Changes in environmental regulations, technology, global competition and increasing safety expectations have made the consequences of equipment failures intolerable. With the equipment getting bigger and more expensive, it is a priority with all mining operations that the equipment is reliable and backed up by a sound maintenance program.
Because of this, implementing maintenance improvements has been at the forefront of initiatives for at least the past 15 years and is becoming more of a priority all the time. Even with this extra focus, few companies have successfully been able to improve their maintenance practices and even fewer have been able to reap the benefits of implementing best practice maintenance. Attempts at implementing best practice maintenance is very often done with a strictly a technical approach focusing on maintenance tasks or one focused solely on improved work processes. Implementing successful maintenance improvements requires a balance approach including technical improvements in the maintenance tasks, process improvements in planning and scheduling, and changing the culture and understanding of how physical assets should be managed.
This presentation will first discuss the changes in industry and technology that have redefined the role of maintenance in the business and made it such a priority with most companies. Secondly it will discuss some of the aspects of best practice maintenance along with some implementation steps backed up by case studies.
