Why Planned Maintenance Pays

I can see clearly now the crud has gone!

It’s easy to install a piece of local exhaust ventilation equipment and think that is that. The installation has happened and it’s doing its job. Of course, with an installed ventilation system it should operate well. But, like anything which is designed to protect the health of the workforce, proper planned maintenance and servicing is vital if you want to ensure that it continuously works as well today as it did on the day it was first installed. Ventilation systems can often have their lifespan extended if maintenance is regular, which is often just a case of pre-planning.

So, why does it pay to have planned, preventative maintenance in place?

We recently did some work for a long-standing customer of ours with their spray booth machinery, which needed some good old filter cleaning. Using the planned maintenance service we now have in place, we can use this case study as an example of 5 benefits of maintaining LEV systems throughout the year, rather than waiting until a breakdown occurs.

1. The LEV system performs better. If a piece of kit is clean it will work more efficiently as it won’t be working so hard against dust and dirt. A deep clean of the system was definitely necessary and well overdue.

2. The cost of ownership is significantly reduced. Following a planned preventative service regime can avoid constantly dealing with breakdowns. Calling out engineers on a weekly basis is much more costly than paying for a service across the year, when you can often have an allowance of a few call-outs plus discounts on spares and consumables. Calls were previously being made on a regular basis as the spray booth wasn’t functioning proficiently. Now regular cleaning is done by staff and our LEV engineer is booked to check the filters and carry out a thorough clean every 3 months.

3. Fewer replacement parts. With breakdowns also comes replacement parts as the system is under so much pressure. A dedicated staff member will need to constantly reorder parts when their time could be better spent on something else. Not to mention the cost involved in reordering new parts constantly. In this case, we noticed replacement parts for the spray extraction equipment were being ordered at a rate which was outside the normal expected frequency. Our Occupational Hygiene Manager suggested that we carry out one of our ‘free of charge’ visual system health checks to identify any glaring errors. Following that, a report was generated, which detailed a significant level of overspray build-up on the spray booth fan and the internal surfaces of the exhaust ducting. This wouldn’t have been identified until the spray booth ground to a halt.

4. User errors or gaps in training can be identified. This could be causing all types of issues, including extra pressure on the system. Here, the cause of the spray booth failures were picked up during a quick visual check. The check also initiated a full investigation, which established that the spray booth operatives were incorrectly using the system, by sliding the filter elements to one side rather than changing them when they became blocked. Operator training is essential and can help to ensure systems don’t get broken. This was organised in order to give staff the confidence to use the spray booth in the correct manner.

5. Quality of output can be increased. The customer found that the quality of the product finish was significantly better than prior to the deep clean due to the spray booth working more efficiently. This can be the case with many different LEV systems, whether it’s dust, spray or fume. If the components are clean, the output will be of a better standard, meaning more jobs and recommendations.

Next steps

Following the results of our investigation with the customer, we organised a ‘refresher’ training event, with the spray booth operatives given instruction on the correct day-to-day operation and also the correct method of completing the daily log book. This has helped them to keep on top of daily cleaning and what to look out for with regard to the spray booth failing.

Now, not only are their spray booths running without frequent failure, but their staff are now on top of how to operate the spray booth, which should improve the life of the booth and improve the efficiency of the production line.

As long as staff have the right tools and skills to use machinery correctly and keep on top of cleaning, with servicing booked in advance, operations can run at maximum and your business can continue to grow.