Breakdowns

Breakdowns are a type of unplanned downtime due to equipment damage or failure, resulting in lost time.

The operation of equipment is always associated with professional risk. Therefore, it is necessary to manage safety effectively, using systems of methods of analysis and assessment of relevant hazards with quantitative indicators of risk.

What Are the Breakdowns?

Breakdowns of technological equipment can be of different scales: from those that are easily rectified with minimal losses to emergency ones. The level of breakdown depends in particular on the following factors:

• repair costs;
• total downtime;
• consequences for the health and safety of workers;

All this greatly affects the production process both in the short term and in the long term.

As a Result of Which Factors Breakdowns Occur?

It is possible to single out the main factors from the equipment side, as a result of which breakdowns may occur:

1. Defect – a violation of the quality of manufacturing, assembly, and installation of equipment elements.
2. Damage – a violation of the serviceable condition of the equipment during operation while maintaining a working condition.
3. Violation of the performance of specified functions.
4. Refusal – an event associated with an irreversible violation of the object’s indicators, which leads to a violation of the operational state.
5. Failure – an event in which, as a result of a temporary change in the object’s parameters, some obstacles affect the performance, which is later restored.

But equipment parameters are not the only thing that can cause breakdowns. In addition, there are other factors.

Other Causes of Equipment Breakdowns

There are several common reasons why equipment can fail:

1. Incorrect work of employees. People (for example, operators) who regularly work with the device can significantly affect its working condition. To minimize this reason, it is necessary to regularly train and instruct the staff.
2. Failure to perform preventive maintenance. Equipment requires regular maintenance to ensure optimal performance. Planned preventive maintenance prevents unexpected stoppages and emergencies in production. If the company is not ready to spend time on scheduled maintenance, it is worth using sensors that will monitor the condition of the equipment and warn of problems that can cause the device to fail.
3. Lack of constant equipment condition monitoring. Continuous monitoring occurs due to sensors that allow you to establish what the correct state of the equipment looks like. Thanks to this, it is possible to detect small changes that will indicate future breakdowns and failures.