How to Reduce Maintenance Costs: tips and success stories

Many companies aim to boost profits by cutting maintenance costs and increasing production. However, the real key to success lies in maintaining quality and efficiency—making maintenance a strategic priority. In this blog post, we’ll explore how maintenance can help reduce costs and improve operational efficiency, featuring real-world success stories from Dynamox.

Why Maintenance Matters 

Maintenance is essential to keep production running smoothly. It helps prevent failures and ensures that equipment operates at peak performance. This not only improves process quality but also saves money in the long run. 

The Cost of Skipping Maintenance 

Neglecting maintenance can lead to significant expenses, including production downtime, poor product quality, rework, and even fines. These hidden maintenance costs often far exceed the visible ones, such as labor and materials. 

For example, in the pulp and paper industry, the unexpected failure of a critical drying machine can halt production for 72 hours. This can result in the loss of 500 tons of paper, delivery penalties, and high repair and labor costs. In one case, these losses totaled USD$54.920,00 — far more than the cost of implementing predictive maintenance.

Investing in a maintenance strategy is essential to avoid unplanned downtime and financial losses. Regular maintenance ensures equipment reliability, prevents breakdowns, and reduces total production costs. This real-world example shows how maintenance can be a strategic investment that delivers higher quality, greater productivity, and long-term savings. 

Types of Corrective Maintenance 

There are different types of corrective maintenance, each suited to specific operational needs: 

• Reactive Corrective Maintenance: Performed only after equipment failure. This reactive approach means action is taken only when the equipment has already stopped working. A common example is replacing a burnt-out light bulb. 

• Planned Corrective Maintenance: Part of a proactive maintenance plan. Although corrective, it is scheduled based on preventive or predictive maintenance data. For instance, a hydraulic pump in a critical process may have its corrective maintenance planned at fixed operational intervals. 

• Unplanned Corrective Maintenance: Also reactive, this occurs when a failure is unexpected and disrupts production and maintenance schedules. It’s common in critical equipment that, despite proactive maintenance, can still fail unpredictably. 

These types of corrective maintenance are applied based on equipment criticality and the company’s maintenance strategy. Choosing the right approach depends on the expected maintenance costs and the need to keep production running efficiently. The more critical the machine, the greater the care required—ultimately reducing unplanned downtime. 

5 Steps to Improve Maintenance Costs 

To optimize maintenance costs, it’s essential to adopt a strategy that combines advanced technology with efficient management practices. The first step is implementing a system to monitor the health and performance of your machines. 

Monitoring equipment allows for early-stage fault detection, enabling the team to act with planning and strategy. But truly strategic maintenance goes beyond monitoring—here’s the full step-by-step guide: 

1. Implement Continuous Monitoring 

Use sensors and continuous monitoring systems to collect real-time data on equipment performance. This enables early detection of issues before they become critical, streamlining maintenance processes. 

Key metrics to monitor include vibration, temperature, lubrication, current, and voltage. Tracking these variables helps detect subtle changes in equipment behavior, preventing failures and ensuring safer, more stable operations. 

To optimize the process, it’s crucial to automate data collection. As monitoring expands and the number of sensors increases, automation becomes essential to handle the growing volume of data efficiently. 

2. Perform Data Analysis 

Analyzing collected data* is vital to understanding failure patterns and performance trends. Advanced analytics tools can help predict when and where issues may arise, allowing for planned interventions and minimizing unplanned downtime. (*link in Portuguese)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can further enhance this process by delivering detailed insights, enabling analysts to focus on what matters most: asset health, productivity, and performance. This leads to more informed and precise decision-making. 

3. Plan Strategically 

Develop a maintenance plan that integrates different maintenance types—corrective, preventive, and predictive. Prioritize critical assets and adjust strategies based on equipment criticality and failure impact. This ensures efficient resource allocation and optimized equipment performance. 

Leverage technology solutions that provide relevant data and management-focused dashboards. These tools offer valuable inputs to make maintenance truly strategic—based on real-time and historical performance data. 

4. Train Your Team 

Train your maintenance team to use new technologies and interpret data correctly. A well-trained team can respond quickly to monitoring alerts and perform maintenance tasks effectively. 

Invest in monitoring tools with intuitive interfaces and detailed reports. Platforms that centralize and integrate data simplify technicians’ work and improve maintenance efficiency. 

5. Review and Continuously Improve 

Regularly review and adjust your maintenance plan. Maintenance is a dynamic process, and strategies should evolve based on collected data and changing operational conditions. 

Technological solutions enable continuous review and near real-time adjustments, ensuring your maintenance plan stays aligned with current operational needs. 

Success Stories 

A great example of strategic maintenance implementation and cost reduction comes from the bioenergy sector. One company faced frequent unplanned downtime due to unexpected failures in its processing equipment. 

To address the issue, they implemented a predictive maintenance strategy that included: 

• Continuous monitoring with sensors 

• Advanced data analysis 

• Strategic planning 

• Team training 

• Regular maintenance plan reviews 

With data analysis, the company identified failure patterns and planned maintenance interventions more accurately. The maintenance plan was adjusted to integrate multiple maintenance types, prioritizing critical assets. The team was trained to use new technologies and respond quickly to alerts. Continuous plan reviews ensured alignment with operational demands. 

The results were significant: the company reduced unplanned downtime and saved nearly USD$88.000,00 in maintenance costs, production losses, and commercial penalties over one year. Operational efficiency improved, leading to higher productivity and plant safety. 

This case demonstrates how predictive maintenance, supported by advanced monitoring and data analysis technologies, can be a powerful strategy to reduce costs and boost efficiency.