Maintenance cuts cause big damage

Despite continuing advances in the complexity of equipment used in manufacturing as a whole, cuts are being made to maintenance department budgets, and this is reducing machinery uptime, warned Bosch Rexroth.

A survey of 300 engineers across varying industry sectors carried out last year by Bosch Rexroth in conjunction with the Institution of Engineering and Technology, revealed that the maintenance budgets of more than 50% of respondents had stagnated or reduced over the past five years.

Survey ​

These findings emerged from the survey, despite the fact that more than two-thirds of respondents reported that the breadth of equipment they maintained had increased, and three quarters said equipment used was far more complex than it was five years’ ago.

“There are some outstanding examples of maintenance practice in UK industry,”​ said Richard Chamberlain, UK service manager at Bosch Rexroth. “However, it is clear that MRO​ [maintenance repair and operations] is often perceived to be a cost, not an investment or a potential profit driver.​

“The majority of maintenance budgets are stagnant or have been cut, but at the same time we are asking for more and more from our maintenance teams as the complexity of manufacturing technologies increases at a rapid rate.”​

Need higher level of skills​

Chamberlain added: “As machines have become more complex, we need a higher level of skills, not just in operations, but also in maintenance and training. If we can establish better communication between maintenance and operations teams and a better understanding of the benefits of proactive maintenance in finance departments and procurement, this will go a long way to ensuring British manufacturing remains competitive on the world stage.”​

A detailed analysis of the survey has been compiled into a report. ‘What you don’t repair you destroy – A report into maintenance practices in UK Industry’​ can be downloaded from www.boschrexroth.co.uk/UKmaintenancereport

Maintec 2016, the UK’s leading maintenance, plant and asset management event, returns to Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre from March 22–24. For more information on the show, visit www.maintecuk.com​