MAINTENANCE IMPROVEMENTS THROUGH THE INTRODUCTION OF RELIABILITY CONCEPTS

The Maintenance Engineering Department at Carol Mining and Concentrating is currently in the process of introducing reliability concepts such as failure analysis, rework elimination, predictive maintenance computerized maintenance history analysis, etc to improve the over-all maintenance function in the mine and concentrator maintenance areas. Some current initiatives include: Implementation of an infrared thermographic scanning program. Ultrasonic inspection of shafts for all critical equipment in the mine and concentrator areas. Non-destructive testing of all major welds done by maintenance personnel. Development of an effective vibration monitoring and analysis program for the production equipment in the mine (shovels, drills, haulage trucks, locomotives). Failure analysis performed by maintenance engineers to identify the root cause of component failures on critical production equipment. Computerized breakdown analysis to identify the recurring component failures which contribute significantly to high maintenance costs and production loss. Implementation of a computerized maintenance management information system. This paper will outline the planned implementation of these initiatives, and others, and will also cover the status and results obtained to date.