Pro-Active Maintenance - Industrial Products

Technical Article
Pro-Active
Maintenance
Pro-Active Maintenance is a system or a
life style of keeping the system healthy
and is actually a Life Extension System
which supplants the philosophy of ‘Failure
reactive’ with the ‘Failure Pro-Active’ by
avoiding the conditions that lead to machine
faults and degradation. The Pro-Active
Maintenance technique consists of actions
that abolish the root cause of the failures, not
just symptoms. Pro-Active maintenance is
now receiving the recognition as the only
means of reducing and saving on the
burgeoning maintenance cost, for extending
the performance life of systems,
conservation of oil and conservation of
energy without much expenditure on the
system or equipments.
It’s a known fact that over 75% of the
breakdowns and the maintenance expenses
in any industry is because of hydraulic and
lubrication oil system failures which is
attributed to excessive contamination level In
the system fluid which has a clear cut
indication towards the necessity of Pro-
Active Maintenance. In fact without properly
understanding and adopting the Pro-Active
Maintenance Techniques, we can not be
competitive and grow faster.
In absence of Pro-Active Maintenance
Technology the normal approach is Failure
Reactive rather than Pro-Active, and the
contamination is not controlled and
removed from the system oil, it becomes
contaminated and the looses its properties;
resulting the replacement of oil. The disposal
of discarded oil damages the
environment. Also the contaminations enter
into the gap/clearance between the
moving parts and the parts start scoring,
damaging and restricting the movement,
resulting malfunctioning, Loss of production,
Loss of Energy and frequent
breakdowns.
Many industries carry planned activities
of Preventive Maintenance associated with
Predictive maintenance. Under Preventive
Maintenance the repair/replacement of
parts and components is done when often
nothing is broken. This is a scheduled
activity, expecting that the life of part,
component or system is over and can give
away any moment. This approach allows the
failure of parts and system as a routine
and normal, permitting the crisis of failure
and maintenance. While under Predictive
Maintenance diagnosing, assessment,
investigations and testing are carried out to
find the condition and life span of the parts
and components. Lot of money and time
is spent for prediction of the condition and
life of the components. Alternatively the
Pro-Active Maintenance protects the system
against the Degradation and Failures;
and hence Preventive and Predictive
Maintenances are practically not required.
It is easy to understand the Pro-Active
Maintenance by putting parallel with our
body and health, for the reason that human
body is very similar to a
Hydraulic/Lubrication oil system. We all
know that by simply Morning walk and
taking healthy fibrous foods, fruits &
vegetables in place Fried, Junk foods and
Animal Fats which lead to generation of bad
Cholesterol (being Contaminations in the
blood); to keep us healthy, extend our life
and improve our efficiency & performance.
Similarly keeping the system fluid clean and
free from contaminations (Dirt,
Moisture/water and heat etc. being the main
Contaminations in the System Fluid) by
adopting the Systematic
Approach to Pro-Active Maintenance; to
keep our Plant, Machinery and Systems
healthy, extend the life of Hydraulic and
Lubrication Systems & Components
manifold times and improves the efficiency,
performance & Productivity of our Plant,
Machinery and Systems and also to
conserve the Energy and costly oils.
In view of the above facts, one must
choose the Pro-Active approach in place of
the Failure Reactive approach. Er. Ashok
Kumar Gupta the founder and Chairman of
the Crane-Bel Group has taken a challenge of
promoting the Pro-Active Technology in
Indian Industries through Seminars,
Workshops, Presentations and Practical
Training to achieve the following important
and significant results:
Conservation of Oil: Resulting up to
90% saving on oil Procurement and
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Oil, Lubricants & Gas
Special Industry Review
Environmental Protection.
Conservation of Energy: Resulting
saving on the Power Bills and also saving the
Environment.
Minimising the Breakdowns: No
Breakdown Maintenance and No loss of
production.
Improvement in the Efficiency of
Plant, Machinery and Systems.
Protection and Retention of Additives
so that no deterioration of hydraulic and
Lubrication oils is there, resulting No
degradation of oil.
Increase in the Operational Life and
Performance of systems and components.
No undue wear and tear of parts and
components and saving on Maintenance
cost.
Manifold times increase in the life of
systems including hydraulic pumps etc.
Resulting the huge saving in the money
spent for procurement of costly hydraulic
pumps and systems.
Increased efficiency of machinery and
systems result in Higher Productivity, Higher
Profits, Competitiveness and Growth of
business.
Maintaining Clean & Healthy
Environment, Ecological Balance,
Protection of Lakes, Rivers & Underground
water and subsequently the
Planet Earth.
Implementation of Pro-Active Maintenance System
When it comes to implementation of Pro-
Active Maintenance, the Japanese may be
the global leaders. They have clearly taken a
‘Do-it, Don’t-just-talk-about-it’
approach. Evidence of this comes from
reports by two of the world's largest steel
mills, Nippon Steel and Kawasaki Steel, both
in Japan:
After Nippon Steel implemented the
Pro-Active Maintenance program plantwide,
involving contamination control both
improved filtration and rigorous fluid
cleanliness monitoring, pump replacement
frequencies were reduced to one fifth and
the cumulative frequency of all failures
related to wear and contamination was
reduced to one tenth.
Like wise the implementation of Pro-
Active Maintenance Technology in the
lubricating systems involving both journal
and roller bearings and maintaining the
system fluid clean through proper
contamination control program, Nippon
Steel reported after the three-year period
study, that they have successfully achieved a
50 percent reduction in the bearing purchase
plant-wide.
International Paper Company reported
nearly a 90 percent reduction in bearing
failures in just six months after the
implementation of Pro-active Maintenance
System and improved filtration and
contamination control in their paper mill.
Likewise, Kawasaki Steel, not to be
outdone, implemented a similar Pro-active
Maintenance program and achieved an
almost unbelievable 97% reduction in
hydraulic component failures.
The British Hydromechanics Research
Association (BHRA) conduct their own
controlled studies for three years and
carefully monitored 117 Hydraulic Machines
including Injection Moulding, Machine Tools,
Material Handling, Mobile, Construction,
Marine, Metal Working and Test Stands, to
establish the benefits of Pro-Active
Contamination Control Maintenance. The
results of the study showed a dramatic
relationship between fluid contamination
levels and service life. Improved system
cleanliness achieved extended the time
between failures from 10 to 50 times
depending on cleanliness.
A study by the Naval Air Development
Centre in Warminster. Pennsylvania
performed on aircraft hydraulic pumps
showed nearly a 4-fold wear-life extension
with a 66 percent implementation of Proactive
Maintenance and improved filtration
and a 13-fold wear-life extension with a 93
percent implementation of Pro-active
Maintenance and improvement in filtration.
The benefits associated with the Pro-
Active Maintenance Technology in the
Diesel Engine lubrication oils are great.
Historically, there have been many
misconceptions regarding the influence of
contamination of engine service life.
Hence, filters with very poor efficiencies
have been, and are still specified
frequently for engine oils. However, from a
number of important new field and
lab studies, we have concluded that
lubrication oil contamination is the primary
cause of engine wears that begins what is
referred to as the chain-reaction to
failure.
For any further
questions please
contact:
Er. Ashok Kumar Gupta
Chairman
Crane-Bel Group
E-7, Kavi Nagar
Industrial Area,
Sector-17, Ghaziabad-
201002, (NCR), INDIA
E-mail: ashok@cranebel.com
, office@crane-bel.com
April 2011
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