Breakdown Maintenance

Breakdown Maintenance

Breakdown Maintenance - Breakdown maintenance implies that repairs are made after the equipment is out of order and it cannot perform its normal function any longer, e.g., an electric motor of a machine tool will not start, a belt is broken, etc.

Under such conditions, production department calls on the maintenance department to rectify the defect. The maintenance department checks into the fault and makes the necessary repairs.

After removing the fault, maintenance engineers do not attend the equipment again until another failure or breakdown occurs. This type of maintenance may be quite justified in small factories which:

(i) are indifferent to the benefits of scheduling;

(ii) Do not feel a financial justification for scheduling techniques; and

(iii) Get seldom (temporary or permanent) demand in excess of normal operating capacity. In many factories make-and-mend is the rule rather than the exception.

Breakdown maintenance practice is economical for those (non-critical) equipments whose downtime and repair costs are less this way than with any other type of maintenance. Breakdown type of maintenance involves little administrative work, few records and a comparative small staff. There is no planned interference with production programmes.