PDMA’S Noah Bethel has written about optimising motor management and maintenance to increase their lifespan.
Manufacturers generally claim motors last for around two decades if in the right environment, while the facility operator using the motor would expect five years out of a motor at best.
This discrepancy suggests motors are not being optimised and maintained properly.
In recent years, motor management and maintenance has shifted from being a cost centre or a necessary evil to being perceived as an opportunity.
The reliability of motors is directly related to overall profitability and competitiveness. However, motor management and maintenance processes were directed by information systems and various software programs with different vantage points for tackling the problem.
The recognition that reliability ensures better return and minimises downtime led to reliability centred maintenance (RCM), which is a coordinate approach to maintenance.
Four levels of technology facilitate RCM. On the first level is software that monitors the equipment and delivers alerts and alarms according to preset standards.
On the second level is information management software, which organise the information about a specific asset so a supervisor or maintenance technician can identify trends. Usually this involves historical data.
The third level is centralised maintenance management software (CMMS) which provide centralised information management of the assets. This involves work requests, work orders and task tracking.
The top level is enterprise asset management (EAM), which is business-level software linked to CMMS. This monitors the reliability and return on investment (ROI) of assets.
While the four levels are all essential to building the big picture, each part only presents a limited part of the scenario. PdMA argues what is needed is a turnkey approach which tracks management and maintenance cradle-to-grave.
This solution would support the entire operation without having to purchase and integrate several software packages.
It would specify the motors to be bought, carry out quality control when it arrives, ensure proper storage, do pre- and post-installation verification, and monitor the asset while it is operational.
In the end, it will be able to correctly identify when a motor is in terminal condition or is nearing its end-of-life, before starting the process again with a replacement unit.
Motors are a critical factor to reduce manufacturing costs. Reliability issues will not be resolved by keeping spare motors in storage. What is needed is a cradle-to-grave approach that begins with specification and qualification, and then tracking throughout the installed lifetime.

Noah Bethel is the Vice-President of Product Development with PdMA Corporation, a specialist in predictive maintenance, condition monitoring applications, and the development of electric motor test equipment for motor circuit analysis.

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