Several strategies or approaches are available for improving the maintenance or breakdown performance of equipment. These are: Breakdown, IRAN (Inspect & Repair As Necessary), Predictive and Redesign. Table 3 summarizes these strategies.

The best strategy for a particular machine or situation depends, partly, on the failure mode being experienced. For example, IRAN is seldom effective for preventing early life failures. These rarely give warning and there is no history to draw upon. Early life failures must be addressed in the original design and also in the original manufacture and test of the equipment. Once in service, about all you can do is wait until something breaks. This is why one of the "Pillars of TPM" is new equipment management.

Table 2 shows which strategies usually apply to each failure mode.

Note that the redesign (design) strategy applies to all failure modes. Throughout the equipment life, proper design and then redesign as required is the most critical element for ensuring equipment performance. Yet capital equipment is often purchased using price as the primary decision factor.

Table 2 Strategies & Modes