The corrective maintenance process is divided into the following phases:
- Notification:
In the notification phase, malfunctions and other requirements are recorded in a notification. Notifications can be accessed and processed through a list.
- Planning:
In the planning phase, orders are created and planned based on the reported requirements. Planning encompasses the steps to be performed, the material required, and any utilities that may be necessary, such as measurement devices and cranes.
- Control:
In the control phase, the order runs through checks, such as material availability checks and capacity planning, which are important for the release of the order. If no problems arise during these checks, the order is put in process. The shop papers are printed at this point.
- Execution:
In the execution phase, the order is executed. The required material for the order is withdrawn. Even material that has not been planned and, therefore, not reserved by the order can be withdrawn for the order.
- Completion:
In the completion phase, partial steps are executed. Examples of partial steps include time confirmation, technical confirmation, and technical completion. The settlement of the order by Controlling (CO) can be performed before or after the technical completion.
With SAP workflows, you can control this five-phase business procedure and partly automate it.
Corrective maintenance involves the creation and release of a maintenance order in one work step after a malfunction has been reported (for example, by an employee in production).
Depending on the modeling of the process, this step can be performed via SAP GUI (transaction) or Web (SAP Fiori application). Alternatively, the notification can be created via a mobile device.
To achieve this the planner has several options:
- Create a notification first, then add an order
- Create an order directly with combined notification
- Create an SAP Fiori-based Malfunction Report, which creates notification and order in one step
Depending on the organization, this step is carried out by a supervisor or by a central maintenance planner.
The malfunction is corrected by a maintenance work center. Afterwards, the maintenance order is confirmed by an employee of the performing work center, the maintenance supervisor, or the maintenance planner. Then, either the supervisor or the maintenance planner completes the order.
Organizations are maturing their maintenance strategies and companies are moving from a reactive to a proactive approach to maintenance.
An opportunity is available for organizations to leverage machine data for better business insights and better collaboration across the supply chain by providing insight into a digital twin of each and every asset.
- From reactive to preventive:
- This is why many companies have moved in the past from a more reactive to a preventive maintenance strategy which includes overhauls at specific periods through time. In addition, workers can record usage or equipment deterioration by inspections in order to repair worn parts before they cause system failures.
- From preventive to predictive:
- In order to take the next maturity level, many companies are now moving towards a predictive maintenance strategy which also takes into account device and sensor data from the machine in order to come up with optimized maintenance and service schedules as well as more precise failure predictions.
For leveraging sensor data, it is mandatory to establish technologies to connect the business information with sensor data from the device. And this is where the mega-trend of Internet of Things (IoT) comes in.