What is Precision Maintenance?

‘Precision’ refers to consistency: performing tasks in the same way over time with minimal variation.

Precision maintenance is a system of equipment maintenance techniques that are always followed in the same way. This extends to the conditions that trigger maintenance, the tools and parts used, and the technician skills and training required.

Precision maintenance isn’t necessarily a maintenance scheduling approach, such as preventative or predictive maintenance (though those can factor into it). It is a culture of making sure things are always done the same, and correct, way.

Performing high precision maintenance using common, set techniques will give you much more reliability from your assets.

Precision maintenance techniques are as varied as the equipment they’re used on, but there are some widely applicable starting points:

• Write clear maintenance procedures and work instructions that cut out ambiguity. Keep these as controlled documents, but also make them available for the appropriate maintenance staff.
• Determine maintenance priority levels. Assess the regular maintenance costs of your assets and identify the assets your company most needs to bring in revenue. Set maintenance plans based on which machines are constraints, have a history of breakdown, are expensive to replace, or feature high vibration.
• Keep your spaces clean. A clean environment is a healthy operating one for your machines and your staff. You’ll have fewer contaminants degrading performance and less confusion about where key tools and parts are. Also mandate wide and comfortable spaces around access points to increase ease of maintenance (and keep everything well-lit).
• Regularly (or constantly) monitor all key operating conditions. Since precision maintenance isn’t necessarily a maintenance scheduling approach, continually checking on your assets’ health will be your primary way of knowing when it’s time for checkups. RS condition monitoring instruments can make this a nonstop process and cut out manual verification.
• Record and document all the maintenance you perform. Have unambiguous prompts for signing off that the work was done, recording values that are measured and set. When major breakdowns occur, despite your best efforts, thorough documentation will let you trace maintenance to find deviations from set procedures. Additionally, employ root cause analysis for diagnosing breakdowns and learn how to avoid them by tailoring your maintenance methods.

Skills assessment is an essential part of your maintenance training.

First clearly determine what precision maintenance skills and certifications are required to perform each of your maintenance tasks. Then, assess the skillset of each of your team members. Consider which people can quickly take on some of your current tasks and who needs training.

Perhaps the most important of precision maintenance skills is willingness to follow established procedures. Maverick ‘machine whisperers’ may pull off miracles with broken-down equipment, but your primary goal is to avoid breakdowns by doing work the same way every time.

Precision maintenance benefits take great ongoing effort, commitment, and teamwork to achieve, but those are worthy business investments.

Maximise life expectancy of machinery: Significantly reduce equipment breakdowns and downtime, and the financial and lost-time headaches that come along with them. You can also correct problems in their early stages to avoid later incidents.

Reducing downtime: Plan downtime on your own terms and control costs. You’ll also reduce expensive overtime, which is often a necessity in addressing unplanned breakdowns.

Easily meet industry standards: Quality management systems, such as ISO 9001, speak the same language as precision maintenance methods when it comes to establishing and following procedures and documenting them.

Increased safety: Any detailed maintenance procedure that you want performed successfully, frequently, and reliably by different people will naturally create good safety practices. This will further strengthen the certainty that your company is proactively avoiding disastrous problems.

Stronger company: You’ll be creating a culture of teamwork and continuous improvement since people will see their clear involvement in the company’s success.

Peace of mind: Know that you’ve cared for your investments and that they will pay off.

High precision maintenance means running machinery more efficiently. This will become increasingly important in our world’s shift to responsible energy usage. That, combined with the benefits to company finances, safety, and culture, means precision maintenance benefits will be increasingly seen as worth the investment in years to come.

Precision maintenance techniques will employ more and more automation. Artificial intelligence and machine learning will play a greater role in the data analytics behind precision-maintenance best practices.

Browse RS maintenance solutions to realise precision maintenance benefits at your business.