Construction site maintenance strategies
maintenance intervals; Increases the lifespan of an asset; Better time management due to predefined scheduled intervals and; Longer useful life for parts
The importance of construction site maintenance strategies cannot be overemphasized. Imagine a project for a noncommercial building just months away from crossing the finish line when a tower crane topples and causes four floors to collapse into rubble. Luckily no one is hurt, but the penalty clause from the contract is activated, and the construction site must remain closed while the authorities investigate the cause of the disaster. After two months of uncertainty and frayed nerves, the result from the investigation finally reveals mechanical failure as the cause: no maintenance recorded on the crane for the last five months.
Advantages of Preventative Maintenance Fewer expensive repairs; Reduces downtime due to unplanned maintenance; Longer lifespan of asset; Improved reliability and availability of asset; Cheaper than CMB, PdM, and RCM to implement and; Does not require a large amount of data to implement Disadvantages of Preventative Maintenance Does not consider the critical function of an asset; Is not necessarily an optimized maintenance strategy; Requires in-depth planning and a critical analysis of an asset; Routine maintenance may be unnecessary leading to inefficient use of time and higher spending and; Does not consider the optimum lifespan of a component
Condition-based Maintenance (CBM) Condition-based monitoring uses tests, visual inspections, operational performance, and other equipment information as a “listening ear” to determine the real-time condition of an asset. Different algorithms Preventative Maintenance (PM) later use the data acquired to detect, Preventative maintenance (PM) is a diagnose, and perform a prognosis for an systematic approach that involves regularly asset’s failure modes. scheduled inspection, repairs, replacements, or any other task that minimizes wear and Advantages of CBM tear of an asset. On a construction site, Maintenance performed on an as-needed preventative maintenance can be time-based, basis; Lowers expenses on maintenance usage-based, or predictive. A cut-off-saw by minimizing time spent to maintain is an example where both time-based and an asset; Lowers the risks associated usage-based maintenance are appropriate. with unscheduled downtime; Optimizes Below are some construction site maintenance strategies to guide the decisionmaking process: preventative, conditionbased, predictive, and reliability-centered maintenance.
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CR | May-June 2020
Disadvantages of CBM Relies on specific indicators that may lead to asset modification; requires specific knowledge to choose the type of measurement equipment; Expensive to install and time-consuming to perform database analysis; CBM does not detect all types of failures and; Resistance to change is an obstacle Predictive Maintenance (PdM) Predictive maintenance uses conditionmonitoring strategies to identify and asset’s performance and establish a future date for maintenance. This approach closely intertwines data collected from sensors, environmental measurements, maintenance history, machine operations, and other suitable parameters with algorithms. These algorithms then use the collected data with other variables to predict when failure occurs according to the criteria established in a predictive maintenance model. The answers to two crucial questions below provide essential information about the applicability of predictive maintenance for an asset: Does the asset perform a critical function that can negatively impact the project if it fails unexpectedly? Is it possible to cost-effectively monitor the failure modes of the asset? If the answer is “YES” to both questions, then the next step is selecting the components/ systems on a construction site to monitor. Vibration of bearings, overloads in electrical panels, temperature differences
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