When it comes to keeping manufacturing assets operational, preventive maintenance is the preferred approach  in 78% of all facilities in contrast with reliance on reactive or corrective maintenance. This is because it's obviously better to prevent problems than clean up their messy consequences. At the same time, scheduled maintenance work consumes around 19 hours each week   and much of this time is not spent productively. Maintenance workers are known to spend between 25-33% of their working hours on non-productive tasks. A plant preventive maintenance checklist can reduce these inefficiencies, eliminate human errors – and keep front line workers safe.

According to Efficient Plant Magazine, companies with an optimized maintenance process spend around $100 million every year – while the cost for inefficient maintenance is around $400 million (or four times the cost). Every manufacturing plant needs an optimized preventive maintenance strategy to improve its operational efficiency and reduce costs.

But how can a plant preventive maintenance checklist help in meeting these challenges – and how does a Front Line Worker Platform improve preventive maintenance? Let’s take a deeper look.

How does a plant preventive maintenance checklist help PM teams?

A plant preventive maintenance checklist is an itemized list of tasks that need to be performed by maintenance operators as part of preventive maintenance. The objective of this checklist is to lay down consistent maintenance procedures that every maintenance personnel needs to follow to make sure all the work gets done properly.

Here are the benefits of a plant preventive maintenance checklist in any Manufacturing facility:

1. Standardizes the maintenance workflow by outlining the steps that any front line technician should perform.
2. Enables faster troubleshooting of any plant equipment with accurate problem identification, thus improving overall productivity and machine uptime.
3. Improves workplace safety by providing safety-related instructions that can minimize worker injuries.

Can a simple checklist ensure that maintenance workers will diligently follow all its instructions? The answer is no. This is where digital (or automation) processes are more effective at preventing human error and deviations than manual paper-based processes. Next, let's look at how a Front Line Worker Platform can make this checklist more effective!

How Connected Workforce Platforms improve the Preventive Maintenance Checklist

Here are some ways a Connected Worker platform enables maintenance operators to follow their maintenance checklist more effectively:

1. Self-assist contextually rich training tools and resources enable front line workers to understand the checklist and solve machine problems on their own without any external supervision.
2. Automatic notifications regarding maintenance schedules are sent to front line workers so that they follow the checklist items and improve the quality of their work.
3. Automatically generated job reports eliminate wasted time performing dual data entry
4. Real-time maintenance data after every completed job is now available for managers and supervisors to improve their maintenance operations – and for implementing predictive maintenance in the future.
5. Major deviations from the standard checklist items can now be tracked & measured – and can help manufacturers perform accurate root cause analysis of manufacturing problems when they occur.
6. Remote assistance (enabled by Augmented Reality technology) can be used to resolve problems or issues that occur when maintenance operators deviate from the procedures listed in the maintenance checklist or the unforeseen occurs.
7. The use of digital technology in Front Line Worker platforms during work execution improves real-time data capture, operational visibility, and reduces human errors during maintenance work.

Conclusion

‍An optimized preventive maintenance process using checklists can be effective in avoiding equipment failure, high operational costs, and enhancing workplace safety in manufacturing plants. Front Line Worker platforms facilitate improved preventive maintenance operations.

Designed for enterprise businesses, Atheer’s Front Line Worker Operations Platform uses the best of digital technology to help your workforce perform their job efficiently. The Atheer Front Line Worker platform provides a range of resources for workers including worker instructions, visual guides, checklists, and inspections to optimize productivity and allow your front line teams to do their best work every time.

Optimizing your front line will positively impact your bottom line. Atheer is designed to optimize OEE by elevating machine monitoring and related service tasks. Learn how we can help improve your Availability, Performance and Quality in these articles.

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