Lack of maintenance vision

14th November 2014

By: Mia Breytenbach

Creamer Media Deputy Editor: Features

  

Font size: - +

Ongoing challenges are faced by municipalities and State-owned enterprises that are struggling to operate and maintain their infrastructure, so much so that it severely hampers service delivery, says asset management company IHA Technology & Aviation director Allan Tarita.

However, this problem is not exclusive to government, as there are many corporate organisations that are also stuck in a pattern of ‘firefighting’ or as it is more commonly referred to ‘reactive maintenance’, he says.

“Many organisations in South Africa, public and private, remain caught in a pattern of reactive maintenance and simply suffer from a lack of maintenance vision,” Tarita tells Engineering News, noting that, without this clear and concise vision and its supporting actions, the daily practices can be regarded as cyclical or never-changing.

He believes that this will detrimentally affect any maintenance department in the long term, as it inhibits the department’s ability to move forward and evolve.

“The end results are often a rapid deterioration of assets, and regular and prolonged disruptions in the production of an asset,” Tarita says, reiterating that the cycle becomes continuously repetitive.

Moreover, reactive maintenance currently costs about nine times more than fully planned and scheduled maintenance, he highlights.

Tarita attributes this reactive maintenance pattern to industry pressures, a lack of knowledge or understanding regarding asset management best practices, a lack of knowledge regarding the finances of asset management, a change of leadership and a lack of commitment to proven processes.

Assessing Asset Management
“The general foundational pillars of good asset management are characterised by three core aspects of reliability that relate firstly to the asset, then the human component and finally to the actual maintenance process,” Tarita highlights. These aspects should be assessed to determine the maintenance practices and best practices.

However, companies have to place primary focus on a maintenance vision, as this will drive the composition of a maintenance strategy or tactics to ensure progress in carrying out maintenance functions in the interest of optimal equipment health.

“Without a vision, there is no energy and without energy or the need and stress to improve, there is no movement forward, period,” he stresses.

Edited by Megan van Wyngaardt
Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

Comments

The functionality you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION