MOVUS BLOG

My wife and I have been married for 25 years - a significant achievement we take pride in. Yes, there have been good and not-so-good times, but we made an oath to look after each other, in sickness and in health, and we’ve kept it. But we’re not the only ones.

Taking an oath has been institutionalised across many fields; my local doctor, for one, may have taken the Hippocratic Oath in the spirit of ‘first do no harm’. But what about maintenance and reliability staff, engineers, and asset managers? Do they swear by some secret oath? Perhaps there should be ‘zero harm’, an oath to put the health of their equipment first.

So often, we confuse efficient with effective.

Maintenance transformation projects offer great rewards, as well as significant challenges. Malcolm Schulstad, Chief Operations Officer at MOVUS, shares his insights into how to tackle such projects, and best involve the various, impacted teams.

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate, or perhaps unfortunate, to be involved in projects that have significantly changed how an organisation operates. From shifting the Royal Australian Air Force’s paper-based maintenance processes to deployable, digital infrastructure that maintained real-time information about its aviation assets worldwide, to moving a consumer base of over 400,000 from analogue to digital broadcast technologies (which included making sure a Satellite launched on time and without blowing up), the challenges of those projects to achieve success were pretty much the same.

Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) is a very approachable methodology that can unlock massive potential for organisations. It's not just maintenance teams who benefit either - their are operational benefits too. There is a reduced risk of assets failing when needed and costs are significantly decreased leading to more money for other projects and more.

We're in the business of deploying wireless condition monitoring to critical, fixed rotating assets. So naturally, we regularly come up against objections and reluctance. Change is scary, and so many organisations seek safety and security in maintaining the status quo. So I thought I'd take the time to discuss the common reasons organisations don't move forward with condition monitoring solutions.

When we speak about different maintenance methodologies, we often see them displayed on a maintenance maturity curve or a matrix. Each methodology is generally discussed as a stepping stone to another, or as a singular method to achieve certain objectives.

However, it is important to remember that maintenance approaches can be synergistic when applied correctly. Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) is a great example of a methodology that is particularly effective when used on its own, but is a fantastic support to other approaches. The best example of this is how CBM fits in with Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) philosophy and Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) approaches.

Here's why practitioners of these methodologies shouldn't sleep on CBM and should explore ways to level up their approach.

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.

Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) is just that - repairing assets based on condition data (ideally ahead of failure). Most leading practitioners agree that in order to implement a true CBM approach, organisations need to be monitoring their equipment continuously, in real-time. Otherwise they are still running closer to traditional, routine maintenance approach.