February 2025 Volume 7

MAINTENANCE

SOLVING THE TEN MOST COMMON CAUSES OF FORGING MACHINERY DOWNTIME Total Employee Involved Maintenance By Jeff Fredline

I t’s time for a change in our process. I have been involved with machinery maintenance for the greater part of 50 years. I have often felt that there should be a better, cheaper and more effective method of total process maintenance. For most orga nizations one of the first areas that they try to save money is by cutting “unnecessary maintenance costs” usually by a reduction in staffing. If you have managed a manufacturing company, you have experienced “making cuts” at one point or another. Forging machinery is very expensive and often difficult to repair. In order to solve our maintenance and down time issues I suggest a different approach. Total Employee Involved Maintenance is a different approach. To be successful it will require a change in culture, but this change will provide dividends far behind the challenges. Everyone on the manufacturing floor, in addition to management, needs to become aware of their equipment, even to the point of understanding the proper operation and possessing rudimentary troubleshooting skills. Maintenance staff will provide more detailed analysis of discovered problems. The main premise is that everyone involved begins to look for and identify potential problems before they cause unscheduled down time. Perhaps the best person to first identify a problem is the operational staff, they are the first to see the issues. Here is a list of ten examples of typical issues. The Ten Most Common Causes of Machine Downtime 1. Loose machine brackets and components 2. Machine control issues 3. Changes in the noise generated during operation 4. Changes in part quality 5. Forming pressure changes 6. Machine mounting and foundation damage 7. Changes in the smell of the machine 8. Changes in air pressure and hydraulic pressure 9. Changes in set up operations 10. Lubrication system failures We will examine each of these causes in detail. Loose Machine Brackets and Components Most of the machinery bolts that hold the machines together have a specific torque standard that the bolts should be torqued to. During day-to-day maintenance however the closest we get

to proper tightening is an impact driver. It may not be critical in every instance; however, a loose bracket can create an unsafe condition and can be the cause of injury. The stories of brackets, piping, tanks and covers falling off the machine under operation are not hard to find. However, if you consider a 30-pound piece of steel falling from 20 feet above the floor there is more than enough force to injure or even kill a worker. Often, we see and hear stories regarding the main motor mount hinge pin and it being loose in the holes and having worked its way partially out of the pin holes. This is a major safety issue. Machine Control Issues I have been working with and on forging and stamping presses for over 50 years. One of the ongoing frustrations that I and others experience regularly is we visit a plant, work with the custom er’s staff to try and start a machine for inspection and testing and often the control buttons, lights and other functions do not operate properly. Controls that are not in proper working order cause delays. You might want to consider what would happen if there were an accident with the machine where you needed to stop the main motor and restart in reverse. Sometimes every minute costs a great deal. In addition, a common problem is a missing or broken, no functional flywheel brake. If you don’t have a func tional flywheel brake, you will have to wait for the flywheel to stop before you can reverse the rotation. Changes in the Noise Generated During Operation One of the most obvious changes during day-to-day operation of the machine is the noise type and level being generated during operation. Stop! Look! Listen! Three easy steps that are perhaps the most important we can ever take. As you start your car to travel each day you know the sounds that are normal. If the noise changes, then immediately we become aware and hopefully take corrective actions to minimize the problems. Your forging equip ment is no different. When the changes are first noticed it may be simple to take corrective action, however continuing to operate without at least trouble shooting is a very risky prospect. Example: There is a squeaking noise with each stroke of the machine. There is a good chance that it is related to machine lubrication, perhaps a main journal is not receiving enough lubrication. Failure to troubleshoot and corrective action must be taken immediately to avoid a shaft ceasing in a bushing or bearing which can cause a very expense and possible duration loss of production.

FIA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2025 26