When performing preventative maintenance, a technician might notice a problem during an emergency repair which might lead to bigger problems. The corrective maintenance order will address the underlying problem. Corrective maintenance involves servicing, restoring, or replacing an asset.
Just a few instances:
Production line. A technician inspecting a production line as part of routine maintenance finds a vital component severely worn. A corrective maintenance order can be initiated within the next month to repair or restore the broken component.
HVAC systems. In the middle of winter, a technician is called out to fix an emergency breakdown of the heating system. Upon arrival, he discovers that the filters are unclean or partially clogged. This can prompt a call for corrective maintenance to clean or replace filters to boost performance and reduce heat loss.
Public works. A technician fixing up a road can find any signs damaged in a storm while doing regular maintenance. Corrective maintenance orders can be issued to restore the signs at a later time.
Benefits of Corrective Maintenance
Corrective maintenance has several advantages because its primary goal is to get an asset back to working condition correctly and effectively.
These are the main advantages:
Reduce urgent maintenance orders - A corporation may lower the volume of emergency maintenance orders it generates if corrective orders can be carried out promptly after they are launched. Emergency maintenance is typically more expensive than corrective maintenance.
Boost the safety of employees - In some circumstances, the problems found and labeled as corrective maintenance may have serious safety implications for workers close to the impacted asset.
Minimize service disruptions - Corrective maintenance work orders can assist maintenance teams in resolving issues before production delays or service outages happen since they are scheduled and prioritized in a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS).
Prolong the asset's life - A company can increase the lifespan of its assets by performing corrective maintenance in conjunction with effective preventive maintenance. Companies can prolong the life of essential assets by identifying disciplinary maintenance requirements before they impact other machine components.
Plan resources more effectively - Corrective maintenance requests can be assessed, given a proper order of importance, and scheduled since they are transmitted back to a central system. This enables the organization as a whole to optimize its use of both financial and human resources.
Reduces Corrective downtime - Maintenance may occasionally assist businesses in reducing downtime. For instance, a corrective maintenance order can be placed immediately if a maintenance specialist inspects a piece of equipment during routine maintenance and discovers that a part is worn out. The ideal situation is for that task to be scheduled and finished before a break or downtime.
Maximizing Corrective Maintenance
Corrective maintenance is crucial in the context of maintenance services in a commercial, multi-family, or industrial setting. Technicians who can spot potential issues and recognize them before they develop into emergencies can save the business a lot of money. Companies must teach and educate maintenance professionals and managers on what to look for when performing preventative or emergency maintenance to optimize the benefits of corrective maintenance. Additionally, organizations might wish to make a maintenance checklist of items that professionals can quickly visually examine. Your maintenance team should identify as many issues as possible at the earliest opportunity. Your facility will run more efficiently over time if you use a checklist to help you generate more corrective maintenance orders.
How Corrective Maintenance Improves Reliability
Although corrective maintenance procedures concentrate on returning a piece of equipment to its ideal state, it's crucial to seize the chance to conduct a second, rapid examination while carrying out the corrective maintenance procedure. Corrective maintenance offers a great opportunity to increase reliability in this way.
Some facility assets will be maintained as needed rather than going by a fixed maintenance schedule. The loss will likely occur again or as frequency decreases when a maintenance team takes the opportunity to find additional problems that need to be fixed, improving overall reliability. It's crucial to seize this chance to investigate any probable initial root causes of the failure. An organization can enhance the effectiveness of its corrective maintenance procedure and overall reliability by integrating inspections linked to failures.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Corrective Maintenance
Corrective maintenance offers benefits and drawbacks, just like any maintenance program. When doing corrective maintenance, it is crucial to weigh the benefits and drawbacks to maximize your overall output and efficiency. Most companies attempt to switch from corrective or reactive maintenance plans to more preventive ones. Many businesses are leaning toward preventative maintenance programs at the lower end of the range. Setting up systems that can identify issues before they arise has several benefits. Even with the best efforts, though, unexpected failures will continue to happen. Corrective maintenance enables you to make full use of those unavoidable chances.
The Plus Side of Corrective Maintenance
Corrective maintenance involves minimal effort, expense, and preparation because it focuses on fixing or restoring an asset when it breaks. It may be the best, most economical option when the failure of a certain component has only a minor impact on safety, production, or service. For instance, it would not be wise to develop a problematic, pricey preventative maintenance plan to keep track of something like a break room lighting replacement. Because you address the issue as it arises, corrective maintenance in some circumstances can be less expensive in the near run. No labor is necessary to track, monitor, and control the situation.
