Reliability of Forging Plants

Reliability engineering and maintenance engineering play an important role in organizational growth. Equipment in forging plants are susceptible to equipment failure which limits organizational growth. There is a need to minimize and eliminate failure occurrence in forging plants to minimize exorbitant costs associated with failure and to attract new clientele whilst retaining existing customers. A single case study to identify factors contributing to equipment failure in global forging plants is conducted in South Africa at Company X, which is a leader in the manufacturing of forged components for application in the defense industry. To implement strategies that aids in preventing failure occurrence on forging plant equipment, data capturing of equipment downtime is key. The results through the Decision Making Grid (DMG) approach indicate that reactive maintenance strategy should be implemented on 50% of equipment in forging plants coupled with preventive maintenance whilst Design Out Maintenance (DOM) strategy should be implemented on 12.5% of equipment. Upskilling operators will reduce downtime by 12.5% and minimize downtime hours on equipment subjected to low downtime duration and high frequency of failure.