Lesson 6 - Maintenance

We have described maintenance approaches and the associated resources that they require. Let us now focus on how to implement and perform the required maintenance tasks.

Tools

Depending on how your company has elected to structure its maintenance staff, it is important to determine what extent and capability are appropriate to perform equipment service and repair. 

The responsibilities of maintenance can be wide-ranging. On one end of the spectrum is the straightforward rebuilding of a sanitary butterfly valve, which can be performed by entry-level staff with minimal tooling experience. At the other end is an involved installation of a new mixproof valve in an existing matrix, which requires specialised skills and task-specific equipment. The tools and equipment required across all aspects of brewery maintenance are considerably different.

As part of the development and evolution of your maintenance programme, what level of equipment service do you think will be expected of staff? E.g. will your brewery want someone on staff who is skilled in boiler repair to perform an annual inspection and overhaul? In some cases, like an infrequent or highly technical work request, it may be worth considering contractors. This will save money by reducing spend on training, tools, and equipment that are rarely, if ever, used.

Spare parts / fabrication materials

The volume and scope of spare part holding should be able to support the desired maintenance approach. As an example, the No Maintenance or Reactive (Run-to-Failure) approaches require considerable on-hand spare parts as we are never sure when a failure will occur. Preventative or predictive methods, on the other hand, allow for a smaller, more focused inventory of spare parts to be on hand to address issues prior to failure and to provide time to order in specific parts these systems might identify as likely-to-fail.

Similarly, how resource maintenance is structured within your brewery will affect the type and amount of fabrication materials onsite. For example, a fully centralised maintenance department may stock sanitary piping and fittings as well as electrical conduit and wire, whereas a distributed or contract-only resource would likely purchase these items when needed, removing the need to store them onsite.

Planning/scheduling

How will maintenance planning be done? Will it be ad hoc – driven by breakdowns? Will scheduling be performed by a sole individual who can adequately balance production needs with equipment reliability? Or will a formal system be established with dedicated staff and tools to coordinate maintenance and operations? Smaller facilities may run without formal planning or rely on their production scheduler to manage both operations and maintenance demands. Questions similar to these were looked at earlier regarding maintenance organisation and staffing, but they also need to be discussed through the lens of coordinating maintenance activities.

Training

Appropriate and effective training of maintenance staff is essential for the smooth operation of process equipment and the safety of operators and engineers, irrespective of the maintenance approach adopted. Training exists in many forms, from simple YouTube videos to vendor and manufacturer onsite visits to formal classes at vocational colleges.

You must decide as a brewery precisely how you will prioritise maintenance training. In some instances, continuing education is a requirement for those with professional certifications. In other cases, it is important for your brewery to stay up-to-date on maintenance topics such as personnel safety, food safety, and environmental regulation. Lastly, providing learning opportunities demonstrates your investment in and appreciation of staff. This will pay dividends in employee satisfaction and tenure.

Documentation

Documentation is often the most neglected aspect of any process. Maintenance is no exception. Manuals, service bulletins, technical drawings, and end user instructions are frequently spread across a facility, lost to abandoned drawers or haphazardly stuffed into dusty file cabinets. These papers, while seemingly unimportant upon receipt of an individual tank or pump, are the entire technical foundation for your maintenance programme. As brewery staffing changes or building expansions occur, these documents provide an invaluable way to pass on knowledge, process history, and details that go far beyond that of one’s memory from 20 years ago. Today, with our ability to receive most files electronically or to scan and convert legacy documents, and store these on shared drives, there is no excuse not to have an up-to-date maintenance library.

Documentation and records retention deserves as much attention and effort as you would put into the physical maintenance of the equipment.

Another key part of maintenance documentation is service standard operating procedures (SOPs). These provide a clear and definitive set of work instructions which ensure tasks are completed correctly and safely. Failing to have SOPs in place means you lose control of the effectiveness and safety of the maintenance activity. SOPs require significant resource to put in place and maintain, but once established they can be used for training and assessment of capability.

In addition, maintenance documentation can be important for accident investigations, safety and environmental regulation compliance, food safety regulation compliance etc.

Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS)

In some breweries, a simple spreadsheet might be used for controlling records of installed equipment, their operating history, and a spare parts inventory. However, CMMS packages are becoming more common across both large and small breweries. They are well recognised as a means for improving management control over the maintenance resources used and the performance of equipment maintained.

A CMMS can help you with all the planning and control activities. In general terms, it should be capable of:

• Holding a complete list of installed assets (facility and brewery equipment)

• Maintaining records of planned, preventive maintenance tasks

• Generating, scheduling, and launching maintenance work

• Providing maintenance work cards/sheets and capturing information on jobs completed and jobs outstanding

• Maintaining and controlling details of equipment spares

• Maintaining details of maintenance work done and equipment performance

• Providing reports and controls of work due, materials consumed, and equipment performance (downtime)

Having developed how you are going to effectively maintain the brewery’s equipment, it is important to determine how to implement and best leverage the features of a CMMS. Here are some general points of guidance:

• Invest sufficient time and effort in all the necessary preparatory work, such as assembling records of equipment, overhauling preventive maintenance schedules, and briefing and training of staff. For a successful implementation, only a small fraction of the investment relates to the actual cost of the software.

• Be selective and concentrate initial efforts on preparing data and introducing control systems for your critical equipment. Assemble asset records, equipment histories, and spares information for this equipment first.

• Make the sophistication of CMMS appropriate to the needs of the business, with scope for expansion should the business grow. The most sophisticated CMMS packages offer flexibility and the ability to accommodate changes as individual user requirements change. Exercise caution pursuing systems that are highly customisable. Custom software can become complicated, burdensome, and expensive.

• Seek out a CMMS provider who is committed to customer service rather than just securing the initial license fee and the ongoing subscription fees.

Figure:  Select elements of a CMMS

Take a moment to consider what tools are required to effectively direct, communicate, and record maintenance activities within the brewery

Give yourself 5–10 minutes to think about this, and then click ’Next’ to continue with this lesson.