Completing work in a metalworking environment is impossible without a properly working spindle, which is why proper maintenance of this important component is crucial to success. Despite this fact, many workers in these environments are often extremely busy, making it easy to neglect their spindles, which can result in frequent malfunction. Of course, the more spindle failures you experience, the more downtime you must contend with, and downtime is something you want to avoid. Here is an overview of some different maintenance plans that can help you prolong the lifespan of your metalworking spindle.
Create a Maintenance Plan That Works Best
There are multiple maintenance plans to choose from, and you must determine which plan works best for your specific work environment. To make this determination, you must consider your goals, workload, and other important factors and choose the plan that works best for your metalworking facility. Here are brief overviews of the four different maintenance plans you can choose from. You can choose one, or you might opt to combine maintenance plans, depending on your budget and overall goals.
A Scheduled Maintenance Plan
A scheduled maintenance plan entails doing what its name implies: scheduling regular maintenance on your spindles. Again, you must consider various specific factors in order for the scheduled maintenance plan to work. This type of maintenance plan allows you to determine when certain parts need replacement and when the spindle might need repair soon.
There is also the necessity to take any cons into consideration. One con is that during times of increased workload, it’s easy to deviate from your plan. Scheduled maintenance plans can be time-consuming, as there are many steps to complete. These steps include thoroughly inspecting the spindle, cleaning it, maintaining the lubricant, keeping the spindle debris-free, and much more.
Even though it’s easy to skip scheduled maintenance checks during extremely busy times, ensuring adherence is more important than ever since heavy usage will undoubtedly lead to greater wear and tear on your spindle. Another con is the fact that a scheduled maintenance plan can be expensive, especially when it involves unnecessary maintenance. Unnecessary maintenance occurs sometimes because your spindles may be in optimal working order, and maintenance isn’t necessary then. However, with this particular plan, it’s necessary to stick with the planned maintenance dates because your spindle could begin to malfunction at any time.
Your scheduled maintenance should occur at least every 90 days and more frequently in times of greater use. This should be sufficient to ensure your spindle remains in tip-top condition.
A Contingency Maintenance Plan
A contingency maintenance plan is a plan that would be used in an emergency. This is the most expensive plan out of the four, but it’s reserved for situations where immediate repair or replacement of a spindle is dire. This plan entails the expedited repair or replacement of a spindle, and the ability to obtain repairs or replacement overnight is what causes prices to increase substantially. Again, this contingency maintenance plan should be used as an absolute last resort if you want to keep costs to a minimum.
A Hotel Maintenance Plan
The hotel maintenance plan can provide you with an immediate backup plan. By purchasing one or more replacement spindles and having them on hand at all times, you could immediately use a replacement while the original is sent off for repair if a failure occurs. There are many positive aspects of choosing this maintenance plan, and the main one is the fact that there is always a spindle in optimal condition, ready to use in case the original fails. Not only can this prevent downtime, ensuring that you’re able to continue processing work orders with no disruption in manufacturing, but the plan can be implemented immediately.
However, this plan has some negative aspects, including the fact that it’s extremely costly to buy another spindle only to keep it on hand in an emergency. Depending on the spindle type, a replacement could cost as much as $500 or more. Companies on tight budgets or just starting out may not have access to these funds. Fortunately, you can save money due to how the process works. These “hotels” house spindles in their warehouses, ensuring they’re ready for immediate shipping whenever you need a replacement while your original is being serviced. Spindle hotels ensure all their backup spindles are in tip-top condition, so they’ll work optimally once they reach your workshop.
A “First Come, First Serve” Plan
This option isn’t an official plan at all. The “first come, first serve” maintenance plan involves avoiding any type of scheduled maintenance plan and simply using the spindle until it shows signs of failure or completely breaks down. If your facility is bustling and you have frequent orders coming in and out, this plan is one that you should think twice about implementing. The spindle repair process can be lengthy and unpredictable, and you could wait weeks or even months for it to be completed. On the other hand, if your facility is just starting out and doesn’t yet have many orders, this plan could be the least expensive and most effective, especially until you become more established.
Spindle repair and replacement can be quite costly, and the downtime you must contend with while you wait for this process to be completed can cause you to lose precious time and money. Production must come to a standstill during this time, leaving workers with nothing constructive to do. The spindle maintenance plans highlighted in this guide are quite different, so choosing the one that works best for your specific situation is important based on your goals and needs. The better condition you can keep your spindle in, the more productive you can remain without the hassle of recurrent failure. This is a win-win for you, your workers, and your customers.