How to Train for Preventative Maintenance

Machinery breakdowns cost industry millions of dollars each year. Not only from loss of production, but from the labor and materials used to repair the equipment to an operational state. During the heat of repairs to restart production, the failed machine is only patched, and all too often not repaired. A run-to-failure maintenance policy is the most costly maintenance program in existence. Preventive maintenance (PM) programs, however, have the ability to reduce, if not eliminate, costly failures. Training maintenance staff, machine operators, and management, is critical to implementing an effective PM program.

Instructions

1

Select key staff for involvement in the discovery and training phase of preventative maintenance. This group will attend initial training and development for the preventative maintenance program. They will also serve as a future advisory committee for continuous development of the PM plan.

2

Attend reliability maintenance seminars that focus on maintenance prevention. Organizations such as the Society of Maintenance and Reliability Professionals, IDCON, and Reliasoft, offer courses and seminars around the country throughout the year.

3

Assess your business needs and what level of PM its machinery requires. There is no one-size-fits-all PM program to fit every industry and company. Based on the principals and fundamentals from conferences and seminars, choose the topics and practices that best fit your organization and will achieve the company's goals.

4

Schedule equipment specific training for technicians and operators. Thorough knowledge of the equipment being maintained is as valuable as the PM program itself. If knowledge gaps exist between what the maintenance staffs knows and the technical information necessary to maintain a piece of equipment, send the affected technicians to training.

5

Hire a consultant to aid the on-site training and to survey progress. While this is not mandatory for a preventative maintenance training program, the amount of time required to achieve the level of knowledge necessary to carry out an effective PM program is substantially reduced.