Preventive Maintenance for Electrical Panels and Graphic Display Units

“Cleanliness is the Best Policy” when it comes to maintaining electrical equipment in a concrete products facility. Focusing on a few simple practices will extend the life of electrical panels and graphic display units that are connected to your equipment.

Best Practices:

1. Keep panel doors and box covers closed. Dust and moisture are two of the biggest enemies of electrical devices.

2. Remove debris from electrical components. Heat build-up can occur when electrical devices are covered with dust or concrete. Dirt, once inside a component, is trouble.

3. On a monthly basis, check electrical connections and keep them tight. A loose wire either in a panel or on the machine will cause electrical arcing. Arcing can cause intermittent machine operation and eventually a breakdown.

4. Keep electrical wiring diagrams, logic documents and operating manuals clean, neat and easily accessible. Plant personnel will need these items to effectively troubleshoot the equipment.

5. Ensure tags and labels are readable and securely attached to electrical devices. This will help identify items when servicing the equipment.

Overall plant efficiency and productivity is increased with preventive maintenance. The added effort will pay for itself in the long run. Maintaining a clean facility also improves the overall atmosphere. Employees will show more pride when their workplace is neat and organized. Attitudes are more upbeat which positively affects work quality. An uncluttered environment also promotes safety.

Book: Maintenance Benchmarking and Best Practices

Over the past decade, companies have redirected their maintenance operational focus from internal cost-cutting to profit-maximization. This approach is referred to as profit centered maintenance. Peters provides maintenance supervisors and managers with a benchmarking/best practices road-map called the Maintenance Operations Scoreboard. The Scoreboard will allow maintenance managers to: a) determine and quantify benefits and savings, b) improve craft productivity and c) define a strategy to improve efficiency and productivity. These things are at the heart of a successful Profit Centered Maintenance organization. The author-devised Maintenance Operations Scoreboard is used to perform over 200 maintenance evaluations in over 5,000 profit centered maintenance organizations. For example, at Honda of America, it was used extensively to direct maintenance strategy. It was later translated into Japanese for presentation to key Japanese executives. Another excellent example is Boeing Commercial Aircraft Inc. Boeing combined elements from this same Scoreboard with their company-wide maintenance goals to develop ‘The Boeing Scoreboard for Maintenance Excellence.’ Over 60 facility maintenance work units, at region, group and team levels, are evaluated at on-site visits using the Scoreboard criteria.

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