7 Key Findings from Plant Engineering’s 2016 Maintenance Study

By Matt Sonnhalter, Vision Architect, Sonnhalter

235_2737719Every year Plant Engineering conducts their Maintenance Study. The objective of this research is to better understand maintenance practices and strategies currently in place in North American manufacturing facilities and the effects of maintenance on productivity and profitability.

The 2016 study identified seven important high-level findings impacting the manufacturing industry:

  • Maintenance Strategies – facilities utilize multiple maintenance strategies on the plant floor, with preventive maintenance (76%), “run-to-failure” (61%) and computerized maintenance management system (60%) being the top three
  • Shutdown Schedule – on average, all systems are shutdown three times each year
  • Maintenance Support – 6 in 10 facilities dedicate a significant amount of maintenance support to their rotating equipment
  • Unscheduled Downtime – aging equipment (50%) and operator errors (15%) remain the leading causes
  • Training – more than half of respondents’ maintenance personnel receives training in safety; basic mechanical skills; basic electrical skills; motors, gearboxes, bearings; and lubrication
  • Technologies – 62% of respondents’ facilities use a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS)
  • Outsourcing – the average facility outsources 22% of their maintenance operations, up from 17% in 2015

Diving deeper into the research findings, I was surprised at some of antiquated and simplistic practices still used for maintenance, especially given this age of technology and the Industrial-Internet-of-Things (IIoT). For example the second highest maintenance strategy was Reactive Maintenance also known as “run-to-failure.” And the leading cause for unscheduled downtime is Aging Equipment at 50%, while Lack of Time to Perform Maintenance or Lack of Maintenance make up 25%. And even though 83% of maintenance personnel receive training in safety, only 3 in 5 respondents indicate that their maintenance teams receive basic mechanical and electrical skills. How can we expect these people to maintain equipment if they are not properly trained? And the ultimate technology dichotomy, “clipboards and paper records” at 39% was ranked third highest for the technology used to monitor and manage maintenance!

See the 7 key findings here.

Download the full report here.

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