Plant MAINTENANCE:-

Maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) or maintenance, repair, and overhaul involves fixing any sort of mechanical, plumbing or electrical device should it become out of order or broken (known as repair, unscheduled, or casualty maintenance). It also includes performing routine actions which keep the device in working order (known as scheduled maintenance) or prevent trouble from arising (preventive maintenance). MRO may be defined as, "All actions which have the objective of retaining or restoring an item in or to a state in which it can perform its required function. The actions include the combination of all technical and corresponding administrative, managerial, and supervision actions."

MRO operations can be categorized by whether the product remains the property of the customer, i.e. a service is being offered, or whether the product is bought by the reprocessing organization and sold to any customer wishing to make the purchase (Guadette, 2002). In the former case it may be a backstop operation within a larger organization or smaller operation.

The former of these represents a closed loop supply chain and usually has the scope of maintenance, repair or overhaul of the product. The latter of the categorizations is an open loop supply chain and is typified by refurbishment and remanufacture. The main characteristic of the closed loop system is that the demand for a product is matched with the supply of a used product. Neglecting asset write-offs and exceptional activities the total population of the product between the customer and the service provider remains constant.

Engineering:-

In telecommunication, commercial real estate and engineering in general, the term maintenance has the following meanings.

Any activity – such as tests, measurements, replacements, adjustments and repairs — intended to retain or restore a functional unit in or to a specified state in which the unit can perform its required functions.

For material — all action taken to retain material in a serviceable condition or to restore it to serviceability. It includes inspection, testing, servicing, classification as to serviceability, repair, rebuilding, and reclamation.

For material — all supply and repair action taken to keep a force in condition to carry out its mission.

For material — the routine recurring work required to keep a facility (plant, building, structure, ground facility, utility system, or other real property) in such condition that it may be continuously used, at its original or designed capacity and efficiency for its intended purpose.

Manufacturers and Industrial Supply Companies often refer to MRO as opposed to Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). OEM includes any activity related to the direct manufacture of goods, where MRO refers to any maintenance and repair activity to keep a manufacturing plant running.

Maintenance types:-

Generally speaking, there are four types of maintenance in use:

Preventive maintenance, where equipment is maintained before break down occurs.

Corrective maintenance, where equipment is maintained after break down. This maintenance is mostly used although it is often most expensive because worn equipment can damage other parts and cause multiple damages.

Preventive maintenance:-

Main article: Preventive maintenance

Preventive maintenance is maintenance performed in an attempt to avoid failures, unnecessary production loss and safety violations.

The effectiveness of a preventive maintenance schedule depends on the RCM analysis which it was based on, and the ground rules used for cost-effectively.

The plant maintenance program is vital to consistent production of high quality feeds and no less important to cost control and assurance to the customer that their feed will arrive on time and to formula specification (Parr, 1988).

Equipment breakdowns are bad enough as they impede aquaculture feed production, but at least as bad is machinery which is not working to design which may, through short weighing, or improper mixing, produce a defective feed.

Such defective feed may, at the least, hurt the farmer’s production and at worst create a serious crop failure. Also possible is a threat to human health.

Keeping motors, scales, pellet dies, conveyors and all other components of the mill in proper working order is as important as formulation or the quality of ingredients which go into the finished feed.

Mechanical or electronic failures may occur from time to time in a complex system like a feed mill, but proper attention to preventive maintenance will minimize down time and the prospect of the customer receiving feed which is out of specification. The latter may cause a costly recall of feed or possibly compensation for damages to the customer’s crop, if the error is not found in a timely way (Appendix II).

A good preventive maintenance programme should provide adequate maintenance at reasonable cost (Appendix III).

Preventive Maintenance Objectives:

Reduce major repairs by correcting minor difficulties as soon as they are evident. This means listening to your operators who usually recognise before management that machinery is making a “funny noise” or other irregularity in performance of equipment. Do not punish employees who are trying to report a defect beyond their control.

Maintain equipment in a more productive state. Keep it clean; repair or replace lost or worn parts immediately. Follow the machinery manual recommendations.

Improve scheduling of repairs. Do not postpone needed repairs. Delaying repairs usually results in much more costly problems later on.

