ASSIGNMENT MB-0015

Q1. Explain how breakdown, corrective and remedial maintenance contributes to the maintenance management of an organisation? ANS. Breakdown, Corrective and Remedial Maintenance:Description: This is one of the earliest maintenance and the approach to maintenance is totally reactive, as their action is only activated on breakdowns. Breakdown or corrective maintenance is periodically performed on the equipment to rectify the problem. Breakdown Maintenance is a practice to run the machines until they fail and then take repair to restore them to an acceptable working condition. This kind of rectifying the problem on breakdowns of the equipment may be more convenient and cost effective after its failure rather than disrupting production frequently for preventive and routine maintenance action. It is also called on-failure maintenance or corrective maintenance. Here too cost consideration is that the corrective or repair maintenance is carried when intermediate cost incurred is found less that of the regular preventive maintenance.

Goals or objectives of the corrective maintenance are: To restore the faulty equipment to a healthy operating sate as promptly as possible. To restore in a cost effective manner. To get machinery working again and minimising production interruption. To control the investment costs on the purchase of standby or back up machines. To carry out appropriate repairs intermittently at each malfunction so as to improve the life of the machine. To control the costs of repair. To keep the cost of the maintenance crew to a minimum. Corrective maintenance is carried out by maintenance crew in three steps: 1. Diagnosis of the problem: The maintenance technicians take time to locate the failed parts and assess the cause of the system failure. 2. Repair and or replacement of failed parts: once the cause of system failure is identified, action must be taken to address the cause. Usually replacing or repairing the components that caused the system to fail is done. 3. Verification of the action taken: once the component is repaired or replaced, the maintenance technicians must verify the system for its successful operations.

Comparison of breakdown, corrective and remedial maintenance: The breakdown maintenance method is expensive as it results in higher maintenance cost, increased downtime, and loss in output. It also involves certain safety hazards, upsets schedules and may lead to frayed tempers between maintenance and production people and unnecessarily puts in unnecessary pressure on maintenance staff. Corrective maintenance is performed normally at unpredictable intervals because a components failure time is not known in advance. Corrective maintenance strategy is also called scheduled maintenance strategy. However a properly designed fault finding and reporting system must be instituted as per the planned maintenance work schedule. Corrective maintenance may also include activities related to failure or malfunction that might not have been considered when the equipment was designed. In such cases, proper feedback to the design department may lead to alterations in design that will reduce or eliminate failures.

Q2. Explain the measures that capture the attributes pertaining to breakdowns and other maintenance performances? ANS. Measures that capture the attributes pertaining to breakdowns and other maintenance performances are mentioned below. 1. Mean time between failures (MTBF). 2. Mean time to repair (MTTR). 3. Availability. Mean time between failures (MTBF): Mean Time between Failures (MTBF) is the expected time of the arrival of a failure. If Y is the failure rate of the equipment then MTBF is (1/Y). As was discussed earlier, the breakdown frequency is linked to MTBF. Equipment with less frequent breakdowns implies a higher value of MTBF and vice versa. The equipment manufacturers sometimes supplies data on MTBF. However there is a set of assumptions behind these numbers. A more direct and easier approach to estimate MTBF is to maintain equipment history cards and record all the failures that have occurred. On analysis of this information one can estimate the MTBF. Mean time to repair (MTTR): Mean time to repair (MTTR) is the expected time for restoring the equipment back to working condition. If the service rate is denoted by U, then the MTTR is the inverse of the service rate that is (1/U). MTTR is composed of two components in the maintenance context.

1. The first is the exact identification of the nature of the problem and the remedies and repairs required. 2. The second is the actual repair of the equipment. The severity of breakdown will significantly influence the MTTR. If the breakdown is less severe then it may require less time to restore the equipment to working condition. Another factor that will influence MTTR is the quality of the maintenance activity itself. By developing superior trouble shooting methods, it is possible to quickly locate the root cause of the problem and thereby minimise the MTTR.

Availability: The availability is defined as the fraction of the time the equipment is available for production use. If, on an average, in a total time of A(t), the equipment is not operative for a period of [d(t)] due to breakdowns, then the availability is computed as A = Availability = [{A(T)-d(t)}/A(t)] The equipment can be considered to go through a series of failures and repairs until the useful life is over. Therefore, an alternative definition for availability is expressed as: A = Availability + [MTBF/(MTBF+MTTR)].

