An improved maintenance program for your electric motors and drives can have a great effect in achieving uptime and reliability, as well as reduced costs. Follow this step-by-step route to improve motor and drive reliability, and thus improve machine efficiency.

Of the nearly $300 billion spent on plant maintenance and operations annually, U.S. industry spends as much as 80 percent of this amount to correct chronic failures of machines, systems and people. Meanwhile, machines and systems continue to become increasingly complex, perpetuating the clear and pressing need to improve plant facilities’ maintenance programs and establish comprehensive equipment management programs that incorporate the diverse considerations that are essential to effective maintenance.

At many plants, electric motors and drives likely are the most widely used devices and, at the same time, the least understood. Problems of ineffective electric motors and their related units must be addressed to maximize uptime and reliability, minimize costs and extend the productive life to its max. This will boost the machines’ efficiency, and thus the facility’s.

Logically, “an improved maintenance program here will have the greatest effect in achieving high uptime and reliability, as well as reduced costs,” writes Maintenance Management Technologies, Inc.’s president, Ed Marshall, P.E., in a recent Plant Services magazine feature.

Of the need to start such a program at your plant and obtain real results, you must realize that, due to size, almost every plant possesses a degree of complexity in its many units and many motors, each requiring attention and maintenance. Because of that complexity, the interaction between different elements and the need for culture change, the maintenance improvement effort requires careful planning and execution. Undertake the improvement program step by step.

Herewith are Marshall’s steps for developing the proper maintenance program to improve the efficiency of your plant’s motors and drives:

Step 1. Conduct an Audit and Assessment
Select a small portion of the facility, where downtime is excessive and reliability is critical, and assess the performance within the most recent three months. Gather relevant specifications, operating history and CMMS-based information about the motor maintenance history.

This first step gives you a good view of the plant situation. It provides you with important information on the team’s performance, properly matched equipment, design and engineering problems, as well as the most efficient and energy-saving motors.

Step 2. Identify Needs and Objectives
Like most programs focused on change or improvement, this one also must be based on the participants having a common understanding of needs, goals and objectives. These elements, though not necessarily quantified easily, “must serve as a datum or baseline for subsequent measurement,” says Marshall.

Examples include the following: reduced electric motor problems, failures, breakdowns and downtime; extended mean time between failures (MTBF); reduced spare parts and materials; and reduced product loss from equipment failure.

Many other quantifiable, plant-specific factors can be expanded and detailed as necessary to describe each motor system element.

Step 3. Develop an Improvement Plan and Strategy
Develop your improvement plan and implementation strategy so that they give the specifics for achieving motor and drive improvement. The planning team of supervisors and lead persons should be established under the leadership of the maintenance manager. “Get their understanding and agreement, lay out the goals and objectives, and let them develop the elements,” Marshall advises. Divide the plan into workable sections to implement the program via small projects.

Consider using a roadmap for this, as it delineates each task, the starting date, work assignments, anticipated completion date, elements to be completed and expectations. Further, it becomes a working document and serves as the team’s daily assignment sheet.

Emphasize high standards for work quality, performance and effectiveness, and foster and reward positive attitude in maintenance and operating departments.

Step 4. Make Technology Selections
Although technology advances rapidly, it doesn’t replace the tried-and-true techniques. Continue with inspections and preventive maintenance. Predictive maintenance represents the proactive approach. Some of the lesser-known technologies your team might consider include the following: forensic analysis of failed components; digital X-ray images of hidden flaws; and digital high-speed photography.

Step 5. Submit Proposal to Management
As you will need support and funding from management, your business plan when proposing to management should include the following:

• The results of your audit or assessment and the related costs;
• The needs and goals with the expected reliability and uptime improvements;
• A plan to achieve the objectives, showing tools and instruments, software, training and time required;
• Detailed upfront funding requirements and the projected ROI; and
• A description of soft benefits, i.e., competition, product quality, et al.

Step 6. Create a Knowledge Database
Your motor and drive knowledge database is going to be a key element in this effort, according to Marshall, as it provides and ties together the pertinent data and information needed for an effective program. In addition to basic design data, it should include history and current data that can be accessed easily for analysis and diagnosis so you can make quick, accurate decisions regarding corrective action for each asset and each problem.

In developing the database, divide it into logical groupings so you can gather data gradually and verify it before inputting it; this effort is best performed by an internal team.

(See the Plant Service feature for exactly what knowledge should be included in this database.)

Step 7. Conduct Training
The tasks for selection and training should include the following:

• Testing and assessing maintenance team knowledge, skills, attitudes and dedication;
• Educating the team as to the new culture, its requirements and expectations;
• Selecting and developing new training program elements; and
• Periodically upgrading skill training.

Step 8. Establish Maintenance Procedures
“Review, redefine and rewrite the methods and procedures for motor maintenance work,” urges Marshall. The technician should follow specific methods and procedures to achieve the outcomes that management accepted prior to program approval. Check and test the work, then report the results. The work order with specific descriptions and expectations serves as a reminder and instruction. At this time, rewrite only those for the motors and drives in the selected area.

Step 9. Perform Positive, Proactive Maintenance
Once the above elements are on hand and available, initiate the program. Says Marshall:

Ensure work is completed promptly with good quality that achieves the promised end results. Observe and monitor how the work proceeds. Make adjustments as required. Solicit comments and feedback from the maintenance technicians as well as the production line operators.

Step 10. Measure Performance and Results
Success hinges on continuous improvement. Use your datum baseline from the initial audit and assessment to measure and benchmark your results. It is not unreasonable to record measurable results in as few as three months. Significant benefits come when the program ultimately covers the entire plant, notes Marshall.

Positive results provide the confidence and know-how to expand the motor program to any selected area. Follow the same steps, Marshall recommends, but don’t overextend yourself. Like the initial maintenance program setup, take one section at a time to maximize the results. Production operators should see results and management should be pleased. Yet keep in mind: Continuous improvement is possible.

Once perceived as a “practitioner” or manufacturing issue, maintenance and reliability engineering is now considered a business issue of urgent priority.

Resource

Get the most from motors
by Ed Marshall
Plant Services magazine, June 2006