The Importance of Maintenance and Failure Finding in Facility Management
When we talk of facility management, we are generally used to classifying maintenance tasks into three categories which are preventive, corrective and predictive. However, experienced facility managers will admit that there are a large number of tasks that do not fit into any of these categories. A good example of this is failure in finding tasks. But do you know what a failure finding in maintenance is all about? Do you need to make it a part of your maintenance plan too? If your answer is yes, when do you need to apply it? Most of the times, looking for failures is a part of the maintenance strategy. The main aim of this kind of maintenance is to ensure that the equipment is available for a long period of time. But if you are not able to ensure if a piece of equipment is reliable through your routine inspections? The answer to this is to effectively look for failures. In simple terms, this is known as failure finding. What are failure finding tasks? Failure finding tasks imply the inspections that we make on a particular type of equipment in order to find out the hidden failures or defects. This is the reason why they do not fit into a specific kind of maintenance. The goal here is not to maintain a particular asset but to find out if it is still eligible to work. Therefore, these are often referred to as functional checks. This is an important step since this is what differentiates failure finding from predictive and preventive maintenance. In this, your facilities team is not trying to predict or prevent a failure but instead, looking for one. For example, the malfunctioning of a generator used as a backup in a health clinic will never get detected during the normal operations of the building. If by any chance the generator gets broken and you have not looked for any failure previously, you will be able to find it out when it is ultimately too late. The same rule applies to smoke detectors, fire alarms and other equipment that are activated only under certain circumstances or during emergencies. Therefore, it goes without saying that failure finding tasks are required to have the maximum reliability of backup mechanisms and security. Let us take a look at a few type of systems that require these kind of screenings on a regular basis: • Alarm systems like smoke detectors, fire alarms and the like • Electrical circuits and systems that regularly test the current capacity and load • The pressure relief or control valves • Fire extinguishers or mitigation systems that minimize the effects of any possible failure • Back up systems like the electric generators or water heating systems • Shut down systems that can automatically shut down an equipment before more expensive parts like the engine gets damaged Accessing information about these equipment The first step towards failure finding in facility management is knowing where each equipment is located. In a large facility, it is not possible for the facility management professional to manually find out the location of every equipment. In such a scenario, what comes handy is a facility management app. With the help of this app you can locate every equipment on your phone. You can also access floor plans, shut offs, As-Builts at the tap of a button on your phone. These apps are powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning and as a result they can extract building information from drawings. These apps not just keep facility teams updated on the latest building information but also keeps them ready for emergencies. Teams using these apps are known to handle emergencies fast and effectively compared to the ones still reliant on traditional methods of locating building and equipment information. In which situation do you need to go for failure finding? This type of maintenance is generally recommended when a failure cannot be detected under the normal circumstances or through the routine preventive maintenance checks. Functional checks are also justified when: • There is no way in which you could prevent the malfunction or therefore there is no chance of executing preventive maintenance • Testes and screening can be performed without causing any disruption to the normal functioning of any building • The chances of a hidden malfunction in any equipment or system is very high • The chances of the test resulting in a malfunction is extremely low • The cost of this failure finding task is way lower than the cost of corrective maintenance When it comes to carrying out the maintenance work of a facility, the onus is entirely on the facility managers. It is always better to find a failure or issue and solve it before waiting for it to turn out into a great disaster for the facility and the people residing within the facility
