Machine Repair or Replace? Which Way to Go?

Equipment ages past its key for reasons. Probably the most common of which include fatigue, corrosion, and erosion that requires machine repair. Plants might have changed the processes of theirs to adapt in time but haven’t been able to configure pieces with these variations. For instance, several plants have increased the capacity and operating pressures which places a strain on aging products, particularly in the situation of very sensitive components as security relief valves as well as ruptured discs.

machine repair

It’s believed that about one-third of relief valves neglect to perform as designed due to these changing conditions. Back pressures that weren’t initially present in the first style might not be believed by those now running the plant. This is also present in instances where management changes over new conditions and the years aren’t considered.

Machine Repair: Repair/Upgrade vs. Replacement

When determining whether to hold on to a piece of gear through regular maintenance or even invest the money to update or even change it, managers need to take into consideration a variety of variables. These things vary per piece of gear but generally include:

  • Age of the equipment
  • Just how many hours it’s been in use
  • The problem of the working environment
  • Expected life cycle with or with no repairs/upgrade

This combination determines exactly how long equipment could run to specifications before the price of common maintenance as well as repair exceeds the price of changing the gear. This estimation must also think about the generation and operator expenses related to any equipment downtime as well as the demand for supplemental rented equipment.

It’s also essential in order to build maintenance efficiency and its price as a fraction of replacement asset worth, or maybe RAV. In order to use a good example, a plant that usually spends $300,000 per season in order to preserve gear that may be replaced or even enhanced for $10,000,000 has a three percent RAV.

Misdirected Management of Aging Equipment

It’s believed that over half of common maintenance activity in plants is not needed, which includes regular product inspections, preventive upkeep, and other things. The truth is the fact that many instruments work orders don’t end up in corrective action, as it’s typical to locate that nothing is at first wrong with the gear. Even though many valves are generally eliminated for rebuilding, oftentimes, just a portion truly needs this considerable service. Many plants decide to re-calibrate transmitters before setting up and then once again each season even though original calibration is much more correct and certainly will stay stable for 5 to 10 years.

It’s believed that a method plant’s maintenance division averages about a third of the efforts of theirs on wrench time. Most of the time of theirs and energy is devoted to information processing, job orders, along with other paperwork. 

Using automated instruments to do these chores can boost the wrench time to half or even more. When rushed, often wrench time can in fact lead to counterproductive methods. Issues can arise during reassembly, incorrect tightening, misalignment, and other slips. It’s believed that up to seventy percent of device failures occur after that maintenance.