Chris Culver
Marketing & Industry Awareness Committee Member
Cyntek Group, Inc.
When I started in this industry, I worked at my father's small motor repair shop in a small town north of Toronto. To Gain the Advantage over larger motor shops in the city, we provided exceptional customer service, delivered high-quality repairs and recognized early on that plant maintenance practices were very much reactive. So, we developed a service to offer our clients.
In its infancy, our services included on-site surge testing during plant shutdowns and off-site motor management in our warehouse. Fast forward to today, and the type of plant maintenance options available to end-users are vast, ever-evolving and more user-friendly.
Electric Motors + Rotating Equipment Maintenance Strategies
At the 2019 EASA Convention, one of the general sessions focused on recently conducted industry research focused on end-users. One of the highlights I found interesting was half of the survey respondents ran their motors to failure, making them reactive in their approach to maintenance (See Figure 1). The other half of the respondents said they employ preventative measures but mainly focus on the other rotating equipment downstream of the motor, not the motor itself (pumps, generators, etc.).
Research Methodology
The research explored how plant maintenance customers viewed the EASA business channel. Those surveyed were involved in decisions regarding plant maintenance policies and practices, including repair and replacement of electric motors. Eighty-five percent of the respondents live in the U.S. or Canada. Respondents represented more than 25 industries. The results have a confidence level of 95 percent, with a six percent margin of error. |
Of course, we can explore this further by examining horsepower. If the unit is a 1 HP, it will likely run until failure and then be replaced immediately. If the motor is 100 HP, the proper approach is to monitor and service with appropriate predictive maintenance programs. This does not mean that the 1 HP is not as important in a process as a 100 HP, but the cost to maintain and replace is typically much easier to manage with the lower horsepower.
Maintenance Practices for Rotating Equipment
Most respondents said they use a route-based periodic visual or survey data collection and trending format – approximately 71 percent (See Figure 2). The next highest response indicates that these same users employ a real-time condition monitoring system with pre-established rules or critical alert levels. The end-users in the survey that use real-time condition monitoring or real-time condition monitoring with machine learning hovered around 20 percent each. We could attribute this to the importance or size of the motors and/or rotating equipment; however, this response indicates there is room for growth. Is this another opportunity for our members to grow their business and realize new income potential?
While respondents recognize the benefits of remote condition-monitoring, whether from OEMs, third party maintenance service companies or maintenance software service companies, very few use service centers for this purpose.
Additionally, almost one-third of these companies state that this type of maintenance practice does not apply to them. While this seems high, there could be several reasons for this sentiment. These reasons could include budget restrictions, smaller operation with smaller horsepower motor-driven equipment, lack of awareness of potential solutions or limited internal resources.
Companies that implemented condition monitoring maintenance practices experienced uptime improvements, reduced safety risks, lifetime extension of equipment and operating cost reductions (See Figure 3). An interesting result here is that costs or positive return on investment are not among the top responses.
Finally, it seems while most end-users indicate that unscheduled downtime results from aging equipment, roughly the same number plan to decrease unplanned downtime by upgrading the equipment. This again provides an opportunity for our motor repair members to increase services and potential sales further.
Mechanical failure was the second leading cause of unscheduled downtime, according to this survey. This could be due to the age of the equipment, a lack of understanding by the client's maintenance team or lack of enough maintenance staff during operating hours. Many of us know clients who have reduced their maintenance staff and will typically see an increase in failures as they become reactive in their role and have little to no time for real predictive and preventative maintenance efforts.
As a service provider to our clients, we need to recognize these situations and look to assist when we can. It is our job to educate our clients and ensure they are aware of the latest industry trends, technologies and services that exist.
To remain a trusted partner, we must stay aware of the systems and technologies that exist in our industry. Fortunately, we have a substantial resource in EASA through its publications, training opportunities and peer connections.
Furthermore, numerous suppliers in this industry offer a wealth of information on specific plant maintenance practices to assist us with completing a customized solution for our customers.
Print