The following are a few benefits of corrective maintenance:
Simple process. Corrective maintenance can be a quick fix that requires little to no planning or administration because it is reactive by nature. Inspection opportunity. When work for corrective maintenance is finished, there is also a chance to inspect a piece of equipment because of a failure mode and perhaps before a significant disruption takes place.
The Minus Side of Corrective Maintenance
Corrective maintenance alone can result in expensive and dangerous long-term problems when a failure has significant effects on production, employee safety, or the environment.
Some disadvantages of overreliance on corrective maintenance include:
Unpredictability. It is very unpredictable in the long run to only fix equipment when it breaks. Furthermore, the root causes of the problem are typically not identified and, therefore, cannot be effectively resolved.
Interruption to production. Your entire production line can be slowed down if a critical piece of equipment breaks, resulting in unproductive employees and downtime.
Shortened asset lifespan. If you fail to maintain your equipment and only perform maintenance when components break, you will shorten its overall lifespan.
How to Reduce Corrective Maintenance
It seems natural that businesses seek to lower the number of corrective maintenance orders, as reactive maintenance and corrective maintenance are frequently used interchangeably. Although there are some instances where fixing a problem as it arises makes sense, in many other situations, it's preferable to avoid the issue altogether.
Here are some suggestions for your firm on how to lower corrective maintenance orders:
Invest in the right technology. Your maintenance team can track and access crucial data if you deploy a CMMS solution. To prioritize the most important work orders and increase production and efficiency, these solutions can frequently produce analytics and reports that can assist you in making better decisions.
Invest in your team. Both your hiring procedure and your professional development plan should be improved. You ensure that your team stays abreast of the most recent advancements in the industry and make sure to offer incentives for continuing education, new certifications, or networking opportunities.
Train your staff to use tools. If no one knows how to use the technology effectively, there is no use in investing in it. Additionally, you should ensure that your team has the technical know-how to identify potential issues and comprehend failure reporting while performing other maintenance chores.
Automate work order delegation. You could want to automate assigning work orders dealing with specific problems to individual technicians depending on your maintenance team, the tools and systems you use, and other factors. By doing this, a manager might avoid making those assignments manually in the middle phase.
Prioritize and schedule effectively. You may efficiently schedule technicians by prioritizing the most crucial jobs using a system like a CMMS. For instance, you can quickly batch all corrective maintenance work on one process line or at a specific site to cut down on potential travel time to and from faraway locations.
Stock essential tools and equipment. In order to accomplish routine corrective maintenance tasks, make sure your staff has access to tool kits, testing equipment, and other essential parts and materials. Their time spent on each work order task will be maximized as a result.
Take advantage of inspection opportunities. Every time a technician does maintenance on a piece of equipment, they should rapidly check it for any further potential issues. Teach your personnel to spot problems and give them the authority to submit more corrective orders or inquiries.
Corrective vs. Breakdown Maintenance
It may seem confusing to distinguish between corrective and breakdown maintenance since both works on broken, faulty, or poorly optimized equipment. The purpose of corrective maintenance is to correct and repair faulty equipment, as you just learned. Breakdown maintenance is the process of repairing equipment that has broken, failed, or otherwise stopped that prevents the equipment from functioning. Although the two look similar on the surface, we will examine the major differences to clarify any confusion.
How the Two Maintenance Types Differ
The most notable distinction is that breakdown repair is performed on non-operational equipment. Corrective maintenance is performed on equipment that is still functional to some extent but will not function optimally unless the repair is performed. Corrective maintenance may be used while the machine or equipment in question is still operational. Breakdown maintenance may occur in a very short amount of time, especially if the system in question is critical. Both forms of maintenance are often performed on equipment still in place or in use. Furthermore, depending on the circumstances, both types of maintenance may be considered emergency maintenance.
Conclusion
Corrective maintenance is an essential part of a company's overall maintenance program. Understanding when corrective maintenance is beneficial and when it causes inefficiencies, downtime, and other productivity losses is vital. The primary takeaway for maintenance teams is to use good maintenance data and analysis to identify places where corrective maintenance may be used effectively and when it should be used as a stepping stone to more preventive and predictive maintenance activities.
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