Do you know that businesses spend an average of 80% of their time reacting to maintenance issues rather than preventing them? If you own heavy machinery, regular preventive maintenance is essential.
Regular maintenance helps you save on repair and replacement costs. It also helps in extending the life cycle of the machinery. Besides, quality heavy equipment maintenance ensures the machinery operates optimally, eliminating downtime.
However, you must have the right program for optimum maintenance. The right maintenance program should result in fewer equipment failures, less downtime, and lower repair costs.
Otherwise, a non-comprehensive heavy equipment maintenance program will cause more harm than good.
Are you looking forward to impacting the long-term value of your heavy equipment and don’t know what to do? Worry no more. Here are seven tips for heavy equipment maintenance you can follow
1. Commit to a Preventive Maintenance Program
Adopting a preventive maintenance program means anticipating wear and tear before it occurs. In addition, with preventive maintenance, you must take corrective actions to ensure peak equipment performance.
You have to conduct regular inspections, modifications, and repairs. You must also perform performance testing and analyses to determine areas needing attention. Some benefits of a preventive maintenance program include:
- Improved equipment performance
- Reduced downtime
- Reduction in the costs of parts replacement
- Extend the lifespan of equipment
- A high equipment resale value
Preventive maintenance should go beyond regular lubricating and oiling. It should be an all-inclusive maintenance program implemented from the time the machine is purchased until the end of its lifespan.
2. Determine the Major Cause of Machinery Breakdown
Preventive maintenance can help you determine potential causes of machine breakdown. If you can effectively determine the cause of equipment failure before it happens, you can save hundreds to thousands of dollars.
A heavy equipment owner should expect three major types of mechanical failure. The first type is a sudden failure. This arises when the machinery breaks down without any warning.
The other type of failure you could experience is intermittent failure. This is a failure that happens sporadically. Intermittent failures can be frustrating since determining their cause is usually challenging.
The last type of failure to expect is a gradual failure. This kind of failure can be prevented through regular maintenance, inspections, and repairs. You must replace worn-out parts to ensure the optimal functioning of the machinery.
Sudden, intermittent and gradual failure can arise due to:
Thermally-Induced Failures
These failures arise when parts of the equipment are exposed to extreme temperatures. They mainly arise when there is a huge fluctuation in temperature. For example, starting machinery in cold weather can cause thermal-induced failures.
Machinery-Induced Failures
These failures happen due to collisions, vibrations, overexertion, or machine misuse. Replacing what is needed, lubricating, and tightening fasters can help prevent these failures
Erratic Failure
This type of failure is the most challenging to predict and detect. It occurs randomly under varying circumstances. Sudden overloads and electrical system issues are the main cause of these failures.
Understanding the kind of failure you are dealing with helps you know the right measures to take to resolve the issue.
3. Know Your Machine Inside Out
Knowing your machine makes the implementation of a preventive maintenance program quite easy. To better understand your machine, you have to read its manual. The manual indicates the suitable service intervals for each part of your machine.
It also indicates the right servicing products and acceptable operating conditions. Besides, if you face any failure, the manual also offers a guide on handling the failure.
If you don’t know your machine inside out, invest some time in reading its manual.
4. Train Employees on Effective Management of Heavy Equipment
Knowledgeable machine operators are more productive. They understand the best practices for prolonging the lifespan of heavy equipment.
Therefore, they avoid engaging in activities that push the machinery beyond its limits. Besides, trained operators easily detect failures and respond to them appropriately.
The mistake most heavy equipment owners make is training employees only on how to start and run machinery. The best training should also include informing the operator of the required daily maintenance tasks.
It should also involve training the employees on how to use the manual and stick to it. You will save thousands of dollars if you train the operators on how to spot issues and deal with them appropriately.
5. Keep Documentation of Repairs and Services
A detailed repair and service record is essential in a preventive maintenance program.
Heavy equipment demands many repairs and services which are impossible to track mentally. A detailed services record helps you determine the date a specific type of servicing was done.
You can also determine the parts that haven’t been replaced for a while by looking at the record. In case of a disputed mechanical failure with the heavy equipment seller, the repair and service record can serve as evidence.
You can document the service tasks on a paper ledger or on a computer using a spreadsheet.
6. Find the Right Service Kits
The quality of service kits you use on your heavy equipment determines how long the parts will last. Heavy equipment service kits contain all the required fluids, greases, and filters.
Using high-quality servicing products ensures that your machine is adequately lubricated. The right servicing products also ensure that the engine oil is clean to avoid clogging and overheating.
It’s advisable to buy service kits from the manufacturer of your machinery to get original spare parts. Also, remember to change filters as often as required and use only the specified fluids on each part of your machine.
The more info you have on the right service kits, the better.
Heavy Equipment Maintenance Tips You Must Know
Proper heavy equipment maintenance of your heavy equipment is crucial to keeping it running for a long time. Also, preventive maintenance can help you avoid costly repairs.
The tips highlighted above will come in handy in maintaining your heavy equipment. Besides, you will save money that you could have spent on replacements and repairs.
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