Maintenance management is all about communication. Your staff must know how and when to report maintenance issues, and your maintenance team must be able to quickly address those issues and communicate within the department to get the job done right. This is all part of setting up a maintenance management program, but there may be an element of communication you’re still missing.
Do you listen to your HVAC system when it complains of fatigue? Can you hear when your faucets are crying because of an unmanaged leak? Do you notice when your roofing is gasping under the weight of debris, snow, or a lack of maintenance? These subtle sounds of your facility are important to notice and attend to, because they’re your guide to proper preventative care.
You may be deaf to the sounds of your facility, which is not what you want to be if you’re trying to avoid emergency repairs. These sighs, groans, and cries for help are the first warning signs of an emergency repair that’s on its way. Oftentimes facility managers are caught off guard when a major equipment malfunction happens. However, they wouldn’t be if they took the time to listen to their facility and attend to its needs.
When looking for signs of distress in your facility, look for loss of performance. A good indicator that an HVAC system needs maintenance is when it begins to run longer or struggle to keep up with the demands of the thermostat. If the HVAC runs all day and still isn’t able to properly heat or cool, then maintenance or a replacement is needed to keep your facility running smoothly. This applies to all major systems and pieces of equipment within the facility.
The same can also be said for spare parts. Some spare items, such as belts, couplings, bearings, and O-rings have an optimal shelf life or require care even while in storage. Bearings, for example, will be ineffective if they have been contaminated by dust or debris in storage. Rubber materials often have a shelf life, and yet maintenance crews will use whatever’s available without seeing if it is safe for use. Spring cleaning is important exactly for this reason. It keeps your facility from suffering further due to improper inventory maintenance.
Listening to your facility means diagnosing problems early before they become breakdowns. Once an issue occurs, it is likely to enter a positive feedback loop where the equipment loses performance power, which only makes it weaker to other damages. At MaintenX, we encourage scheduled preventative maintenance to avoid these issues altogether. To learn more about our preventative care programs, contact your local MaintenX team today!
