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Preventive Maintenance Checklist towards Effective Maintenance System: A Case Study in Semiconductor Industry

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Preventive maintenance (PM) is the basic policy in maintenance system and widely used in companies all over the world. However, its advantages are not always fully received by the company because it is not carried out according to prescribed planning and schedule. This is because of improper implementation of the PM that leads to the major problem of increasing number of machine downtime. One of the reasons for the problem is ineffective PM checklist used during the implementation. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to reduce the planned downtime for PM by analyzing and enhancing the PM checklist. This is to show the importance of having good PM checklist as it simplified technicians workload and can reduce machine downtime if conducted properly. Consequently, good PM checklist will show the performances of the technicians doing their tasks as well as the performances of the machines to be operated in good operational condition.
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Preventive Maintenance Checklist towards Effective Maintenance
System: A Case Study in Semiconductor Industry
AB-SAMAT Hasnida
a
, BASRI Ernnie Illyani
b
, HARUN Nurul Aida
c
,
WEE Siew Ching
d
and KAMARUDDIN Shahrul
e
School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia (Engineering Campus),
Seri Ampangan, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Seberang Perai Selatan, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
a
hasnida_absamat@yahoo.com,
b
ernebasri@yahoo.com,
c
aidakimono2432@gmail.com,
d
qing.03@hotmail.com,
e
meshah@eng.usm.my
Keywords: Preventive Maintenance, PM checklist, Case Study, Semiconductor Industry
Abstract. Preventive maintenance (PM) is the basic policy in maintenance system and widely used in
companies all over the world. However, its advantages are not always fully received by the company
because it is not carried out according to prescribed planning and schedule. This is because of
improper implementation of the PM that leads to the major problem of increasing number of machine
downtime. One of the reasons for the problem is ineffective PM checklist used during the
implementation. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to reduce the planned downtime for PM by
analyzing and enhancing the PM checklist. This is to show the importance of having good PM
checklist as it simplified technicians’ workload and can reduce machine downtime if conducted
properly. Consequently, good PM checklist will show the performances of the technicians doing their
tasks as well as the performances of the machines to be operated in good operational condition.
Introduction
To cope with intense competition in today’s manufacturing industries, companies fight to be in the
front line by investing in highly automated production system with excellent and high-technology
equipments. Therefore, it is essential for maintenance system as a major role to ensure that the whole
system running smoothly and effectively. Maintenance is a part of manufacturing function that
contributes to sustain the performance of equipment as well as improve the operation efficiency in
manufacturing plant [1]. Maintenance is considered a non-value added process in manufacturing
industry. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that maintenance is one of the asset management processes as
it gives benefits in term of profit to the company as well as exceeds customer satisfaction [2]. The
scope of maintenance management cover every stage in the life cycle of technical system including
plant, machinery, equipment and facilities such as specification, acquisition, planning, operation,
performance evaluation, replacement as well as disposal [3].
Preventive Maintenance (PM) and Checklist
Preventive Maintenance (PM) is the most basic maintenance system that all companies should
apply.PM is encompasses by all the activities that necessary to keep facilities in good operational
condition. It is an action involving inspection, servicing, repairing or replacing physical components
of machineries, plant and equipment by following the prescribed schedule. PM on machinery and
equipment is usually carried out in manufacturing system as its role to prevent or slow down its
deterioration [4]. Instead of applying the basic corrective actions when failure happened, detailed PM
activities will allow for repair and replace of equipment before breakdown occurs. Basically, PM
activities are scheduled based on the fixed predetermined interval such as weekly, monthly or even
yearly. In order to develop a comprehensive PM program, it is crucial to have procedures of PM in
form of checklist [5]. PM checklist should contain precise tasks and schedule according to
equipment’s requirement and history data of failures. Basic elements in planned and scheduled
Advanced Materials Research Vol. 748 (2013) pp 1208-1211
© (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.748.1208
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activities involve task action steps, labour resource requirements, designation of time period to
perform the tasks, work’s priority and issuance of work order [6]. This paper will discussed the
development of PM checklist in achieving effective maintenance system in a case study company.
