Managing your PM program—cost-effectively

摘要

To make preventive maintenance (PM) cost effective, you need to strike a balance. Service intervals should be short enough to catch problems and prevent breakdowns, but if you can stretch out service intervals, you may save some money. "Our biggest challenge is to maintain our PM schedule," said Gary Schmaltz, acting fleet manager for the city of Dayton, Ohio. "A significant amount of our work results from our PM checks, which is good, and it means our PM program is working. You don't want to change oil too often, but you don't want to go so far that you cause yourself breakdowns, which are very costly." Schmaltz and his staff of 33 technicians maintain 1850 pieces of rolling stock.