MAINTENANCE AND RELIABILITY
Examine what happened before and during a stoppage.
Review machine states, electrical power and historical data from instrumented equipment to support maintenance investigations.
A maintenance intervention record describes the work performed. Investigating recurring failures may also require equipment operating time, recorded states and events surrounding the stoppage.
MAINTENANCE / OPERATING HISTORY
Before attributing a failure, examine the equipment’s operating state.
Signal and energy histories provide context for a stoppage. Diagnosis requires technical inspection, maintenance records and evidence specific to the suspected failure mechanism.
BEFORE
Operating state, trends and latest available signals.
DURING
Loss of cycle signal, power or communication according to installed instrumentation.
AFTER
Intervention log and behaviour when operation resumes.
MAINTENANCE · DATA FOR INVESTIGATION
What can be investigated?
Use available records to assess equipment use, conditions during stoppages and previous events relevant to technical investigations.
01
Equipment use
Record running hours, cycles or start-ups where the available signals permit. Agree with maintenance personnel on the definitions of operation, downtime and return to service.
02
Equipment active during idle periods
Compare power demand with identified downtime intervals. This helps investigate auxiliaries that continue consuming energy, accounting for process conditions that must be maintained.
03
History for investigation
Link captured events to documented interventions. Integration with a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) requires separate assessment of system compatibility, identifiers, data and connectivity.
MAINTENANCE · FURTHER ANALYSIS
How long has the asset operated since its last intervention?
Closing a maintenance work order does not reveal how many operating hours, cycles or start-ups the equipment has accumulated since. Operating records provide a basis for assessing recurring failures and planning usage-based interventions.
Which information should the history retain?
Define effective operation, functional failure and the point at which the asset returns to service. Relate available signals to the diagnosis recorded in the CMMS where such integration exists.
Further questions: Investigate events before the stoppage · Review MONITOR historical records · Signal acquisition and operating records
A PLANT-FLOOR EXAMPLE
Before drawing conclusions.
A stopped injection-moulding machine may still need to maintain certain thermal conditions. Energy measurements guide the investigation; they do not justify treating every kilowatt-hour consumed during downtime as waste.
RELATED CONTENT
Energy measurement
Machine and selected auxiliaries.
Publications
Monitoring and maintenance.
TO INVESTIGATE FURTHER
What to record before, during and after a stoppage
Maintenance reports and operating records provide complementary parts of the equipment’s history.
APPLICATION ASSESSMENT
Review critical measurement points
Before installation, assess connection points, available space, power supply, network and access. Signals provide operating information; failure prediction requires application-specific models and validation.
Describe your needs using the information available. Confidential attachments are not required.
Applications
Engineering
Resources
PM Tec Engineering, through its Industry 4.0 division, KERN IoP.
Cota, Cundinamarca · Colombia.
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