maintenance request, the equipment's condition is continuously monitored with sensors and monitoring systems, and a notification is made when a specific threshold value is exceeded. It is also essential to examine historical data for creating plans. This data provides a good maintenance strategy to determine which equipment needs maintenance and which types of failures occur more frequently. This way, the most effective and efficient plan can be created, and the continuity and efficiency of the enterprise can be increased.

What Are the Advantages of Preventive Maintenance?

Preventive maintenance offers many advantages to increase the continuity and efficiency of the enterprise. These are listed as follows.

Preventive maintenance minimizes unexpected downtimes by detecting equipment failures in advance. This increases operational continuity and reduces interruptions in production. Reducing the likelihood of failures significantly decreases production losses and costs.

Regular maintenance extends the operational life of the equipment. Part replacements, lubrication, cleaning, and other maintenance activities increase the equipment's performance and reduce wear rates.

Regular maintenance ensures optimal performance. Clean and well-maintained machines operate more effectively and consume less energy. Also, regular adjustments and revisions ensure the best performance.

Preventive maintenance reduces unexpected failures and the costs of major repairs. Small, regular maintenance expenses are more economical than the high costs that unexpected major failures will bring. Increased operational continuity and reduced production losses also reduce costs.

Regular maintenance increases workplace safety. Well-maintained equipment reduces safety risks in the workplace. Early detection and prevention of hazardous situations based on conditions prevent workplace accidents and injuries.

Efficiently operating equipment allows the production of quality products. Quality products increase customer satisfaction. Therefore, it has a positive impact on customer satisfaction and the enterprise's reputation.

Preventive maintenance plans support the timely and effective planning of maintenance activities. It ensures more consistent use of the enterprise's resources. Planned maintenance activities allow better planning of other operations of the enterprise.

Preventive maintenance carries a compelling value for enterprises in many areas, such as fault prevention, equipment efficiency, cost savings, increased safety, and customer satisfaction. These advantages enhance the competitiveness of companies and create a sustainable business management.

What Are the Differences Between Preventive Maintenance and Predictive Maintenance?

Preventive maintenance and predictive maintenance are two different maintenance strategies used in the industry. Both aim to identify failures in advance and increase efficiency. However, their approaches and implementation methods are different. Preventive maintenance includes regularly scheduled maintenance activities at specific intervals or after an operating cycle. It is based on standard procedures and is carried out to maintain the overall health of the equipment.

Predictive maintenance, on the other hand, aims to predict future failures by monitoring real-time conditions and analyzing data. It is carried out through sensors and monitoring systems, providing real-time condition monitoring. One of the main differences between these two strategies is the timing of maintenance. In preventive maintenance, maintenance operations are performed at specific intervals or after an operating cycle, while in predictive maintenance, maintenance operations are determined based on real-time conditions and data. This shows that predictive maintenance offers a more proactive approach. Additionally, preventive maintenance includes standard maintenance activities such as lubrication, cleaning, and part replacement, while predictive maintenance requires real-time monitoring and data analysis.

Both strategies are important to increase the continuity and efficiency of the enterprise. However, which one to use will depend on the needs and characteristics of the enterprise. Maintenance types can be applied in many different sectors and can be carried out by various stakeholders. The implementation of preventive maintenance may vary depending on the needs and resources of the enterprise and may require cooperation among different stakeholders.