How to reduce equipment repair and maintenance costs and cut downtime

Specifics: A large fleet (more than 5,000 units) of highly complex and diverse equipment. A large metrology department with its own laboratory. Calibrations have to be performed by external contractors

Project business goals:
• Tracking of repair objects
• Generation of PPM schedules
• Procurement planning

Software: 1C:EAM (TOiR) + 1C:UPP version 1.3

Automated units:
• Chief Power Engineer’s department
• Chief Mechanic’s department
• Metrology department
• Dispatch service

Situation before the project

At the start of the project, the organization had come under the control of the Rosatom State Corporation.
Equipment repair and maintenance records were not systematized. The dispatch office kept paper logs of repair requests.
Records of metrology equipment and the calibration plan for measuring instruments were kept in Excel.
A repair plan for the most valuable and expensive equipment did not exist even on paper. This knowledge was held by two experts, who were effectively irreplaceable at the company.

Project objectives

• Creating a single master data repository
• Maintaining repair object records
• Creating a single repository of maintenance and repair data (breakdown into assemblies, repair intervals, required materials, and staff qualifications)
• Planning the work of repair crews
• Accumulating equipment failure data
• Reducing the number of equipment failures
• Automatically calculating planned preventive maintenance (PPM) schedules
• Integrating with 1C:UPP
• Reducing dependence on repair experts

The automation process

1. Master data for equipment maintenance and repair was compiled
A single master data repository was set up for repair objects and metrology department instruments.

How the goal was achieved

• In the first stage, employees were trained to use the software, and detailed instructions were created.
• A test case was set up with several repair objects broken down by assembly and with crews broken down by competency. A test PPM schedule was calculated.
• A process was set up for describing the assemblies that make up repair objects, the repair intervals, and the consumables and spare parts required for equipment repair and maintenance
• The third stage was slow because only 2 employees (the chief mechanic and the chief power engineer) had complete information on equipment repairs. Their heavy workload and lack of motivation (even negative motivation) slowed down the entry of this valuable information.
  The contractor’s team launched the process of entering master data into the database. However, the company will need to work on employee motivation to keep entering and updating the data.

2. Accumulation of equipment failure data began

How the goal was achieved

The dispatch team that takes requests for urgent repairs of actual equipment failures was trained to use 1C:EAM. At this stage, the project ran into one of the most common risks: automating the dispatching process met with persistent resistance from employees. Workers of pre-retirement and retirement age did not want to work on a computer. Management had to take measures to keep the project from stalling. Over time, after training and trial use of the software, the dispatchers got used to registering all repair requests in 1C:EAM.

3. Integration with 1C:UPP

How the goal was achieved

The company used 1C:UPP version 1.3 as its main accounting system, and integration with 1C:EAM was required. We decided to integrate them by installing 1C:EAM as an add-on on top of 1C:UPP. This made it possible to use shared catalogs, and all users began working in a single database.
As a result, we avoided the need for data exchange and eliminated the errors caused by duplicate catalog entries during exchanges. These measures brought the master data into order.

Automation results

Thanks to the automation of maintenance and repairs, the company was able to

1. Make equipment repair and maintenance tracking and planning transparent
2. Eliminate the human factor in planned preventive maintenance of equipment
3. Maintain repair object records and equipment failure statistics
4. Reduce repair costs by up to 15%
5. Cut equipment downtime by up to 25% by ordering spare parts and consumables in advance

Our YouTube channel has several useful videos about this system:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkfCahNNKA8&t=10s
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6KK1ZNto0E&t=3s
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBe3MsAg_pA&t=97s