What is Self-Maintenance and how does it help me?

Self-service is defined as a maintenance strategy in which machine operators continuously monitor their equipment, make adjustments and perform minor maintenance tasks on their machines. It is the first pillar of the TPM (total productive maintenance) strategy.

An operator trained in self-maintenance means knowledge of routine tasks such as cleaning, lubrication and inspection.

Self-maintenance aims to reduce intervention times. Indirectly, the number of defects is reduced and the equipment is increased.

We use Autonomous Maintenance in organizations to raise the level of knowledge of operators, expanding their knowledge in the technical area, due to the acquisition of skills in various fields that exist in a piece of equipment, such as mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, etc.

Most organizations invest heavily in hiring, training, and developing a highly skilled maintenance team to determine the causes of equipment defects and then repair them. Self-maintenance tries to free these technicians from performing tasks with reduced skills, such as inspections, lubrication, and minor adjustments. Among other things, there are three major benefits that self-maintenance brings to an organization.

The biggest benefit is the lower labor costs. This includes reducing travel time inefficiencies and waiting for the maintenance of availability. Having an operator who is always next to a car, these problems are much reduced.

Another advantage of self-maintenance is to increase the availability of highly qualified maintenance staff so that they are directed to more critical needs. Applying stand-alone maintenance allows maintenance departments to deal with critical issues without sacrificing routine maintenance that can be performed by operators.

Finally, self-maintenance improves team cohesion by eliminating the "us / him" mentality. Traditionally, the operator has the "I use" mentality, while the maintenance technician has a "I maintain and repair" mentality. Autonomous maintenance turns this into a more cohesive "we maintain" attitude.

The big challenge is to change the mentality of the operators.