What is Maintenance? Type of maintenance ! Mechanical Engineering

Maintenance is the work that keeps mechanical assets running with minimal downtime. Machine maintenance can include regularly scheduled service, routine checks, and both scheduled and emergency repairs. It also includes replacement or realignment of parts that are worn, damaged, or misaligned.

Types of Maintenance: 

The main types of industrial maintenance are:

corrective maintenance

preventive maintenance

predictive maintenance

systematic preventive maintenance

conditional preventive maintenance.

Corrective maintenance

As its name implies, corrective maintenance is carried out to correct deterioration and malfunctions of any equipment or production line as soon as they occur. If the failure that disrupts the production process has not been anticipated by other types of maintenance, such as preventive maintenance, industrial maintenance technicians deal with the problem as soon as it occurs. This is unplanned /unscheduled preventive maintenance or curative maintenance. This type of intervention can be costly for companies. To limit this repair cost, manufacturers opt for the so-called palliative corrective maintenance, which consists in repairing and fixing the problem at a lower cost and more quickly.

Preventive maintenance

This type of maintenance is performed by the technicians in charge of industrial maintenance before any failure or malfunction occurs. It concerns spare parts, components and machinery and equipment in order to reduce the risk of failure. The digitalization of industrial companies has provided many computerized and technological solutions that allow technicians to perform, monitor, keep track and plan preventive maintenance effectively.

Predictive maintenance

The emergence of data processing and analysis solutions, as well as artificial intelligence, has enabled manufacturers to plan predictive maintenance based on the prediction of failures and malfunctions. This type of industrial maintenance allows companies to anticipate problems by planning the necessary interventions and maintenance operations based on predictions. It thus makes it possible to limit the expenses caused by unexpected breakdowns, equipment downtime and production disruption.

Systematic preventive maintenance

This type of preventive maintenance is distinguished by its frequency. It is periodic and systematically carried out by the technicians at well-defined time intervals beforehand. This allows components and spare parts to be replaced regularly, improving machine productivity. Systematic preventive maintenance is therefore based on regular inspection of the various equipment, enabling maintenance technicians to collect the necessary information on the various components of the production line and to effectively prevent breakdowns and repair costs.

Conditional preventive maintenance

Conditional preventive maintenance consists of monitoring the key parameters and indicators of the property’s operation and implementing the necessary corrective actions to anticipate any failure or malfunction. Many emergent computer tools are available to automate this type of industrial maintenance. Thus, technicians and maintenance workers can simplify and facilitate their work by opting for the digitalization of industrial maintenance processes.