Case Study
The analysis is conducted in a semiconductor company located in Penang, Malaysia. The production
floor of this semiconductor company consists of 109 machines with only 8 maintenance personnel for
maintenance work. The maintenance personnel who are responsible according to four clusters are also
responsible for the facility department. Since the workloads is exceeded the man power availability;
therefore, a proper and effective PM checklist indeed can help the maintenance staffs to take care of
all the machines in order to reduce the machine downtime due to ineffective of PM checklist. A series
of phases for developing an effective preventive maintenance checklist are proposed in order to
achieve the main objective in this work which is reducing the machine downtime in company plant
due to ineffective of previous preventive maintenance checklist.
Phase I: Identify the critical machine. Data of machine breakdown time or machine breakdown
frequency are used to identify the critical machines. Machine which has got the highest machine
downtime and highest machine breakdown frequency are identified as the critical machine. For this
case study, Etching and Stripping machine is selected for further analysis.
Phase II: Study and identify the problem of current Preventive Maintenance (PM) checklist for
the critical machine. The current PM checklist for the critical machine is collected from the
maintenance department, and the checklist is analyzed thoroughly in order to figure out the
incompleteness of the current PM checklist. The problems of conducting PM checklist are listed
down in order to make an improvement or correction for it. Figure 1 shows the current PM checklist in
the semiconductor company.
PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE CHECKLIST
Equipment: Etching & Stripping Machine Month: ________
Equipment no: 3020
Location: Wet Process
PM Duration: Weekly & Monthly
No Action Duration WW Remarks
1 2 3 4 5
1 Check all piping for any leakage Weekly
2 Check conveyor gear Weekly
3 Check and clean filters or strainers Weekly
4 Check all motor Weekly
5 Check all pressure gauge Weekly
6 Check and services all pumps Weekly
7 Clean and check main panel box Monthly
Done by: ...........................(Maintenance Personnel)
Date: ...........................
Verified by: ...........................(Engineer/ Supervisor)
Date: ...........................
Figure 1: Current PM Checklist for critical machine
From the current PM checklist showed in Fig. 1, some problems in the checklist have been
discovered.
1. Firstly, only few of the parts that needs to be maintained for critical machine is listed in the
checklist. Therefore, those parts that missed from checklist may sustain a higher breakdown
frequency, and cause losses to the company.
2. The action to be taken for the specific items or spare part is too general. Maintenance staff would
not have a clear idea with the general instruction. Therefore, a clear maintenance action should be
stated in the checklist in order to make sure the checking is complete for the relative part.
Advanced Materials Research Vol. 748 1209
3. Only assigned a ‘tick’ to the maintenance action after the maintenance action is done or probably
has not done yet, and intends to pass to the other personnel to make the repair. The ‘tick’ symbol
could not define the machine’s item or spare part condition clearly, and what is next action should
be taken or who is the next personal should handle the problem, it can be machine’s specialist, or
machine’s vendor.
Phase III Development of Effective Preventive Maintenance (PM) Checklist. Based on problems
identified in Phase II, discussions are conducted with maintenance engineers and technicians as well
as segregating all parts at the machine into two categories which is critical parts and non-critical parts.
Then, the PM checklist is restructured as shown in Fig.2. Besides that, some updating issues can be
added in the new checklist as well. For example, based on the root cause of the spare part’s failure,
maintenance personnel can state it in the remark column of the PM checklist, so that maintenance
personnel and operator can pay more attention and keep their eyes on the root cause of failures and
prevent it from occurring.
PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE CHECKLIST
Equipment:
Equipment no:
Location:
Month:
SYMBOL
OK
X REPAIR REQUIRED
R REPAIR ADJUSTED
O NOT APPLICABLE
No
Items Maintenance Action Duration (date) Remarks
Weeks
1 2 3 4
Critical items
1
Motor i. Check all motors
2
Pump
i. Check condition of all Hollmuller
pumps
ii. Check condition of all Assomma pumps
iii. Check all chemical pumps
3
Conveyor gear i. Check the condition of roller and chain
Non-critical
items
4
Piping i. Check all piping for any leakage
ii. Check CDA piping
5
Nozzle i. Change if nozzle broken
ii. Properly fixed after change
6
Filter or strainer
i. Check condition for all filters and
strainer
ii. No leaking after fixed
iii. Check exhaust scrubber ducting
iv. Check rinsing filter, change if any
corrosion
7
Main panel box i. Check the parameter shown in panel box
ii. Check aqua control
8
Oscillators i. If the oscillator malfunction, change it
Done by:_____________________ Date: ______________
(Maintenance personnel)
Verified by:___________________ Date: ______________
(Engineer/Supervisor)
Figure 2: New and Effective Preventive Maintenance Checklist
1210 Material and Manufacturing Technology IV
Summary
In the case study company, ineffectiveness maintenance operations improperly conduct of PM
checklist have led to the study of current preventive maintenance checklist. Based on the current and
new PM checklist, the predetermine interval for PM is only for weekly and monthly. It is because
weekly maintenance is for normal PM, whereas, monthly is for major PM. The new PM checklist can
be implemented by other machines if the steps of developing the new PM checklist are followed.
Consequently, the maintenance personnel workload can be reduced and also can concentrate to focus
to other machines as well. Most importantly, PM checklist should be updated from time to time for
continuous improvement. Table 1 shows the differences between applying the current PM checklist
and the new PM checklist.
Table 1: Differences between current and new PM checklist
Criteria Current PM Checklist New PM Checklist
The way to
conduct the
maintenance
actions
Simply ‘tick’ for all
maintenance actions in the
checklist
Use appropriate ‘symbol’ to check all the
maintenance operations so it can see clearly
what supposed to do with the condition of
components
Maintenance
task/instructions
Maintenance actions are
illustrated too general
Maintenance actions are illustrated
specifically for each items, so it an ease the
technicians work
Maintenance
schedule
No specific maintenance
duration, just only has weekly
and monthly.
Not all items are going to be checked every
week, depends on the criticality of parts to
be checked with certain period of schedule.
Inspection items
No segregation for all items Segregated into critical and non-critical
items to understand how to conduct PM
checklist
References
[1] E.H. Aghezzaf and N.M. Najib: Information Sciences Vol. 178 (2008), p. 3382-3392
[2] H. Ab-Samat, S. Kamaruddin and I.A. Azid: Journal of Science & Technology Pertanika Vol.19,
No.2, (2011), p.199-211.
[3] A.H.C. Tsang: Journal of Quality on Maintenance Vol. 4, (1998), p.87-94.
[4] K. Das, R.S. Laskari and S. Sengupta: European Journal of Operational Research Vol.183
(2007), p.162-180.
[5] N.T. Balakrishnan: Proceedings of Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium (1992),
p.109-118.
[6] C.M.F. Lapa, C.M.N.A Pereira and P.D.B. Marico: Reliability Engineering & System Safety Vol.
91 (2005), p.233-240.
Advanced Materials Research Vol. 748 1211
... The genetic algorithm was used to solve non-linear mixed models. Abdulsamat H et al. (2013) [9] referred to reducing tools' scheduled downtime by analyzing and enhancing the checklist preventive downtime by analyzing and enhancing the checklist's preventive maintenance. It implemented the benefit of having a checklist for elements, smoothed the technicians' work, and reduced the time of stopping the factory. ...
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  • E H Aghezzaf
E.H. Aghezzaf and N.M. Najib: Information Sciences Vol. 178 (2008), p. 3382-3392
  • H Ab-Samat
  • S Kamaruddin
  • I A Azid
H. Ab-Samat, S. Kamaruddin and I.A. Azid: Journal of Science & Technology Pertanika Vol.19, No.2, (2011), p.199-211.
  • A H C Tsang
A.H.C. Tsang: Journal of Quality on Maintenance Vol. 4, (1998), p.87-94.
  • K Das
  • R S Laskari
  • S Sengupta
K. Das, R.S. Laskari and S. Sengupta: European Journal of Operational Research Vol.183 (2007), p.162-180.
  • C M F Lapa
  • C M N Pereira
  • P D B Marico
C.M.F. Lapa, C.M.N.A Pereira and P.D.B. Marico: Reliability Engineering & System Safety Vol. 91 (2005), p.233-240.