PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE PRACTICES & STANDARDS

Manufacturing today is increasingly competitive and every organization around the world is looking to decrease costs. Maintenance costs generated an average of 28 percent of total manufacturing cost at the Fiat Chrysler Indiana Transmission Plant One in 2018, states Rex White, Head Maintenance Planner at Fiat Chrysler (2018). Maintenance is a supportive expense that does not generate a profit, which makes maintenance an attractive expense to decrease. The cost for components and skilled labor are expensive; however, the downtime is exponentially a larger threat to production cost. One most feared scenarios within a manufacturing facility is that one machine takes down several as it backs up the entire production process.

The three major types of maintenance are reactive, preventive, and predictive. The research project focused on applying the principles of predictive maintenance to the Fiat Chrysler facilities in Indiana. The report explains the techniques and principles of applying the technology currently available to reduce downtime and maintenance cost. The predictive maintenance procedures and saving are compared with reactive and preventive methods to determine a value of return. The report will examine the benefits of using the Internet of Things technology to create autonomous self-diagnosing smart machines. The predictive maintenance plan in this research illustration will introduce health check equipment used to implement longer lasting machine components. In conclusion, the project developed out an entire predictive maintenance plan to reduce downtime and maintenance costs.