Approaches to maintenance strategies vary from one company to another. Some rely on a run-to-failure strategy and deal as best they can with equipment that breaks in an unpredicted manner. They would love to have a proper preventative maintenance program, but the idea of keeping track of failure statistics, training personnel, and managing the process is just overwhelming. Life in these plants is an endless process of moving resources from one breakdown to the next.
Why this is so? Unfortunately, human beings tend to live in the “right here, right now.” Given the option between paying the maintenance cost today and paying the cost of a breakdown in an undisclosed future, they favor the latter. Especially if it is hard to link cause and consequence. Would you gamble a 30% probability of a valve failure roughly two years from now for the cost of a valve exercising program today? Most of the time the answer is yes and people respond knowing they will lose the bet, but they do it anyway.
Establishing a valve maintenance program is hard. It takes investment, specialized knowledge and discipline. Like all healthy habits, implementing them does not guarantee that only good things will happen. However, keep in mind that the alternative is much worse. Remember the adage: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
To read more of the May 2020 Valve World Americas column, please contact Brittani Schroeder (b.schroeder@kci-world.com) for the full PDF.