In manufacturing, time is money. Unexpected downtime can translate to hundreds of thousands of dollars lost for every hour that production is stalled. An effective maintenance program is critical to ensure asset performance and reliability, and scheduled maintenance is an important part of any comprehensive maintenance strategy.
This blog post provides answers to commonly asked questions about scheduled maintenance and scheduled maintenance critical percent (SMPC), as well as their significance to your overall maintenance strategy.
What is Scheduled Maintenance?
Scheduled maintenance refers to maintenance tasks assigned to a technician with a defined deadline. Fundamental to scheduled maintenance is determining who should complete the maintenance tasks and when they should be completed. Scheduled maintenance may be a one-time repair, or it may recur at set intervals, and it includes activities like routine inspections and factory-recommended servicing.
Factory scheduled maintenance – also known as time-based maintenance – is a good example of recurring scheduled maintenance. Just as most consumer vehicles require service at set mileage intervals to keep them running to the manufacturer’s specifications and keep warranties active, each piece of equipment will come with a recommended maintenance schedule from the manufacturer.
While forgoing factory scheduled maintenance may seem like an opportunity to reduce expenses, routine maintenance inspections and service can be essential to finding and resolving problems early. As a result, keeping assets up to date with factory-recommended maintenance may actually save costs in the long run. (Of course, condition-based maintenance can offer an even better approach — fixing assets when monitoring data shows it’s needed.)
What are the Benefits of Scheduled Maintenance?
Scheduled maintenance ensures reliable asset performance and reduces unplanned downtime by keeping equipment in good repair and helping you identify issues early before they escalate the failure or shutdown. In addition, scheduled maintenance extends the lifespans of your assets and keeps your warranties active. These tasks can be performed in a strong maintenance scheduling software.
What is the Difference Between Planned Maintenance and Scheduled Maintenance?
The terms planned and scheduled maintenance are often used interchangeably, but they have distinct differences, and each is a distinct preventive maintenance example. Both are needed for a comprehensive asset maintenance strategy:
Planned maintenance is the process of forecasting or anticipating asset maintenance requirements and strategically planning future maintenance. Planned maintenance is an overarching term that encompasses preventative maintenance, predictive maintenance, and condition-based maintenance strategies.
Scheduled maintenance is the process of determining who should complete maintenance tasks and when they should be completed. Rather than forecasting future maintenance needs, scheduled maintenance focuses on resolving issues that have already been identified, assigning a worker to the task as well as a deadline for task completion.
What is SMCP?
Scheduled maintenance critical percent (SMCP) is a metric used to prioritize maintenance tasks, especially when multiple tasks are overdue. SMCP calculates the number of days that a maintenance task is late relative to how frequently the maintenance task is scheduled to occur. The resulting number is expressed as a percentage. The higher the percentage, the higher that task should be on your list of maintenance priorities for maximum efficiency.
How is SMCP calculated?
To find the SMCP for each task, use the following formula.
(# of days late + # of days in the PM cycle) ÷ # of days in the PM cycle x 100 = SMCP
How to Use SMCP to Prioritize Maintenance Tasks?
What does SMCP look like in action? Let’s consider a system where several maintenance tasks are currently overdue. Task 1 is usually completed every 45 days and is now 4 days overdue. Meanwhile, another task is completed every 30 days and is now 3 days overdue. Task 3 is on a 90-day cycle and is 7 days overdue.
Which task should your maintenance team complete first? While at first glance, it may seem logical to tackle that most overdue task first, that may not be the optimal choice.
Let’s apply SMCP calculation to find out:
Task #1: (4+45) ÷ 45 x 100 = 109%
Task #2: (3+30) ÷ 30 x 100 = 110%
Task #3: (7+90) ÷ 30 x 100 = 108%
Based on SMCP, Task 2 has the highest percentage and should be prioritized ahead of Tasks 1 and 3, even though those tasks are more days overdue.
Conclusion
A comprehensive maintenance strategy ensures asset reliability and performance and keeps your operations running smoothly. Using CMMS software to incorporate scheduled maintenance into your maintenance strategy – along with other proactive measures like real-time condition monitoring and predictive maintenance – will help prevent shutdowns and unexpected maintenance costs. Meanwhile, leveraging SMCP enables you to effectively prioritize scheduled maintenance tasks and optimize your maintenance schedules.