Conclusion:The importance of measuring the vital attributes of MTBF, MTTR and the availability can be visualised and hence the calculation of the attributes will show the present status of the equipment and what all areas requires improvements. Working on this requirement will help improve the effectiveness, and help bridge the gap between the desired level and the present level of performance. Q3. Why detail analysis and use of different methods are essential requirements for taking suitable decisions on the equipment replacements? Explain briefly these methodologies used? ANS. Reasons for detail analysis and use of different methods:The method of replacement and its analysis is similar to those adopted while procuring the equipments under original investment plans of the project, except for the following differences: The original investment analysis was made from purely investment and returns basis, whereas in case of replacement the estimation will also consider the residual serviceable life the existing equipment. In case of replacement analysis, the new machine being procured gives out certain standards for comparison with the existing machine being replaced.

Organisations have alternative methods for analysis before any decision is taken for replacement. Some of these important methods of analysis for replacement are: 1. 2. 3. 4. Decision tree method. Minimum annual cost method. Barnes formula method. MAPI method.

Decision tree method:One of the methods of analyzing the equipment replacement decision is to make use of decision trees. Minimum annual cost method: To continue operating the equipment or to replace it with the new one has to be decided based on the lowest annual operating and capital costs. The annual capital costs consist of two ingredients, that is, the depreciation and interest charges. The annual operating cost includes wages to operator, power consumption, repair and maintenance and material losses.

Barnes formula method: Prof. R.M. Barnes developed a formula for equipment replacement. The formula is suitable for the old and new machines having shorter life. Here the replacement is not allowed unless the savings due to the use of new equipment will pay not only for the new equipment but also for any amortized value of the old equipment with the given number of years. This time, that is, the number of years in which equipment will pay for itself is calculated by using the Barnes equation given below: X = [{(A + B}) / {(E - F) DG + (H-C)}] Where, X = Number of years in which the equipment will pay for itself. A= Cost of the new equipment including installation charges. B = Depreciated value of the old equipment at the time of replacement as reduced by any realized value of scrap. C = Interest charge for the new equipment. D = Interest charge for the new equipment. E = Labour cost per unit with new equipment. F = Estimated cost per unit with new equipment. G = Estimated number of working days per year for new equipment. H = Savings or losses in fixed charges per year other than interest charges.

MAPI method: The Machinery and Allied Products Institution (MAPI) have developed a method for evaluating the replacement of machinery. MAPI analyzes and compares the rate of returns of the proposed new machine and returns without the implementing the proposed replacement in the immediate next year. It emphasis on the immediate returns, as any distant forecasts for few years ahead may not be reliable when the decision is taken for heavy capital investments. The basic elements are: Net investment

It is the cost of the proposed new machine including installation charges, less any investments eliminated by its implementation. What are the next year advantages from the new machine: 1. Operating advantages because of new machine replacement (sum of the possible increase or decrease in revenues plus change in the operating costs) 2. Non operating advantages (the fall in the salvage value for holding the existing asset for one more year plus and the fall in the value of the new machine for the next year) 3. MAPI urgency index: the urgency of implementation or otherwise of the new machine. It is calculated on the % basis as under. Here higher the %, the greater the urgency of the replacement process. Q4. Explain briefly the ABC classification and reasons behind recommending ABC and VED classifications for managing inventory of spare parts for maintenance? ANS. ABC classification:ABC analysis suggest the classifying of all inventory parts into three categories A, B, and C on the basis of the annual movement of spare parts for maintenance activities. A class items: These items constitute about 10% of the total number of parts and account for about 70% of the total money spent on inventories. In costly equipments, like, air compressors and diesel generators set, the costly items are the rotor shafts and engine block respectively. In each of these, the requirement for the department may be one in number and in two to three years time for replacement action. Here, the cost of replacement of such an item will be very high. Similarly, replacement of a transmission or gear box, chassis in the truck and wheels, form the A class spares that may be stocked for emergency break down maintenance, as they are not going to move regularly.

B class items: These items generally constitute about 20% of the total number of items and about 20% of the total cost of inventory. These are generally intermediate items. B class items in the equipment generally include the axle rods, differential gears, spindles and head stocks.

C class items: These items constitute about 70% in numbers but account for only 10% of the total cost or purchase in the inventory. In machinery, the items like bearings, gaskets, filters, pins, bolts, nuts, washers, springs, plastic parts, belts, chains, and pulley block come under the C class items.

