Feature
Data-Driven Maintenance - Warehouse Automation
Data-driven insights can help optimise the performance, maintenance and sustainability of warehouse automation. Dan Migliozzi, Sales & Marketing Director, at independent systems integrator, Invar Group, sets out how to achieve the best results.
Current materials handling and intralogistics equipment is amazingly reliable. Nonetheless, there is a lot to go wrong – all those mechanical parts like rollers, bearings, motors, belts, not to mention switches, sensors and the rest of the electronics. For many businesses this equipment is fundamental – if it’s offline, everything stops.
Unexpected failures, and unplanned maintenance and repair, don’t just increase costs and impair customer service, they have direct and significant environmental and sustainability impacts. But by implementing data driven maintenance strategies these cost, performance, and environmental impacts can be greatly reduced.
Don’t Be Blinkered
Some companies, particularly those with limited in-house capabilities, work on an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ basis. This may appear to reduce unnecessary downtime and cost, but is a high-risk strategy. There’s a well-known law that states if something can fail, it will, and at the worst possible moment – peak season, rush order, Bank Holiday weekend when the spare parts stockist is closed. Not recommended.
A more sophisticated approach is that of planned, scheduled maintenance. Components subject to wear, or otherwise likely to fail, are replaced at regular intervals – as recommended by the equipment manufacturer, or based on bitter experience. This approach too has disadvantages.
The expected life of a part is a statistical construct – some will fail early; others may be good for much longer. Maintenance intervals are often based on the calendar, rather than the amount and nature of the usage the equipment has experienced – typically, all the parts of a given ‘lifespan’ will be replaced whether they need it or not. Perfectly good parts are sent for
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scrap. Meanwhile, the performance of other components may be degrading, well in advance of their ‘due’ replacement date. This may have knock-on effects on the condition or life of other system components, while increasing the consumption of energy, lubricants and other consumables. None of this is good for sustainability.
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