Maintain safety. Some parts as they become worn become dangerous, as in worn chain or belt drives. Staff are valuable and injuries are costly from the standpoint of lost time and training replacements, not to mention adverse impacts on employee morale.

Improved customer service. A well-maintained mill looks good to the customer and helps assure the customer that the feed is made correctly the first time.

Reduce overall operating costs. The miller of aquaculture feeds benefits from a well-maintained facility through reduced costs of operation and customer satisfaction.

Provide trained maintenance personnel. Training of maintenance staff should be a high priority with high-level management oversight. Too often maintenance is seen as the bottom of the ladder, when in reality the quality and training of staff for this important responsibility should be paramount.

Building and Grounds Maintenance:

The building grounds shall be adequately drained and maintained to be reasonably free from litter, waste, refuse, uncut weeds or grass, standing water and improperly stored equipment.

The buildings shall be maintained in a reasonably clean and orderly manner.

Adequate space, ventilation and lighting shall be maintained for the proper performance of all manufacturing, storing, labelling, quality assurance and maintenance aspects of aquaculture feed manufacturing.

Preventive Maintenance Areas:

In Appendix IV a checklist is provided to highlight generalised preventive maintenance functions, which are to be checked periodically. Each plant manager should take this guideline and revise it to conform to the actual conditions of his plant.

A log (record) book or computer record should be maintained on a daily basis. Careful attention should be paid to the equipment manufacturer’s suggested maintenance schedule(s).

Maintenance Engineering:-

Maintenance Engineering is the discipline and profession of applying engineering concepts to the optimization of equipment, procedures, and departmental budgets to achieve better maintainability, reliability, and availability of equipment.

Maintenance, and hence maintenance engineering, is increasing in importance due to rising amounts of equipment, systems, machineries and infrastructure. Since the Industrial Revolution, devices, equipment, machinery and structures have grown increasingly complex, requiring a host of personnel, vocations and related systems needed to maintain them. Prior to 2006, the United States spent approximately US$300 billion annually on plant maintenance and operations alone. Maintenance is to ensure a unit is fit for purpose, with maximum availability at minimum costs. A person practicing Maintenance Engineering is known as a Maintenance Engineer.

Maintenance Engineer's Essential Knowledge:-

A Maintenance Engineer should possess significant knowledge of statistics, probability and logistics, and additionally in the fundamentals of the operation of the equipment and machinery he or she is responsible for.

A Maintenance Engineer shall also possess high interpersonal, communication, management skills and ability to make quick decisions.

Typical Maintenance Engineering Responsibilities:-

Assure optimization of the Maintenance Organization structure

Analysis of repetitive equipment failures

Estimation of maintenance costs and evaluation of alternatives

Forecasting of spare parts

Assessing the needs for equipment replacements and establish replacement programs when due

Application of scheduling and project management principles to replacement programs

Assessing required maintenance tools and skills required for efficient maintenance of equipment

Assessing required skills required for maintenance personnel

Reviewing personnel transfers 2 and from maintenance organizations

Assessing and reporting safety hazards associated with maintenance of equipment

Maintenance Engineering Education:-

Institutions across the world have recognized the need for Maintenance Engineering. Maintenance Engineers usually hold a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or other Engineering Disciplines. In recent years specialized bachelor and master courses have developed. The Bachelor Degree program in Maintenance Engineering, at the German-Jordanian University in Amman is addressing the need, as well as the Bachelor Programmer in Maintenance Engineering at Luleå University of Technology. With an increased demand for Chartered Engineers, The University of Central Lancashire in United Kingdom has developed a MSc in Maintenance Engineering currently under accreditation with the Institution of Engineering and Technology and a Top-up Bachelor of Engineering with honor degree for technicians holding a Higher National Diploma and seeking a progression in their professional career.

Different fields of Plant Maintenance:-

Aircraft Maintenance Engineering

Asset management

Auto mechanic

Civil engineer

Computerized Maintenance Management System

Computer repair technician

Electrician

Electrical Technologist

Industrial Engineering

Marine fuel management

Mechanic

Millwright (machinery maintenance)

Maintenance, repair and operations (MRO)

Reliability centered maintenance (RCM)

Reliability engineering

Preventive maintenance

Product lifecycle management

Stationary engineer

Total productive maintenance (TPM)

Six Sigma for maintenance