What is maintenance? Maintenance according to European standards

 What is maintenance?

 A maintenance engineer should know and understand maintenance terminology and standards, and have the ability to use them in practice. In order to make proper analyses, it is necessary that everyone talks and reports in the same way, and that we understand what the different concepts mean in maintenance terminology. This allows us to measure and make correct and fact-based analyses, which in turn form the basis for the maintenance organization's decision-making. The Maintenance standard states that: Maintenance is the combination of all technical, administrative and managerial actions during the lifetime of a device in order to maintain it in, or restore it to, a condition to perform the required function.

Maintenance according to European standards

Maintenance is often considered to be the same as repairing something that has broken, which is an old and outdated definition of maintenance work. The pyramid on the next page shows that corrective maintenance is only a small part of the tasks in a maintenance organisation. A large part of the work involves identifying future maintenance needs and planning and preparing for this to achieve the most cost-effective maintenance possible. The main objective of a maintenance organisation is always to maintain or increase operational reliability.

 

This means that machines and equipment work as expected during planned operation. To achieve this, the maintenance organisation needs a clear vision and strategy with established procedures and goals. An example of a maintenance strategy can be to achieve more efficient production through preventive and condition-based maintenance. It is also important in the daily work that you work long term. One example could be Root Cause Analyses in corrective maintenance in order to eventually increase the degree of planning and thereby create cost-effective maintenance.

 

This manual can be used as a practical guide and support in the daily maintenance work and as part of the introduction material for newly hired staff. Feel free to contact us if you want help to develop your own maintenance manual for your organisation. It is very important that all maintenance personnel understand the importance of well performed preventive maintenance, as well as the consequences of unplanned production stoppages. They should also be able to assess how improved maintenance, or developed preventive maintenance, can increase asset

reliability. The manual has been updated from the first edition in 2016.