The investigation of a planned maintenance system at an automotive component manufacturer in KwaZulu-Natal.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Equipment is placed in the manufacturing organisation because it is required to do a specific task, such as producing goods at the required output and quality standard. Therefore the motivation for maintaining equipment is to preserve it in a condition such that it continues to do what it was intended to and this process is known as maintenance management. An important maintenance management strategy is a planned maintenance system which is a subset of a maintenance management system. A planned maintenance system (PMS) of maintaining equipment is recognized as preserving equipment in a condition such that it continues to do what it was intended to. Simply put, if the equipment is maintained in a manner it was intended to, it will continue to produce products at the required rate and quality. This will result in the business achieving its business goals. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the challenges that impede the proper functioning of a planned maintenance system at an automotive component manufacturer. The research data was obtained by surveying production and engineering employees at the automotive component manufacturer in KwaZulu-Natal. A sample size of 35, from a population size of 38 was drawn from the production and engineering departments at the automotive component manufacturer. Quantitative data was obtained from questionnaires for analysis to meet the studies objectives. The key objectives were to explore the current state of the maintenance management system at the organization, to identify the shortcomings of the current maintenance management system at the organization, to identify what improvements are required for the current maintenance management system at the organization and to provide recommendations based on the shortcomings identified. The key findings were the current maintenance management system is reactive, the equipment is deteriorating and that the equipment is unreliable. The main recommendations were to improve the uptime of the equipment, implementation of tools to predict and prevent breakdowns and the implementation of a formal maintenance and scheduling system which ultimately will refine the maintenance management system.