Your maintenance team’s number one priority is to prevent unexpected equipment failures, ensuring production continuity and occupational safety. Thousands of pieces of equipment — big, small, critical and trivial — comprise an industrial environment with each requiring the right attention to avoid production disruptions, poor quality outputs and fatal accidents.
But how do you decide where to start and which machine deserves top priority?
Proper planning and scheduling of maintenance activities help companies optimize maintenance operations. Risk-based maintenance (RBM) is a popular strategy that uses risk principles to prioritize maintenance tasks and enable optimal resource allocation. Assets that have a high probability of failure and severe consequences get top priority and low-risk assets get low priority. 
What is Risk-Based Maintenance?
Risk-based maintenance (RBM) is a data-driven approach to asset management that empowers maintenance teams to proactively identify possible equipment failures and their impacts on production, occupational safety, and regulatory compliance. Based on these risks, assets are given priorities and their maintenance activities are scheduled according to the level of risk.
Traditionally, RBM utilizes a risk assessment process that involves seven key steps:
- Data Collection: This step gathers comprehensive data including equipment details, health indicators, potential failure risks, triggers for such failures, and past maintenance history. Modern CMMS and IoT sensors can automate much of this data collection.
- Risk Evaluation: Data analysis determines the probability and impact of potential failures. Assets are then classified into categories based on risk severity (low, medium, high, critical).
- Planning: Companies develop mitigation strategies based on risk levels, which could involve avoiding the risk, transferring it, mitigating it in-house, or accepting a low-level risk.
- Execution: Maintenance activities are planned and executed at the right time with the right information. Mobile technology empowers technicians with real-time data access and facilitates data capture in the field.
- Reassessment: The risk landscape is dynamic and requires continuous monitoring of asset health. Regular reassessments of the risk matrix ensure optimal resource allocation as conditions change.
Modern Risk-Based Maintenance integrates the following trends:
- Data-Driven Risk Assessment: Advanced analytics using machine learning can identify subtle patterns for even more accurate risk predictions, enabling truly predictive maintenance.
- Integration with Enterprise Systems: Seamless integration with ERP systems facilitates data exchange and ensures accurate asset information for maintenance teams.
- Mobile Technology: Mobile apps empower technicians with real-time data access in the field, streamlining data collection and improving accuracy.
Benefits of a Data-Driven Risk-Based Maintenance Approach:
By embracing these advancements, companies can leverage RBM to achieve significant benefits:
- Reduced Downtime: Predictive maintenance minimizes unexpected equipment failures.
- Improved Production Efficiency: By focusing on critical assets, RBM ensures optimal equipment performance.
- Lower Maintenance Costs: Prioritized maintenance tasks ensure resources are allocated efficiently.
- Enhanced Safety: Proactive equipment management prevents safety hazards before they occur.
- Improved Regulatory Compliance: RBM facilitates meeting industry regulations and maintaining detailed maintenance records.
Innovapptive, a configurable mobile EAM solution provider, simplifies risk assessment to help companies streamline their risk based maintenance strategy. The solution can seamlessly connect with ERP systems like SAP or IBM Maximo to establish a digital ecosystem across a plant environment.
To learn more about Innovapptive’s mobile EAM solution, click here and book a free live demo. Or, call 1-844-464-6668.
