5 Benefits of Condition Based Maintenance

The numerous benefits of condition based maintenance make it an attractive proposition for organisations. Here we highlight how CBM can save you money, increase your asset lifecycle and remove the burdens from overworked maintenance teams.

Minimise Time Spent on Maintenance

At its core, Condition Based Maintenance is a lean methodology. Therefore, the CBM process aims to facilitate flow, and inherently eliminate the waste. Of particular note: rework, overprocessing, and time wastes are eliminated with a CBM approach. By focussing maintenance teams on inspection and repairs of equipment with a genuine, conditional need they can make the most of their time and effort. To do this effectively, organisations must be sure to pair CBM with real-time condition monitoring approach. This provides a true picture of equipment condition at all times through data collected autonomously, at scale.

A reduction in time spent on maintenance provides a clear benefit to the bottom line thanks to reduced labour and repair costs. It could also be speculated that it benefits staff morale as staff are not undertaking repetitive, redundant work.

Increase Worker Safety

Everyone can agree that anything that supports safety in the workplace is a good idea. A further benefit to minimised redundant inspections is that workers are less exposed to dangerous environments and/or tasks. A reduction here means less opportunity for incidents that cause harm to staff, cost time and money to deal with, and can cause emotional stress throughout the organisation.

Optimise Maintenance Planning

When following a condition based approach, maintenance planners have an increased ability to schedule downtime when it is least disruptive. Utilising real-time condition data from equipment, particularly historical behaviour, planners can schedule maintenance work at a more beneficial / non-peak time time.

Plus, a CBM approach enables maintenance planners to make necessary arrangements to prepare replacement equipment ahead of downtime. When you combine solid planning with systems that let maintenance teams own projects to completion (and instantly access the information they need) you end up with an optimal flow.

Extend Asset Lifecycles

Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of a CBM approach is the lengthened useful life of an asset. By keeping your equipment healthy and running efficiently, you limit the compounding damage of inefficient operations.

This means your assets last longer - once again supporting the bottom line and equipment availability for operations teams. The extra capital you save on repair or replacement costs can be used to purchase more equipment to increase capacity or put towards other areas of the business that require support.

Decrease Costs & Increase Energy Efficiency

A direct link has been identified between maintenance processes, equipment energy usage and bottom line costs to a business. 

When machines aren't running in their optimal state they often utilise more energy to maintain their output. Doing so has a tangible cost - energy prices. That's not to mention the compounding effect of overclocking or component issues can have over an asset's lifecycle.

Studies have found that the less efficient maintenance processes (like run-to-failure and preventative) end up costing more in both dollars and impact on the environment.

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) calculated comparative maintenance costs for different maintenance techniques in U.S. dollars per horsepower (HP) per year. Traditional, scheduled maintenance strategies were the most expensive to run at $24 per HP. A reactive maintenance (run-to-failure) strategy was second most costly at $17 per HP. However, we mustn't forget the added cost of compromised safety when running machines to breaking point.

Predictive maintenance strategies were the most cost-effective (almost 2/3 cheaper than traditional maintenance) at only $9 per HP.

Plus, it all but eliminates the chance of further damage from catastrophic failures.

FitMachine can gives you the live insights you need to eliminate costly waste in your process and implement an effective CBM approach. Book a demo today.

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