Is it usually this way that your factory maintenance jobs are done when the machine is broken and is not able to do the job needed? Commonly yes, manufacturers do maintenance jobs based on machine breakdown or some sort of a schedule put into Excel. Have you thought it might be more reasonable to do the jobs based on machines’ actual work time or produced product amount?

Efficiency

One of the most typical ways to arrange maintenance in the factory is to schedule it when there is a vacancy in the production plan. The mindset might be that if there is no work, alright let’s use this time for repairing the machines!?

This is a good approach if the factory has more production power than orders ahead. But take notice that efficiency is something to look for. It means that using a minimum amount of machines and people for the maximum result.

Keeping efficiency in mind then the approach to use vacancies in the production plan does not work. A plan with prioritised jobs has to be given to the maintenance department, they need to know when and what kind of a job has to be done. This will decrease the overall downtime caused by machine breakdowns and actually increase overall factory productivity.

💡 Have healthy machines, begin today for the best factory performance – Start

Correctly done maintenance

A tool or software that can handle the maintenance scheduling is needed. GlobalReader Maintenance is built based on the real needs of factories. For example, one of our clients asked their Technical manager to use the whiteboard for writing down a maintenance plan for the upcoming week. In one column job name and the second column for marking down if the job was actually done or not.
As predicted the plan and actual work did not align, so the planned things were not done. Machine parts did not arrive on time, employees prioritised other things, etc. The undone jobs also increase the danger of machine unscheduled stops or breakdowns and even accidents

The conclusion from that experiment is that maintenance jobs must be scheduled properly and ahead of time using the GlobalReader Maintenance feature. If scheduling is something that your team has not done before then the first step is to plan recurring tasks, for example after every four weeks (Most commonly used).

Data-driven maintenance

Based on the gathered feedback from our users, GlobalReader has taken the maintenance job scheduling to a whole new level. We are proud to report that the GlobalReaders ecosystem supports the data collected straight from machines with sensors. Now there is an ability to do the maintenance based on machine work time or product amount. Perform the maintenance exactly when needed – after 1000 hours of work or 10000 meters of the product.

💡 Depending on your machine and production – schedule a meeting with our team to get advice on what would be the perfect solution → Book a meeting

Sometimes it takes two weeks to produce the 10000 meters but sometimes it takes two months. Do not waste money and time on unnecessary maintenance. GlobalReader software works as a whole so no hassle with Excel or papers, the maintenance job scheduling algorithm will tell when you need to do the job.

Clear understanding

The second important part of the Maintenance feature is the ability to add a task description to each assignment. You can add different jobs under one machine, but because jobs vary, there should be a description and planned time for it. Also after performing the job all the information is stored in the software. The history of what was done and by who is safely stored. Another use case example from our clients is to use this data for ISO certificate audit, a simple way to gather data and explain how the process works.

Whoever makes a louder noise

Thirdly, a vital element for the highest efficiency is to see the technician’s schedule. GlobalReader Maintenance shows how well your Technicians team is utilized. Often the actual need for technicians on site is blurry because the need to put out fires all the time might leave the wrong impression. Frequently this means that whoever shouts louder gets the technician’s attention. The process of maintenance must be brought from that situation to actually scheduling the maintenance so every machine is working in its best health. Hence the need for technicians’ time planning is very important.

Of Course reports and connections to the GlobalReader Operator app and Planning tool are built-in. Interruption reasons from the Operator app are visible to the technical team so that they can plan jobs based on the interruption reason.
Mutually, operators can see when the next maintenance is scheduled – which they can perform themselves or create a new one for the technician. The Planner tool takes into consideration the maintenance plan and will not let you miss the maintenance deadline.

Productive work time

In conclusion, a success story from our client. After implementing the Maintenance feature and following a regular maintenance schedule, they saw a significant reduction in machine downtimes. It was due to non-existing machine malfunctions.
They spent an average of 24 hours per month “putting out fires,” but after the new procedure was in place, maintenance required only 6 hours per month. As a result, 18 hours of work time in a month won. Something to think about for you too?