Procurement Support

Decisions on procurement of equipment are normally based on the speed of production (production rate) and the cost of equipment. Other major factors like compatibility with operating conditions, ambient conditions and provision for maintenance is normally not bothered about. Improper procurement of equipment adds in higher Early Infant Mortality failure rate. (See the Bathtub Curve)   

There are many examples of equipment where the provisions for Preventive Maintenance is missing. For Example, In Induction Motors bearing needs re-greasing as preventive maintenance. But in many motors, the provision of the drain plug is not given. Many cases, the greasing nipple is hidden behind the rotating fan. In such cases, online re-greasing is next to impossible. We need to stop the motor & dismantle it to re-grease and that never happens. The bearing fails because of lubrication issues. I have seen, the SPDP motors sent to the coastal area. TEFC motors work properly in such a humid atmosphere. Also, no provisions are provided for Condition Monitoring in almost all equipment.

We study the equipment design closely & Suggest changes/ modifications for

1. Compatibility of different parts/machines of equipment for Operating Conditions, like loading pattern, number of starts stops, the total load
2. Compatibility of equipment for ambient conditions like, dust, humidity, gases, airspeed
3. Provisions in equipment (or its parts) for Preventive Maintenance, like accessibility for regreasing, cleaning, etc
4. Provisions in equipment (or its parts) for Condition Monitoring, like provision for screwing the sensors over bearings, Oil level Sensor, etc.

Correct procurement always helps in improvement in uptime of the equipment,