Preventative Maintenance System?

[SpacemanSpiff]

Greetings!

Looking to start a conversation about brewery preventative maintenance program(s). Can anyone comment on / discuss the following?

• What're you using in the way of a program (standardized vs homegrown vs hybrid)?

• Was it patterned after a similar organization (automotive, tool & die, etc)?

• Does it rely on a software program for scheduling, if so, what platform (SAP, etc)?

• Are there phased approaches to instituting a preventative maintenance program that would be recommended to avoid a costly learning curve; following manufacturers recommendations vs. instituting known intervals according to demonstrated equipment reliability?

[TGTimm]

Breweries tend to be rather idiosyncratic--we each have our own mix of equipment with it's own maintenance requirements. I think you'd have a hard time finding a one-size-fits-all program.

I've been documenting our maintenance schedule for a couple of years now--some is annual or less, so it takes a while to get everything, and it seems we're always getting rid of something and adding something else. My eventual plan is to put this schedule into something like Excel where I can have it notify me when something needs doing, but, in the meantime, it lives in a file on the computer and a whiteboard on the shop wall.

I've seen a few stock programs for this, but they don't seem to offer any real advantages, and tend to be spendy.

Just as important, build a list of your critical spares and be sure you have them on hand--anything that could shut the place down if it breaks (I've already covered this in another rant).

[Scott M]

As far as the physical brewing equipment and sanitation routines, they should be self evident. For your mechanicals, follow the manufacturer's recommendations. Look up the mechanicals online and if a PDF for maintenance and parts exists, download it. Stock spares and parts that are critical to your brewing mission and hire someone (if it is not you) who knows how to pull a bearing on a motor without using a hammer (brewerywright or millwright). You should Know (or your most important employee Should Know) the electrical distribution, gas, refrigeration, plumbing, waste, piping, ventilation, HVAC, glycol and pumping systems in your brewery like they designed and installed them. Oh, and they or you should also have a fair knowledge of building, plumbing, (all those listed above) codes.

A "Mandatory Spares" list should be mutually created by you and your brewerywright to mitigate loss of product in the event of a mid brew issue.

A maintenance schedule can be built in spreadsheet software, printed, posted in a binder and tracked. Equipment failures should also be tracked in an effort to insure against future failures and to modify your maintenance schedule.

Anyone who has built a maintenance program should be able to create a preventative maintenance schedule for you, but be advised that failures happen and they always happen at the most inconvenient moment.

[Starcat]

Mtc

Greetings!

Looking to start a conversation about brewery preventative maintenance program(s). Can anyone comment on / discuss the following?

• What're you using in the way of a program (standardized vs homegrown vs hybrid)?

• Was it patterned after a similar organization (automotive, tool & die, etc)?

• Does it rely on a software program for scheduling, if so, what platform (SAP, etc)?

• Are there phased approaches to instituting a preventative maintenance program that would be recommended to avoid a costly learning curve; following manufacturers recommendations vs. instituting known intervals according to demonstrated equipment reliability?

First thing. What Timm has said is absolutely correct.
Programs....
One time I took over Engineering for a 55 room guest ranch in a remote location. It was way more complicated in some respects than a Former College Campus I had charge of. It had one of those " Maintenence Programs " on the shop computer. While those types of programs may allow a person to seemingly get hold of a very large and complex operation and remind him of things that need to get done.....they are in other respects a distraction and a COLOSSAL waste of time.
A very hands on approach, some basic schedules, and Timm's white board idea work much better in my view.
Software programs might be a way for someone who does not have any Tech skills to micromanage persons who do, but the schedule parameters you will need are not really going to be found in the places you are suggesting such as MFG. suggestions and
" known intervals."
The known intervals would only be the roughest guidline under perfect but not real circumstances.
Your operation will be unique in ways that defy the imagination.
If the Brewmaster is not a Major Tech savvy Mechanic, you will need to have found some one or a few who are that can be hired on contract or full time in house. The contract guys are not necessarily going to have the parts needed on hand or even in the same town for that matter. What you reall need in terms of parts and supplies is wrought out by the fine tuned desire to have a handle on what your operation needs to be both correctly backed up and firstly redundant on the most critical systems.
The redundancy thing is a major blind area due to widespread unrealism.
The learning curve in this trade is massive because there is way too much ego, too much romanticism, and too much testosterone involved. Take a quick look around the forum and you will see all manner of questions from incomers attempting to totally reinvent the wheel and do everything under the sun on the total cheap.

ON the subject of Software and software engineering in general things are not only not that great, but in most cases are degenerating. This is because everything has been Monetized and because people are not seeing this and are not demanding quality and accountability. HTML is getting especially rotten.
As an example the WW Grainger websight was about a million times better than it is now in it former major incarnation before it was redone about 3 or 4 years back. Any sane mechanic who used the former websight would agree the new one is a total failure, designed by people who are getting paid to destroy things and also who know nothing about the products they are dealing with " on screen."
The new " Softwares " in most cases are major time wasters.
Software should be elegant, highly functional and simple.
IN these times Software is running people rather than the converse.
The new " HTML" is too code and bandwidth heavy.
I suspect the people writing it are all major cell phone addicts who simply don't get that some of us don't need the hand held microwave brain scramblers at all.....and in fact remember that the world was a much better place before the pagers were invented.
All of this " Tek " in fact seems to be dividing people more than ever before.

All the best in Brewing

[SpacemanSpiff]

Thank you all very much for the input!

I've made the (very recent) transition from working in the pharmaceutical industry as a process engineer at a MASSIVE company to a small craft brewery, so I'm in the process of scaling back all my thought processes re systems and procedures.

Previously our preventative maintenance program was driven thru our SAP system; workorders were generated and executed based on the scheduled input into the system. It was 'handy' for scheduling but we had nothing but problems with it when rebuild intervals in the system weren't tied to actual operating time on assets; ie. we 'needed' a rebuild on a filler 3 months earlier, 3 months later, or not at all as opposed to when the workorder was generated by the system. Asset utilization wasn't directly / indirectly tied to the PM system so we had no real idea if we were hitting our intended service intervals or not. More often than not we were using assets well-beyond the intended maintenance interval and indirectly created our own new which was just shy of the mean time to component failure - a practice I'd like to not get in the habit of here, for obvious financial reasons.

Re learning curve - absolutely agree. I'm very glad to have all the kind folks who cruise these discussion boards as a resource for feedback / information.