CREATING AND ELECTRICAL PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE PROGRAM BASIC TUTORIALS

Preparing a preventive maintenance program basic information

To be successful, a preventive maintenance program shall have the backing of management. There should be the belief that operating profit is increased through the judicious spending of maintenance dollars. Financial issues should be considered when evaluating the need for continuous electrical power.

These factors will help to dictate the level of importance that a facility places on a preventive maintenance program. The cost of downtime or lost production, and how that can be minimized through effective maintenance, also should be considered.

A complete survey of the plant should be performed. This survey should include a listing of all electrical equipment and systems. The equipment should be listed in a prioritized fashion in order to distinguish those systems or pieces of equipment that are most critical to the operation.

The survey should also include a review of the status of drawings, manuals, maintenance logs, safety and operating procedures, and training and other appropriate records. It should be recognized that the survey itself can be a formidable task.

It is likely that power outages may be required in order to complete the survey. The gathering of documentation is important. This includes not only the drawings of the facilities, but also all the documentation that is normally provided by the manufacturer of the equipment.

The manufacturer's manuals should include recommended maintenance procedures, wiring diagrams, bills of materials, assembly and operating instructions, and troubleshooting recommendations.

Next, the necessary procedures for maintaining each item on the list should be developed. NFPA 70B-1994 [B3] and NETA MTS-1993 [B2] are valuable resources that provide much of this information. Procedures should also be developed that integrate the equipment into systems. People that are capable of performing the procedures should be selected and trained. At some level of technical performance, it may be desirable to contract parts of the maintenance program to qualified outside firms, particularly those functions that require special test equipment to perform.

Finally, a process shall be developed to administer the program. This process may be manual or software-based. There are many commercially available systems with varying levels of sophistication.

Consideration also shall be given to some of the less technical parts of the process. Pre-maintenance considerations might include the logistics of getting equipment in and out of the area to be maintained, general safety procedures, procedures to be followed in the event of an emergency, and record-keeping that has to be accomplished ahead of the maintenance activity, as well as follow-up maintenance, special lighting needs, and equipment-specific safety precautions.

In addition, an ongoing task is that of keeping access to electrical equipment free from being blocked by stored materials, such as spare parts. Record keeping and maintenance follow-up activities also shall be considered.