A condition monitoring program plays a very important role in most industrial companies that have plant machinery. These programs allow companies of all sizes to manage costs and extend the life of plant machinery through ongoing maintenance and monitoring of machinery performance on a regular basis. There are several different types of condition monitoring depending on the industry and application, including oil analysis, vibration monitoring, and acoustic emission testing.
Condition monitoring programs play an important role in many industrial companies and form a large part of their budget, since the cost of maintenance is much more profitable than having to replace expensive plant machinery. For example, if a piece of equipment breaks, a day of production may be lost due to unplanned maintenance, and if the broken part has to be shipped from another location, it will take much longer before the equipment is back in service. function. This is why companies spend large sums of money on condition monitoring programs.
Another case for condition monitoring programs is that plant engineers come to better understand machinery. For example, through an oil analysis program, a plant operator gains insight into how the mechanical parts of the device are performing and how they function over time. Through regular monitoring, engineers can make more informed decisions about when maintenance is required, rather than simply performing maintenance on a regular basis and replacing parts that may not be broken.
This helps engineers reduce maintenance cost by making repairs only based on machine performance rather than after an arbitrary amount of time.
It also helps engineers plan for maintenance instead of waiting until a failure occurs, engineers can predict through historical data when a piece of equipment may fail and require maintenance.
A great example of performing maintenance when it may not be necessary is an oil change based on a schedule or when excessive wear is detected. First of all, an oil change is not sure to fix a problem, as it may not be the root cause. Second, an oil change can cause more damage to equipment, as engineers may use the wrong type of oil, and for every oil change, it may need to be replaced. Changing the oil without proper analysis can be a waste of money and resources and can cost more than the perceived savings in the long run, as over-maintenance of a piece of machinery can reduce the life of the equipment.
This is why it is essential to carry out the correct condition monitoring program for the application or equipment you are using. The program must be appropriate for the piece of machinery that is in operation. While it is important to carry out a maintenance program, it is much more effective to use condition monitoring techniques to understand how it is performing and whether or not maintenance is required.
Condition monitoring will continue to play a very important role in businesses of all sizes to track the condition of their equipment and reduce repair costs and extend the life of machinery through planned maintenance and performance analysis. of the team. Companies are continually looking for ways to cut costs, and in industrial plants, reducing machinery downtime is one of the most effective ways to do this, so companies will continue to invest in these programs for the foreseeable future.