The objectives of industrial maintenance are usually oriented in many industries towards a greater production capacity at minimum cost. The reality is that every company ultimately wants the maximum profit that is constant over time.
Profit in a company is defined as the difference between sales and fixed or variable expenses to produce a product or service. Everything that is produced but not sold does not generate profit, but an expense.
Therefore, maintenance must ensure the maximum production of the products that the market requests in the established time. However, maintaining machines only to ensure production leaves out important aspects such as environment, energy saving, safety and quality.
For all these reasons, we say that the objective of maintenance is to guarantee the necessary production at the right time with the minimum integral cost. When we speak of integral cost we cover the aspects named above.
This general objective can be discriminated in several actions which can be easily quantified. It is necessary to set specific objectives to be met in a certain period of time to evaluate the maintenance management. The review of these specific objectives allows to correct deviations in a timely manner.
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Maintenance objectives
After defining the main objective of maintenance aligned with the company’s objective; it is necessary to specify the concrete objectives. We could distinguish the following 6 concrete objectives:
Minimum Costs
- To assure the maximum productivity of the maintenance payroll.
- Minimize corrective maintenance.
- Minimize idle stock in warehouse.
- Extend the useful and productive life of the machines.
Energy savings
- Control the energy efficiency of the machines.
- Avoid and control leaks of steam, pressurized air and other forms of energy.
Maximum production
- Ensure maximum machine availability.
- Repair failures in the shortest possible time at the lowest possible cost.
Quality
- Eliminate machine malfunctions that affect product quality.
- Ensure that the equipment that controls product quality works perfectly.
Occupational health and safety
- Maintain equipment safety protections.
- Train personnel in accident prevention.
Environmental conservation
- Control leaks and spills of hazardous materials when performing work.
- Avoid water leaks and electrical energy waste.
The above mentioned objectives may vary with the type of industry. Attempting to meet all of them simultaneously will be to achieve total quality maintenance.
However, in order to reach the total quality of maintenance, short, medium and long term tasks must be established.
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These tasks must be maintained over time and once they are maintained over time, the next specific objective can be started.
