2. Description of maintenance schedules, maintenance intervals and maintenance activities
Terakes link: Maintenance module->Admin
The term “Maintenance schedule”
The maintenance schedule consists of maintenance intervals and activities.
Your company may have very different types of machines or equipment, the maintenance of which takes place at different intervals and includes different activities. There is no need to lubricate the crane boom or check the hydraulic hoses on the passenger car, while there is no need to add window washing liquid to the boiler house, etc. What schedules you create in Terakes is up to you and depends on your company’s machines, equipment, practice and convenience. If there are only one type of machines in the company’s fleet (for example, only passenger cars), which are of different brands, but are all maintained at more or less the same intervals and the maintenance includes the same activities, only one schedule, “Passenger car maintenance”, can be registered. Even a boiler house and a passenger car can have the same schedule if there is no need for excessive complexity. However, it is still advisable to record activities and maintenance intervals according to the manufacturer’s device manual.
The term “Maintenance interval”
The period and regularity after which the machine is serviced. Typically specified in the device’s user manual. In Terakes, the maintenance interval or period can be recorded using three metrics: motorcycle hours, mileage based on the odometer reading, and calendar days. It is possible to use several metrics at the same time, for example, the “regular maintenance” interval on a passenger car can be set for 365 days or 15,000 km mileage. In this case, a notification is sent to the person responsible for the maintenance of the machine according to whether the maintenance time is approaching according to either metric, and the machine is colored “red” in the list of machines when either of the metrics of the period has arrived. The notification metric is recorded along with the maintenance interval.
Definition of “Activity”
Every single action during maintenance. These activities help the specialist carrying out the maintenance to keep track of what needs to be done during the maintenance, and later it is possible to check from the maintenance history of the machine when exactly and by whom something was done. The activity log is also an important input for those who monitor or audit the machine or device.
If the activity is registered as a “replacement activity” of a device’s cost part, then this action resets the life meter of the device’s corresponding cost part. If the activity is registered as an “inspection or measurement activity” of a part of the equipment, then the measurement of the wear of a part must be entered during it, for example the remaining tire pattern or the thickness of the brake disc in mm.
Once the maintenance has been described, it is worth returning to point “1. Add a machine or device” and fill out the maintenance schedule for the machines.
3. Adding materials (of the “Equipment Consumables” type).
Terakes link: Admin->Management summary page->Materials
Materials or spare parts that are also expendable parts of the device, i.e., which have a certain operating time or maintenance interval, can be registered in Terakes as materials whose type is selected as “expendable part of the device”.
Definition of “Expendable Life”
When adding a material, selecting “Expendable part of the device” as the type of material, a new block “lifetime of the expendable part” will appear on the screen. Here it is possible to enter one to several metrics to measure the lifetime of the material. There are three types of variants: ( 1 ) calendar days that are automatically calculated. ( 2 ) kilometers and motorcycle hours, which are calculated according to the information collected by Terakes (odometer and motorcycle hour readings can be entered in Terakes when finishing work and refueling), ( 3 ) numerical value described by the user (administrator) of Terakes.
When describing a new lifetime metric, you are asked to enter the metric name, initial value, warning value, and end-of-life value. For example, to measure the brake discs of a VW Passat 2.0 TDI, you could enter a life metric called “VW Passat (3C5, 3B6) brake disc thickness (mm)”, an initial value of “12.0”, a warning value of “10.5”, and an end-of-life value of “10.0”.
It does not make sense to register a separate lifetime for materials that are always changed together with some other consumables (for example, an engine oil filter that can be changed together with engine oil).
Equipment consumable type material can be added on the fly when adding a machine part, it is not necessarily necessary to register the materials in advance.
4. Registering the activities of inspection and exchange of the consumable part of the device in Maintenance.
If you have added a new “Equipment Consumable” type of material, it is worth checking whether the machine maintenance activities include activities for checking (if necessary) and replacing this consumable. It works as described in chapter “2. Describing maintenance schedules, maintenance intervals and maintenance activities’.
For example, if in your Materials register the material “Engine oil Addinol SAE 5W40 Super Light” has an expected life of 15,000 km or 365 days, there should be an activity in the maintenance schedule for machines using such oil that resets the metric, for example, an activity called “engine oil change”. There could also be an activity during which consumables are measured or checked, for example “engine oil level check”.
5. Adding a machine part
Terakes link: Admin->Management summary page -> Machines and equipment -> button “Change” in the list of machines -> Tab “Parts”
Machine part refers to any consumable part of a machine that has a specified lifetime or measurable wear after which the part must be replaced. The most typical example for a passenger car is engine oil, the life of which is typically measured in kilometers driven and/or engine oil age in calendar days.
Adding a machine part is done by pressing the “Add” button. The entered data can be changed later using the “Settings” button in the already registered Part block. The following data can be entered in the machine part change window:
“Name”: The general name of the machine part, such as “engine oil” or “front brake discs”.
“Serial Number”: Part serial number if relevant.
“Replacement Action”: An action in the machine or equipment maintenance schedule that resets the life metric.
“Inspection or measurement activity”: if it is necessary to evaluate the residual life of a machine part manually (for example, the thickness of brake discs needs to be measured), then this activity. There is no need to enter automatic actions such as registering the odometer reading, registering the motorcycle hour reading, or the number of calendar days that have passed since the previous shift. It does not make sense to enter, for example, “oil level control”, because the oil dipstick is not usually a measure of the life of the oil.
“Expendable part of the device”: Specifically, which manufacturer’s oil with which marking has been poured into the engine, or which manufacturer’s specific brake discs are attached to the car. New material can also be added while adding a part.
“Quantity”: quantity to be exchanged at once, according to the unit of material. For example, if the unit of engine oil is “liter”, then the amount according to how much is poured into this vehicle during maintenance: “4.7” [liters]. If brake discs are measured in pieces but are always replaced in pairs, the quantity is “2” [pieces].
“Additional information”: all other important information that needs to be written down about this part of the machine.
After pressing the “Save and close” button, a new block with the newly entered machine part will appear on the “Parts” tab.
There are two options for initializing the life metrics of a newly added machine part. One option is to use the “Replace” button in the “Parts” tab, during which you can enter known values (for example, if the mileage of the machine is 55,000, the oil change was done at 45,000 and the next oil change is at 60,000, then this can also be described using the “Replace” button. Another option is to leave the part without the initial value, plan regular maintenance, which includes the replacement of consumable parts, and the readings are updated during the maintenance.