In every respectable manufacturing concern, their staffs will will trained in one way or another in a system called Preventive Maintenance. Basically, Preventive Maintenance to the laymen means maintaining even if it is running perfectly. It will mean down time in production schedules, extra expenses and man hours but experts in these fields have proved that in the long run, preventive maintenance will benefit the company more, if the factory is kept running at 24 hours a day without stop.
Unlike many factories, especially those operated by very money conscious bosses who are unwilling to stop their machines until they totally breaks down, factories which practises Preventive Maintenance schedules a twice yearly or once yearly total shutdown of their plants to allow maintenance to be carried out. During this one or two weeks break, all parts that have reached their maximum use hours will be replaced irrespective of whether they could still be used or whether they are still in good working conditions. In short they machines are given a mini overhaul.
Practising good preventive maintenance improves performances, machines are less prone to breakdowns during normal working hours, power consumption are considerably lower with the more efficient and smoothly running machines. In the long run, the expenses incurred during the shutdown time are covered back by all these savings many times over.
Another aspect of a technician well trained in Preventive Maintenance procedures is the technician’s understanding of the machines under their care. They should be so well versed in the intricacies of the machines that they develop a personal feeling for the machine. The moment they step in front of that machine, they should have a gut feeling if the machine is working the way that it should be. Like a parent who will automatically know that their children are sick even not being told, they know their machines are not running the way it should be just by listening to the sound, or the the temperature around the machine or even the speed the machine is running. Once they have such a feeling, they can order the machines be stopped for a thorough check up before accidents happens which might result in a bigger loss for the company. That is good Preventive Maintenance.