Materials handling equipment provider Integrated Handling Solutions (IHS) Africa has made advancements in its reliability-centred maintenance (RCM) programme, which aims to reduce failures in the materials handling industry by conducting proactive maintenance tasks.

Since first introducing the concept of an RCM programme to the local materials handling industry in April last year, IHS Africa has developed the programme to ensure that the company has a competitive advantage in the materials handling industry going forward, says IHS Africa GM Sean Towlson.

“Besides introducing the RCM philosophy to our clients, we have not introduced this form of maintenance to the broader industry,” he notes.

The RCM philosophy, with its roots in the military, aerospace and aeronautical industries, ensures that materials handling equipment is supplied as a fully conceived, designed, supported and managed solution – similar to a full maintenance agreement that guarantees accurately predicted expenses, optimised performance and the lowest possible operating costs throughout the equipment fleet’s life span.

When designing a forklift solution, IHS Africa considers various operating environments, ambient temperatures, altitude and unique functions of operation to predict wear and tear that is unique to each forklift solution provided, says Towlson.

This results in reduced unplanned maintenance work or breakdowns, improved uptime and availability, increased machine and market defining availability and lower maintenance contract costs for IHS Africa customers.

The benefit of the RCM programme, compared with traditional preventive maintenance currently practised by the industry, is that RCM reduces or eliminates unnecessary maintenance costs and provides a process of continuous improvement.

The RCM programme is tailored to the unique characteristics inherent in each client’s operation and, through a process of assessing the severity of the failure of the client’s equipment, assists in increasing the levels of operational safety and reducing risks to operators, equipment, the product and the environment.

Since the introduction of RCM, IHS Africa has noted a reduction in failures as a result of proactive maintenance tasks derived from the failure cause analysis and the failure modes and effects analysis component data of the RCM programme.
IHS Africa uses statistical reporting, root cause failure analyses and condition-monitoring data to determine wear patterns and deal with foreseeable issues using preventive maintenance, as failures may damage additional parts.

The equipment provider supports its RCM programme with a maintenance division that is capable of response times of between one and two hours. The company’s processes are optimised to about four hours, from the initial phone call and dispatch of a technician to the final repair, test and functioning of the machine, while the average time to repair is rarely more than three-and-a-half hours, says Towlson.

IHS Africa’s clients, the majority of which comprise packaging and food and beverage manufacturers, have benefited from the increased levels of machine avail- ability and a reduction in the costs of forklift failures, such as the impact on production or distribution operations.

“With our clients’ involvement in manu- facturing and their exposure to high- volume activities, it is not uncommon to have materials handling equipment operating more than 300 hours a month.

“This is one of the reasons why the RCM programme is not a nice-to-have, but a must-have to ensure the highest levels of machine safety and availability over the longest period possible,” says Towlson.

He adds that, from a materials handling industry perspective, the RCM programme further elevates the after-sales service component, which is the most critical aspect of the materials handling business.

With the RCM programme, IHS Africa has identified the main causes of downtime according to machine failure mode and application. More critically, it has been able to identify the probability of failure on components over a specific period.

These problems can be solved prior to equipment failure by scheduling the equipment for maintenance, where possible, on top of routine scheduled servicing, eliminating failure and related downtime, explains Towlson.
Key indicators show that IHS Africa currently spends 31% of its time on scheduled services, including tasks as identified by the RCM programme, 56% on proactive in-operation inspections and only 10% on failures.

“The RCM programme will not elimi- nate all failures, as complex systems are subject to random failures, but the 10% is significant, compared with the previous figure of more than 45%. More importantly, the risk and the impact of failures and the resultant downtime on our clients’ operations have been reduced considerably,” he points out.

The in-operation inspections that take up most of a technician’s time, enable IHS Africa to identify additional possible problems, such as an abraded hose that might start to leak, low battery cells and other issues.

Further, by opting for a monthly feedback session with each customer, IHS Africa can review and interpret statistical data, results and even operator performance figures, which assists in continuously improving the materials handling solution, says Towlson.

With its main operation in Isando, Gauteng, IHS Africa supplies the Artix range of articulated forklifts, FAC specialised handling equipment and the Mariotti range of compact three-wheel electric forklifts throughout South Africa.

Besides maintaining forklift trucks, IHS Africa also carries out maintenance and repairs on automated warehouse and storage equipment, including dock levellers, conveyors, vertical-lift modules or carousels and stacker cranes.

IHS Africa, which is a division of storage solutions provider APC Storage Solutions South Africa, also provides a materials handling consulting service, which includes forklift fleet size and mix analysis, the design of fleet requirements and the maintenance analysis of existing fleets.

The RCM programme currently meets the Society of Automotive Engineers JA1011 standard for RCM. IHS Africa will also introduce an International Organisation for Standardisation accreditation this year as part of the company’s total quality management programme, of which the RCM programme forms a part.