Since cranes are among the most critical tools of an industrial plant, companies generally attach high importance to the maintenance of this equipment. As a result, most companies have gradually improved their crane maintenance practices over the past few decades, more specifically with an increased focus on preventive rather than corrective maintenance. However, traditional preventive maintenance still falls short in many respects because it doesn’t support strategic goals such as increasing the plant’s productivity.
This paper advocates a more comprehensive crane maintenance strategy called productivity-centred maintenance. It highlights the shortcomings of traditional preventive crane maintenance, outlines the basic principles of productivity-centred crane maintenance and discusses a number of real-life cases to illustrate the benefits of this more proactive crane maintenance approach.
