The cost of unplanned machine downtime for industrial manufacturers is estimated to be $50 billion each year.  Massive amounts of productive time is wasted due to maintenance operators having to file paper reports into siloed computer systems at the end of the day and wait for paper instructions to be printed out before going out into the field. These are just some of the constraints manual paper-based processes put on front line teams productivity. This is why companies need to digitize their planned preventive maintenance to improve efficiency.

A planned preventive maintenance strategy can help manufacturers reduce their overall maintenance costs as well as minimize unexpected breakdowns and stoppages. Focusing on preventive maintenance is favored by 80% of maintenance engineers over corrective or reactive maintenance.

Why do manufacturers need to digitize their preventive maintenance operations and how can a Front Line Worker Platform streamline this process? Let’s take a look.

Why Do Manufacturers Need to Digitize Preventive Maintenance?

On average, workers spend 15 to 30 minutes per work order typing up paper work done in the field into reports at the end of the day. This adds up to a massive cost in effective work time of thousands of hours lost every year for every machine asset.

Digitizing your planned preventive maintenance strategy can go a long way into streamlining maintenance operations and reducing unnecessary costs associated with manual or paper-based processes. Let’s look at how Front Line Worker Platforms  can help in digitizing preventive maintenance work in the manufacturing industry.

How Front Line Workforce Platforms Improve Preventive Maintenance?

Planned and efficient preventive maintenance involves detecting machine-related problems before they lead to  system failures. Through a Front Line or Connected Workforce platform, maintenance operators are kept well-informed of any critical problem as well as its best resolution.

Front Line Worker Platforms empower front line maintenance operators with the ability to:

• Search for an immediate resolution to any machine problem using a vast knowledge repository using Self Assist tools.
• Escalate or report issues using instant communication tools or Remote Assistance.
• Detect any operational problem during machine inspection and capture it as photographic evidence on their device while working with intuitive workflows.
• Elevate any maintenance task using detailed work instructions and get work immediately reviewed by supervisors.
• Perform their assigned maintenance task quickly and independently without need for supervision.

While paper-based or manual processes are static, Front Line Worker Platforms work are built for continuous improvement. You can see which steps are helpful and eliminate waste. Service task data can be captured at every stage using photographic evidence of the completed job. This captured data can be used to compare how different maintenance workers complete their work and detect any inefficiencies. This enables manufacturers to standardize maintenance-related work and eliminate any wastage.

Further, all information about preventive maintenance procedures is stored in a decentralized location, which is easily available to management and front line teams when they need guidance. The use of Augmented Reality (AR) technology enables remote assistance where machine experts can remotely assist new operators in tackling any unexpected problems.

Conclusion

Digitizing planned preventive maintenance enables manufacturing companies to gather machine data and optimize their maintenance work for the best results. This in turn helps improve OEE by elevating the quality of machine monitoring and related service tasks. Atheer takes pride in improving Availability, Performance and Quality by offering end to end support to front line teams and management.  

Among the leading solutions providers for the manufacturing industry, Atheer has empowered its customers with the capabilities of its low code/no code Front Line Worker platform. Atheer provides manufacturers with the agility to face any unexpected problems and overcome pain points in planned preventive maintenance.