Maintenance slump a 'critical risk'

Maintenance is being treated as an inconvenient expense rather than a valuable investment by many companies, finds the report which was joint published by Bosch Rexroth and the Institute of Engineering & Technology (IET).

Of the 300 engineers that responded to the survey, more than 50% said that their maintenance budget had stayed the same or fallen over the past five years.

This report paints a picture of maintenance practices which are reactive rather than preventive, with businesses waiting until equipment fails before it is repaired.

Ken Young, technology director of the Manufacturing Technology Centre

A further 50% said maintenance training budgets had also stagnated or decreased in that period, with many maintenance engineers receiving only five days training or less per year. 

It also revealed that one in four manufacturing sites employed fewer than six maintenance engineers, with 64% respondents indicating their staffing levels had stayed the same or decreased in recent years.

Strategic maintenance activities, such as condition monitoring and preventive maintenance techniques, also proved to be the exception rather than the rule in many companies, according to study participants.

Only 24% of respondents described their maintenance as preventive with only 5% using the term predictive, suggesting that more forward thinking regimes were proving difficult to implement, said the report.

When asked whether the breadth of equipment being maintained had increased or decreased over the last five years, more than 70% of respondents said this had increased, with just 7% reporting that they were now responsible for less machinery.

About 75% of respondents also indicated that they were dealing with significantly more complex equipment compared with five years ago.

“The complexity and diversity of modern machinery and equipment is causing significant management issues to ensure machine availability is properly funded,” said one respondent.

And despite high awareness of the importance of critical equipment, only 60% had a robust plan in place for when critical equipment becomes obsolete.

“Analysis of this kind is long overdue, but its findings will come as no surprise to many of those who work in British manufacturing,” said Ken Young, technology director of the Manufacturing Technology Centre.

“This report paints a picture of maintenance practices which are reactive rather than preventive, with businesses waiting until equipment fails before it is repaired.”

Alastair Johnstone, managing director of Bosch Rexroth UK, said: “This report suggests that UK manufacturing is walking a tightrope, with dated maintenance practices and budgetary constraints posing a critical risk to the long-term health of our manufacturing base.”