The entire concept and applications of corrective maintenance can be observed in everyday life ranging from cleaning a dirty window to fixing or replacing a broken dryer. But the real question is what is corrective maintenance and how to define it.
Corrective maintenance is a category of maintenance tasks that are performed to repair faulty machinery equipment and transform a non or underperforming asset into a productive, efficient, and profitable one. If any problem in the machinery is observed during the work order, the maintenance technician or machine operator takes the call for corrective action. Then, a corrective maintenance order is scheduled for restoration.
How To Utilize CMMS Effectively For Scheduling Corrective Maintenance?
The main intention of every maintenance task is to decrease asset downtime. The CMMS maintenance software can gather and analyze information about corrective maintenance operations and predict solutions based on historical and real-time maintenance data. Technicians can quickly refer to the equipment’s maintenance history and specific performance details, which speeds up the troubleshooting and repair tasks.
Furthermore, future maintenance tasks can be scheduled earlier by referring to the analysis reports generated by identifying the corrective maintenance data trends.
A typical CMMS software helps in the following ways-
1. Simplification of the reporting process
For an effective address of corrective problems, it is critical to streamlining the reporting process. The CMMS software can help solve the issue as it comes with several features like a work request portal, inquiry segment, etc. The employees can utilize it comfortably to raise a maintenance request without creating chaos during the production time.
2. Workflow optimization
Using CMMS software, you can easily tune your organizational workflow for better productivity, quality, customer satisfaction, and profitability. CMMS software allows more agile access to the equipment’ maintenance reports and logs, comes with a spare parts and vendor management system to keep track of your inventory and spare parts. Moreover, every bit of information about the equipment under scrutinies such as maintenance protocols and procedures, OEM recommendations, etc., is available on a single platform.
3. Maintenance scheduling and management
Maintenance scheduling is one of the most in-demand features of CMMS software. Using CMMS, you can track and manage the organization’s maintenance work since the maintenance scheduling operation gets digitalized completely. It makes assigning and reassigning corrective tasks to technicians much smoother.
Scheduling of jobs and tracking work progress becomes a matter of just a few clicks.
4. CMMS for proper communication
It’s not just the maintenance team but, the operations squad must be on the same page as far as the amount of information about the repair and maintenance status of equipment or asset is considered. A clear communication channel needs to be built between teams so that the production efficiency doesn’t have to suffer much.
CMMS technology such as mobile CMMS can be effective in providing real-time communication in the following ways-
- hosts a work request portal to manage work orders.
- offers a platform to maintenance technicians and other people for collaboration while dealing with intricate problems.
- enables you to share the task priority list with the individuals responsible through instant message, in-app, or e-mail quite comfortably.
6 Best Strategies To Reduce Corrective Maintenance
A significant reduction in corrective maintenance orders would mean more production efficiency, productivity and profits, lesser operation halts, and delivery delays. Some situations may enforce a need for corrective maintenance, but prevention is better than cure.
Here are some tips to reduce such maintenance orders considerably-
1. Harness the CMMS technology
CMMS solutions enable organizations to perform data analysis and generate insightful reports of the machinery condition and performance. Based on the analytics, you can make better decisions regarding work orders to boost productivity.
2. Upskill your employees
You should encourage and incentivize your employees (especially those directly involved in the production process) to pursue job-related education, courses, and certifications. Training the teams on the latest technological developments allows faster adaptation. So, a consistent-learning mechanism should be implemented within the work structure of the company.
3. Workload management
The workload on individuals must be monitored and managed effectively so that they don’t feel overworked or show any signs of incapability and negligence towards tasks assigned. Hence, proper scheduling and prioritizing tasks based on severity and data analytics would prevent the chances of excessive load on teams.
4. Easy access to the required tools
Availability of tools that assist in repairing and replacing assets is vital during maintenance operations. Organizations must devise strategies to improve the accessibility of parts to be corrected during the design process phase of the facility planning model itself. Every capable member of the team must be able to access the tools which are needed for corrective maintenance orders.
It allows them to finish the assigned maintenance tasks in a quicker, efficient, and proactive manner, which ultimately leads to an increase in overall product quality and reduced production time.
5. Effective management of redundant systems
Redundant systems might not significantly reduce the actual amount of effort to be put into restoring the equipment. But such systems are good enough to get substituted with broken ones. Therefore, they help in decreasing the total downtime experienced at the manufacturing unit and allowing the technicians to carry out the required maintenance tasks.
6. Equipment preservation
Preserving the equipment is like an insurance policy for production downtime. Look for ways to track the performance characteristics of the assets. Don’t wait till the moment the equipment needs to be replaced or overhauled.
Use CMMS software to know about impending issues, track problem trends, and whether the equipment fails any time soon.
Bottomline
A corrective maintenance schedule is as vital for businesses as any other production operation. This maintenance technique finds its applications in a variety of sectors such as on a line of production equipment, HVAC systems during winters and rainy seasons, public works such as roadway repairs and infrastructure restoration, etc.
To achieve the best outcomes, the stakeholders must be able to decide when corrective maintenance is propitious and when it becomes a reason for inefficiency, downtime, low-quality production, lesser productivity, and losses. Maintenance staff must be trained and skilled enough to make the most from historical and real-time maintenance data and analyze how corrective maintenance orders be executed for the most-effective maintenance. Using a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) solution will solve most of your problems.
