Autonomous Maintenance (AM) is a cornerstone of lean manufacturing and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), designed to increase equipment reliability, reduce downtime, and empower operators to take ownership of their machines. Implementing AM requires a structured, step-by-step approach that engages operators in proactive maintenance.
Let’s explore the 7 steps to Implement Autonomous Maintenance and how Solvace supports each step, helping you digitise and optimise the process for long-term success.
How to Implement Autonomous Maintenance: Step 1 – Restore Basic Conditions
Before you can start empowering operators to take on more responsibility, you need to restore the basic conditions that ensure the equipment is running smoothly. This step involves:
- • Cleaning and repairing machines: Remove dirt, grime, and oil to ensure equipment is in a good working condition.
- • Standardising operating environments: Ensure that all machines are operating under optimal conditions for performance.
- • Ensuring proper lubrication: Machines that aren’t lubricated properly are prone to wear and failure, so this is a crucial early step.
The goal of this step is to establish a solid foundation by making sure that the machines are in a state where operators can perform maintenance tasks effectively.
✅ How Solvace Supports Step 1:
Solvace helps operators schedule and track cleaning, inspection, and lubrication tasks to ensure they’re performed regularly. With task automation, you can set reminders and assign responsibilities, while real-time monitoring provides operators with up-to-date machine status. This ensures that equipment is in optimal condition for ongoing maintenance.
Step 2 – Eliminate Source of Contamination
A major cause of machine failure is contamination, which can come from dust, oil, and other materials that interfere with machine performance. To eliminate contamination, you should:
- • Identify contamination sources in the workspace (e.g., oil leaks, dirt accumulation) using defect tags.
- • Implement cleaning routines to ensure machines stay clean and efficient.
- • Install effective filtering systems to reduce dirt and dust build-up in the machines.
Additionally hard to access areas make areas of the machine hard to maintain or impossible to inspect without time consuming support from maintenance technicians. As teams identify hard to access areas using defect tags they start to put in solutions like clear panels to see belt and gear conditions for easy inspection or catch systems to eliminate cleaning time from hard to access areas.
By eliminating contamination and hard to access areas, you extend the life of machines, reduce the frequency of breakdowns, make them easier to maintain and improve the overall reliability of your equipment.
✅ How Solvace Supports Step 2:
Solvace enables operators to identify contamination sources through real-time data analytics and integrate with existing sensors to track variables like temperature or pressure. The mobile platform allows operators to log issues instantly, facilitating a rapid response and enabling proactive maintenance.
Step 3 – Establish CIL Standard (Cleaning, Inspection, Lubrication)
The CIL (Cleaning, Inspection, Lubrication) standard defines the basic tasks that operators will carry out regularly to maintain machine performance and basic conditions. This involves:
- • Cleaning the machine parts regularly to prevent build-up of debris.
- • Inspection to identify signs of wear or malfunction.
- • Lubrication to reduce friction and prevent excessive wear.
Establishing a CIL standard ensures that operators are performing these tasks consistently, and it becomes part of their daily routine. This step builds accountability and guarantees that the most basic maintenance tasks are being carried out correctly.
✅ How Solvace Supports Step 3:
With Solvace, you can easily digitise SOPs for Cleaning, Inspection, and Lubrication. Operators can access digital instructions directly on their mobile devices, ensuring they follow the correct procedures. Task tracking also ensures accountability, allowing supervisors to verify that all tasks are completed as scheduled.
Step 4 – Operator Technical Training
Once basic tasks are established, it’s crucial to ensure that operators have the necessary technical training to take on more advanced maintenance responsibilities. This training will help operators:
- • Understand how their machines work and what issues to look for.
- • Learn troubleshooting techniques for common problems.
- • Get familiar with maintenance tools and techniques.
With solid technical training, operators can identify potential issues before they become serious, and they’ll be empowered to perform more advanced tasks autonomously.
✅ How Solvace Supports Step 4:
Solvace offers training management tools that allow for easy distribution of training materials, manuals, and troubleshooting guides. With task guides and checklists available on mobile, operators can refer to the training they need in real-time. Performance tracking tools help measure how effectively operators apply their training and identify areas for improvement.
Step 5 – ECRS (Eliminate, Combine, Rearrange, Simplify)
The ECRS method helps streamline maintenance tasks and eliminate inefficiencies:
- • Eliminate unnecessary steps in the maintenance process that waste time.
- • Combine tasks where possible to streamline the workflow.
- • Rearrange the order of tasks to make them more efficient.
- • Simplify maintenance procedures to reduce complexity and improve execution.
By adopting ECRS, you ensure that maintenance tasks are optimised for time and efficiency, enabling operators to perform them faster and with greater consistency.
✅ How Solvace Supports Step 5:
By digitising workflows, Solvace allows you to optimise tasks and identify inefficiencies. Real-time feedback and data analytics help uncover bottlenecks in the process, while task automation ensures that the most efficient methods are followed across shifts and teams. This allows your team to save time and increase overall productivity.
Step 6 – Standardise Tasks and Maintenance Procedures
Creating a standardised procedure for every maintenance task ensures that every operator follows the same process, no matter their experience level. This involves:
- • Documenting every maintenance task with clear instructions.
- • Setting frequencies for tasks based on machine requirements.
- • Ensuring consistency in execution across shifts and teams.
Standardisation not only improves consistency but also makes it easier to track task completion, monitor performance, and ensure that maintenance is being done according to best practices.
✅ How Solvace Supports Step 6:
With Solvace, you can create and assign standardised maintenance procedures that can be accessed on mobile devices. This ensures that every operator follows the same process, reducing variability and increasing the quality of task execution. The analytics dashboard provides supervisors with oversight to ensure that all operators are adhering to the standardised procedures, offering an opportunity for continuous improvement.
Step 7 – Autonomous Management
The final step is to transition to Autonomous Management. This involves:
- • Empowering operators to take full responsibility for the machines they work with.
- • Using real-time data to monitor machine performance and guide maintenance actions.
- • Allowing operators to make decisions based on their insights and escalate issues only when necessary.
At this stage, operators are fully integrated into the maintenance process and can take ownership of machine reliability. Autonomous Management allows for faster response times and ensures that issues are dealt with promptly, reducing overall downtime.
✅ How Solvace Supports Step 7:
Solvace provides real-time data that allows operators to monitor machine health, track performance, and make informed decisions autonomously. The platform also incorporates predictive analytics, helping operators anticipate potential failures and proactively address issues before they impact production. Reporting tools track progress over time, enabling managers to assess the success of the AM programme and identify areas for improvement.
Conclusion: Building a Proactive Maintenance Culture with Solvace
Implement Autonomous Maintenance is vital to creating a proactive maintenance culture that boosts equipment reliability and reduces downtime. By using Solvace’s comprehensive platform, you can seamlessly integrate each of the 7 steps of AM and:
- • Automate maintenance tasks and reminders to ensure consistency.
- • Empower operators with digital tools to make data-driven decisions.
- • Track performance in real-time and continuously improve machine reliability.
Implement Autonomous Maintenance with Solvace and ensure your team can maintain equipment with greater efficiency and effectiveness. Take control of your maintenance processes and experience reduced downtime and improved productivity with Solvace.
