The Basics of Maintenance, Repairs, and Operations

MRO is the acronym for Maintenance Repairs and Operations. The activities required to keep manufacturing or a processing plant upkeep come under MRO. According to this report about the MRO market, the MRO industry is set to be valued at $600 billion. The market is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.72 percent. 

Let us look at what is MRO and how you can implement it for your own factory or facility!

If you consider a small manufacturing plant and look at important expenses that take place within the plant they are divided into two main categories;

1. Direct Expenses
2. Indirect Expenses

In a factory, the operations that take place to generate revenue for example boiler function, motor functions, fittings, joints, procurement, etc are considered main functions. Major factory expenses are directed towards these operations. These come under Direct Expenses.

But when it comes to factories, you must factor in expenses for the maintenance of the factory-like repairing a ceiling, repairing a machine, fixing electrical connections, etc. These come under the indirect expense as they do not directly produce revenue but they help significantly to generate revenue.

Before going into types of MRO, it is important to clarify that all account expenses, legal, marketing, salary expenses are also indirect expenses but they do not come under MRO. 

Types of MRO

The indirect expenses of a factory can be divided into four main categories;

1. Infrastructure repair and Maintenance
2. Production equipment repair and maintenance
3. Material handling and repairing
4. Consumables

Let us look at each one of them one by one;

    1. Infrastructure repair and Maintenance

A factory infrastructure plays an important role in running the company. A factory completely depends on its good infrastructure. Take for example a leaky faucet in a chemical plant or a faulty crane in a manufacturing warehouse. 

Just imagine if these were left unchecked how much of a problem can they cause. Thus maintaining logbooks, keeping track of all this is also very important.

    2. Production equipment repair and maintenance

Now it goes without saying how important it is having these things in place for revenue generation. It is advised to keep an extra of small equipment like drilling machines, tapping machines, etc and get them repaired from time to time.

But there is some equipment that is high in cost and cannot be kept an extra of. Take for example a boiler or a machine or a 3D printer. These are all bulky machines and high costs. They need to be maintained well with regular oil checks, motor changes, etc. 

    3. Material Handling and Repairing

Although the material manufactured in a factory or unit is supposed to go out after delivery, most products go with a warranty for a year. This means the responsibility of repairing that material lies with the company.

At the same time, even without a warranty, product repairing is critical and needs to be repaired in the factory. This is a department that nobody really considers before starting a unit but fails to take into account its expenses and the staff required. 

    4. Consumables

Although this is not a repairing department per se but is very important and comes under indirect expenses. Keeping track of all the tools, chemicals, adhesives, etc. along with all the cleaning stuff, maintenance equipment also come under indirect expenses. 

The MRO Checklist

The systems that are present in the factory need to be maintained regularly as stated above. Also buying systems that have less chance for maintenance is important. Given below is the checklist of all the things you can check before buying new systems.

1. Operational Aspects
2. Environmental Conditions
3. Availability performance
4. Reliability performance
5. Maintainability performance
6. Requirements for construction and components to be used
7. Man-machine language (MML)
8. Interfaces
9. Standardized consumable articles
10. System security/authorization
11. Measurements for wrong replacements
12. Documentation
13. Possibility of subsequent delivery
14. Guarantee on knowledge with manufacturer
15. Safety requirements
16. Energy consumption
17. Ergonomic requirements
18. Requirements for mobile equipment
19. The warranty period of equipment
20. Failure rate
21. Spare part set
22. Repair time
23. Turn-around time
24. Prices of repairs
25. Guarantee on the duration of repair facilities
26. Confidence in repair
27. Routines (Periodic maintenance)
28. Documentation
29. Training
30. Manufacturer maintenance support
31. Information about repairs
32. Software maintenance and modifications
33. Maintenance action and repairs during guarantee-period
34. Maintenance contracts
35. Maintenance of auxiliary equipment
36. Penalty clauses
37. Compliance testing

Conclusion:

The MRO market is a very big market to invest in and take into consideration while developing a factory or a setup. Hopefully, after reading this article the basics are clear and the ability to move further with the types of documentation and auditing is possible.