Impact of Autonomous Maintenance on a PIM Production Line

Abstract

To increase the competitiveness of their products, companies have sought to identify and eliminate losses in their production processes to reduce production costs. One of the six major process losses established by the Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) philosophy is related to equipment downtime in the production environment. This paper analyzes the impacts of the implementation of autonomous maintenance through the eight-step analysis implemented by a project developed in line 3 of the welding sector of a factory located in the city of Manaus, capital of Amazonas, Brazil. To this end, the indicators were evaluated, establishing the solution priority, defining the necessary actions and implementing them. Upon completion of the project, there was a 39% increase in operators' knowledge of machines and autonomous maintenance procedures, as well as a 75% reduction in line equipment downtime, increasing the availability from 94.9% to 98.7%, allowing to verify the effects of the execution of the autonomous maintenance activities.

Improvement of maintenance management through Lean Philosophy and Industry 4.0

“…These tasks include keeping the equipment clean, lubricated and with all components properly secured to reduce deterioration and prevent equipment failures. To achieve the goals of autonomous maintenance, it is necessary to involve production and maintenance personnel in daily activities to maintain the state of equipment, training to improve operator skills, and participation of production personnel in the maintenance process [24][25][26].…”

“…Thus, the fundamental objective of AM is to avoid, in the day-to-day production, the deterioration of equipment by detecting and treating its anomalies at an early stage before they develop and result in more serious failures [24][25][26].…”

“…The machine operator becomes the key element, as he will be responsible for carrying out small maintenance activities (cleaning, tightening screws and lubricating). The operator having this attitude will feel like another important element, which will help in his development and taste for the job, as well as helping to create more time for the maintenance team, leaving more time for more time-consuming and complex tasks, make improvements to the machines contributing to increased productivity [24][25][26].…”

“…This process is intended to reduce the frequency of breakdowns due to small causes that can be identified and resolved by the equipment operators, who are autonomous for the preparation of maintenance on the equipment itself [26][27][28][29].…”

“…Thus, AM consists of training and qualifying operators to develop a feeling of ownership over the equipment and thus take care of them, carrying out inspections and detecting problems at an early stage, and even making small adjustments and tightening's to maintain the equipment. in perfect condition for as long as possible [26][27][28][29].…”