Fuzzy Risk-Based Maintenance Strategy with Safety Considerations for the Mining Industry

Enterprises today are increasingly seeking maintenance management strategies to ensure that their machines run faultlessly. This problem is particularly relevant in the mining sector, due to the demanding working conditions of underground mines and machines and equipment-operating regimes. Therefore, in this article, the authors proposed a new approach to mining machinery maintenance management, based on the concept of risk-based maintenance (RBM) and taking into account safety issues. The proposed method includes five levels of analysis, of which the first level focuses on hazard analysis, while the next three are connected with a risk evaluation. The final level relates to determining the RBM recommendations. The recommendations are defined in relation to the three main improvement areas: maintenance, safety, and resource availability/allocation. The proposed approach is based on the use of fuzzy logic. To present the possibilities of implementing our method, a case study covering the operation of selected mining machinery in a selected Polish underground mine is presented. In the case of mining machinery, fourteen adverse-event scenarios were identified and investigated; general recommendations were also given. The authors have also indicated further directions of research work to optimize system maintenance strategies, based on the concept of risk-based maintenance. Additionally, the discussion about the implementation possibilities of the approach developed herein is provided.

Integration of a Maintenance Management Model (MMM) Into an Asset Management Process

The chapter explains in detail the maintenance management model (MMM) taken as a reference for the development of the book. The chapter is based on the eight phases of the MMM. The first three blocks determine the effectiveness of the management; the following blocks assure the same efficiency and continuous improvement in the following way: Blocks 4 and 5 include actions for the planning and scheduling of maintenance, including, of course, the capacity of planning of department of maintenance. Blocks 6 and 7 are dedicated to the evaluation and control of the maintenance and the cost of assets throughout their life cycle. This chapter of introduction briefly summarizes the process and the reference frame necessary for the implementation of the MMM. This chapter also presents the relationship between the eight phases of the maintenance management model proposed and the general requirements of the asset management standard ISO 55000 to show how the gradual implementation of the MMM largely covers the requirements of the standard ISO 55000.

An Improvement Framework for Maintenance Management

Maintenance is one of the main stages to deliver business outcomes from physical assets over their life cycles. However, as unexpected events and performance may occur in maintenance management, organizations shall be aware of how to address them as well as other opportunities for improvement. Accordingly, this chapter intends to present an improvement framework for maintenance management. The first two sections provide an introduction to maintenance management improvement and its interface with the ISO 55000 series for asset management and the maintenance management model (MMM). Then, the proposed framework and its activities for improvement in maintenance management are discussed in the third section. The fourth section addresses an overview of the main RCA techniques to support the framework implementation. Finally, a hydroelectric power plant case study is discussed to demonstrate the framework in a real operational context.

Support Process Aligned With a Maintenance Management Model

Most companies focus their thinking on the production system's assets, those that generate profits, and rarely look to the periphery, to the enabling systems, those that carry out the effort in order that the production department can continue to do its job, those that provide the “support” to the system. What is “supportability”? It is not a widespread term; it is in fact associated to “maintenance logistics,” and this is only the simplest of its meanings, when in reality it crosses horizontally the whole organization, it is transversal to the MGM model, and it is present in all of the phases of assets and systems' life cycle. Throughout the chapter, different concepts will be developed to show how support is integrated into the proposed maintenance management model (MMM) at each stage of the asset life cycle and how it impacts their costs.

Criticality Analysis Techniques Applied to Optimize Maintenance Management Processes

The techniques of criticality analysis are tools that allow identifying and hierarchy for their importance the assets of an installation on which it is worth directing resources (human, economic, and technological). In other words, the process of criticality analysis helps determine the importance and consequences of potential failure events of production systems within the operational context in which they perform. Taking as reference the maintenance management model (MMM) of the eight phases, this chapter related to techniques of prioritization and criticality is part of Phase 2 of the MMM. In the following chapter, the most important theoretical aspects of equipment hierarchical analysis techniques are explained, based on the qualitative and quantitative risk model (failures frequencies and consequences). Finally, two case studies in the oil refining industry are developed; the first case uses the tool qualitative risk matrix (QRM), and the second case uses the tool risk analytic hierarchy process (RAHP).

Optimization of Maintenance Management Indicators in a Chilled Water Plant

The academic sector, like any other service or industrial sector, requires constant innovation in each of its processes. In Colombia, the Universidad EAFIT, as part of the search for new ways of teaching and learning, has recognized the significance of making learning spaces suitable for the people involved in this process. In consequence, the project described in this chapter shows the most efficient methodology for the optimization of asset management for the Universidad EAFIT's Ice Water Plant. The methodologies used include key concepts and factors such as availability, maintainability, and reliability in the costs related to the behavior and nature of the failures, having as reference an integral model of the maintenance management process. The objective of this project is to maintain these high standards of operation and maintenance throughout the useful life of the system and to show the importance that maintenance and the methodologies associated with it have in any sector or industry.

Development and Implementation of an IoT Platform to Enable Smart Maintenance

IoT solutions represent one of the most powerful approaches towards asset and maintenance management supporting a multi-user environment that can be adopted to monitor machine and guide decision-making at different levels. Several studies discussed the benefits that may be achieved, but few studies discussed how to implement such a complex process that should consider a systematic approach in the development of the infrastructure, platform content, analytics, and internal processes reengineering. To this purpose, the presented chapter describes an IoT platform implementation in a manufacturing company. Specifically, the case study illustrates the steps that have been followed to develop and implement the IoT solution, namely (1) definition of the platform desired functionalities; (2) reengineering of the business processes affected by the platform; (3) development of the proof of concept of the platform dashboards, also considering the data to be sent to the platform; and (4) the implementation of the IoT platform with the connection of customer machines.

A Mapping Analysis of Maintenance in Industry 4.0

This paper analyses and reviews the most important literature papers relating to the evolution of maintenance in Industry 4.0 and its applications. The topic's importance is stated by n increasing number of publications in this field, which suggested a systematic literature review. The proliferation of hardware devices in the workplace, such as smartphones and tablets, has caused engineers to develop the industrial sector 's maintenance world. This review aims to classify the literature published from 2015 to early 2020 to identify the major benefits and areas where it obtained them. This study surveys the latest approaches and emerging trends in maintenance management strategies commonly used in the era of Industry 4.0. It discusses the state-of-the-art of Industry 4.0 technology and the associated use of manufacturing and maintenance management. The data collection was obtained by conducting a systematic search of the literature.