Pro-active maintenance is now receiving recognition as the only means of reducing and saving on the burgeoning maintenance cost

Pro-Active Maintenance is a system or scheduled maintenance process of keeping a production system healthy, and is actually a life extension system, which supplants the philosophy of 'Failure Reactive' with the 'Failure Pro-Active' approach 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 failures, not just symptoms. Pro-Active maintenance is now receiving 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 energy without much expenditure on the system or equipment.

It is a known fact that over 75% of the breakdowns and the maintenance expenses in any industry are incurred because of hydraulic and lubrication oil system failures, often attributed to excessive contamination levels in the system. This is a clear indication of the necessity of Pro-Active maintenance. In fact without properly understanding and adopting Pro-Active maintenance techniques the industry can neither be competitive nor could it grow faster.

In the absence of Pro-Active maintenance technology the normal approach is 'Failure Reactive' rather than 'Pro-Active'; and if the contamination is not controlled and removed from the system, the oil becomes contaminated and loses its properties, resulting in the necessity for replacement of oil.

The disposal of discarded oil damages the environment too. Also the contaminants enter into the gaps/clearance between the moving parts, as a result of which the parts start scoring, damaging and restricting the movement, resulting in 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 a 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, preventing the crisis of failure and maintenance; while under Predictive Maintenance, diagnosis, assessment, investigation and testing are carried out to find the condition and life span of the parts and components. A lot of money and time is spent for prediction of the condition and life of the components. Alternatively, Pro-Active maintenance protects the system against the degradation and failures; and hence preventive and predictive maintenance are practically not required.

It is easy to understand Pro-Active maintenance by drawing parallels with the human body and health, for the simple reason that the human body is very similar to a hydraulic/lubrication oil system. We all know that by simply undertaking a morning walk and consuming healthy fibrous foods, fruits and vegetables in place of fried, junk foods and animal fats, which lead to generation of bad cholesterol (this being the contaminants in the blood), one can remain healthy, extend the life expectancy and improve the efficiency and performance.

Similarly keeping the system fluid clean and free from contamination (dirt, moisture/water and heat, etc., being the main contaminants in the system fluid) by adopting the systematic approach to Pro-Active maintenance can keep the plant, machinery and system healthy. This will also extend the life of hydraulic and lubrication systems and components manifold and improve efficiency, performance and productivity of the plant, machinery and systems, also conserve energy and the costly oils.

In view of the above facts, one must choose the Pro-Active Approach in place of the Failure Reactive Approach. This writer has taken up the challenge of promoting the Pro-Active technology in Indian industry through seminars, workshops, presentations and practical training to achieve the following important and significant results:

01. Conservation of oil: Results in up to 90% savings on oil procurement and environmental protection.
02. Conservation of energy: Results in saving on the power bills and also saving the environment.
03. Minimising breakdowns: No breakdown, no unscheduled maintenance and no loss of production.
04. Improvement in the efficiency of plant, machinery and systems.
05. Protection and retention of additives so that no deterioration of hydraulic and lubrication oils is there, resulting no degradation of oil.
06. Increase in the operational life and performance of systems and components.
07. No undue wear and tear of parts and components and saving on maintenance cost.
08. Manifold increase in the life of systems including hydraulic pumps, etc., resulting in huge saving in the money spent for procurement of costly hydraulic pumps and systems.
09. Increased efficiency of machinery and systems result in higher productivity, higher profits, competitiveness and growth of business.
10. Maintaining clean and healthy environment, ecological balance, protection of lakes, rivers and 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 me plant-wide involving contamination control, both improved filtration and rigorous fluid cleanliness monitoring, and 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 per cent reduction in the bearing purchase plant-wide.
• International Paper Company reported nearly a 90 per cent 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 per cent implementation of Pro-Active Maintenance and improved filtration and a 13-fold wear-life extension with a 93 per cent 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, it can be concluded that lubrication oil contamination is the primary cause of engine wear that begins what is referred to as the chain reaction to failure.

(Contact: Ashok Kumar Gupta, Chairman, Crane-Bel Group, E-7, Kavi Nagar Industrial Area, Sector-17, Ghaziabad, UP 201 002. He may be contacted by email: ashok@crane-bel.com, office@crane-bel.com)