Features of ABC items: The features have been provided in a tabular format for easy understanding as shown in table: Few in number High in value Rigid control required Low safety stock Ordered frequently Continuous check required Multiple sources developed Moderate in number Moderate in value Moderate control Medium safety stock Ordered less frequently Occasional checks A few sources developed High in number Low in value Least control Large safety stock Bulk orders Hardly any check Two of three reliable sources developed for each category

C class items of production are of low value and of less consumption and hence planned with low service levels, because the non availability of such items may not stall the entire production. Moreover, since most of them are available off the shelf, the immediate requirements could be purchased. As compared to the C class item in production management, C class for maintenance may be vital for the proper functioning of the equipment. This implies that it may prevent the entire equipment from running and hence bring the entire system into a grinding halt. This is especially common when such equipment is in the continuous flow process industry.

Reason:VED classification is also adopted in managing inventory of spares parts in inventory management. The principles used in A, B, and C categorisation is same, which are replaced by V, E, and D respectively, as Vital few represents A, Essential represents B, and Desirable represents C, but the ratio as adopted for fixing the inventory levels of 10:20:70 may vary. Q5. Explain briefly the universal principles used for improving productivity of the maintenance management? ANS. Scientific principle:Best productivity results can be achieved when each worker has a definite job to do in a definite way within a definite time. Here the Frederick Taylors principle of scientific management can be applied to all tasks and hence maintenance can also adopt the principles laid out by Taylor. Measurement and control:The measurement of an activity indicates the present position and the effectiveness of the department. This measurement when compared to the universal standards will indicate deviations if any. Hence monitoring and controls can be instituted. The principles that works here is similar to other standard practices. Activity and responsibility:Identifying and assigning responsibility for each work is necessary to ensure work completion as planned. Processing the work should also be based on certain principles and procedures and must be executed as per the universal standards. Customer and service relationship:When the customers are being served with maintenance work whether they are internal or external, the view points of the customer must be considered while deciding on the processes and the standard practices to be adopted. Together with the customer, the maintenance crew can decide the priority and offer services based on the planned and available resources. This type of serving the customer, whether internal or external is also possible by using universally standardised processes and the best principles. Crew size:The optimum crew size to be planned must be as small as possible and with the least skill. This concept is universally adopted. For this purpose, the maintenance department has to qualify which skills of the crew will serve which purpose and what is the standard crew size that suits the job. This type of assigning the suitable job for the right crew members is also universal practice. Hence for maintenance, jobs should be performed using specific method in a safe and efficient manner, for which planners should issue standardised processes. Timeliness:It is a universal practice to divide the large maintenance jobs into smallest tasks that is possible. The idea is that these small tasks can be attacked simultaneously and completed within a short lead time. In certain projects, these tasks may run to

hundreds. Unless standardisation and measurement of time are considered and practiced for these smaller tasks, there may be problems and road blocks in completing the total task and thus the project. Timely accomplishment of any big project with many tasks involved is also a universal phenomenon. Q6. What is meant by Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)? What are its constituents and objectives served? List the OEE Losses? ANS .Concept of overall equipment effectiveness: The central concept of TPM philosophy is to maximise the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). The success of TPM program is related to recognising OEE as an important measure for maintenance management. OEE is defined as the product of the availability of the equipment and the overall performance efficiency resulting in the quality output, with zero defects. Components:OEE is having three important components which are given below. 1. Availability of the equipment for continuous production. 2. Equipments performance in giving out the desired products. 3. The quality yield from that equipment, which is expected to be zero defective products. OEE = Availability X Performance Efficiency X Quality yield. Objective served by OEE:The following are the objectives served by OEE. It: Helps see a problem so that you can fix it. Lets you visualise the big losses in breakdowns. Reduces set up time of equipment. Reduces down time of equipment. Reduces defects.

Calculation of overall equipment effectiveness:The following steps must be performed for the calculation of overall equipment effectiveness: 1. Calculate Planned production time which is =[(Total time per day or shift)(planned shut downs + lunch and other breaks)]. 2. Calculate Operating time which is = [Planned production time- (set up time +breakdown time)]. 3. Calculate net Operating time, which is = [Operating time -minor stops]. 4. Determine full production time which is = [Net operating time (Scrap +rework time)].

OEE losses:The following are the six types of big losses that happen in regular operations, which require a deep study by both maintenance and operation management personnel: 1. 2. 3. 4. Break down losses. Set up and adjustment losses. Idle and minor stoppage losses. Loss due to working of equipment with reduced speed and hence reduced output. 5. Down Time spent on repair and rework. 6. Start up time spent on equipment.