Condition based maintenance planning of highly productive machine tools

The competitiveness of producing enterprises in high-wage countries is extremely dependent on theproductivity of the production line. Consequently, the availability of machines displays an essential index. The aim of the research project ‘‘Make-it’’ (Condition Based Maintenance Planning of Highly Productive Machine Tools) was to improve the availability of machine tools. Therefore, within this joint project, new methods and approaches for condition based maintenance were investigated. Thereby, an important objective was to develop an innovative maintenance algorithm which enables to calculate the most cost-effective maintenance times based on a continuous prognosis of the remaining life time, maintenance costs, and potential failure costs. This paper describes the results of the developed maintenance approach. Within this paper, the fundamental mathematical foundations of the innovative, cost-oriented maintenance algorithm and the use of the data of machine condition are presented in the first part. Moreover, the implementation of the algorithm in a computerized maintenance management system is described. The validation of the cost-oriented maintenance planning by means of event-oriented simulation will also be part of this paper.