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Writer's pictureBen Nordman

Preventative Maintenance: A necessity in today's manufacturing world

Updated: May 6

Preventative maintenance is proving to be an overwhelming need for most manufacturing companies in today’s industrial world. Having a plan or dedicated team member focused on machine and machine tool maintenance is a benefit that could save companies tens of thousands of dollars per year and potentially months of production. Workholding on machines, like Magna-Lock USA products, is just one example of a product that should have a plan in place from year to year to optimize machine output and performance.


Collector rings for Magna-Lock USA HC series electromagnetic chucks
Collector rings are one of the most common replacable spare part for workholding products

Let’s dive deeper into preventive maintenance in workholding.


What is preventative maintenance?

A somewhat self-explanatory term, preventative maintenance is a plan that is put in place within a company to determine when a machine will need new spare parts and service. The main purpose of preventative maintenance is to cut down on lost time due to repairs and prolong the life of the machine or item in question. Maintenance can help prevent companies from having to replace equipment, which can be a huge cost savings. Machinery should be manufactured to last decades, but only when a preventative maintenance schedule helps the machine last that long.


Brushholder assemblies for Magna-Lock USA electromagnetic chucks
According to ServiceMax, 82% of companies experienced unplanned downtime within the past 3 years. Preventative maintenance helps keeps those unplanned downtimes to a minimum.

How do factors outside of the machinery itself affect maintenance?

As the manufacturing industry has seen within recent years, machining has seen a general back up across the board in lead times. If preventative maintenance schedules are created and planned for, a spare part or part of the machine breaking or wearing down doesn’t need to mean long down time due to machining of new parts for the machine. Stocking spare parts on shelves is key to this factor, or ordering multiple parts at the same time. A few thousand dollars in stocking spare parts could mean tens of thousands of dollars in savings on lost time on the machine if those parts were not on shelves.


How does preventive maintenance apply to workholding?

As with most industrial products, workholding products have wearable parts that need to be replaced from time to time. Both magnetic and non-magnetic workholding require maintenance. See below on recommendations on stocking spare parts for both types of workholding that Magna-Lock USA offers.


Click HERE to start keep your production going.

ObsidianMfg Logo

Obsidian Manufacturing Industries, Inc. is a Rockford, Ill. manufacturing company and is the OEM for Magna-Lock USA workholding, MagnaLift & Power-Grip lift magnets, and Arter Precision Grinding Machines as well providing surface grinding services. They are located at 5015 28th Ave. in Rockford, Ill. with a phone number of 815-962-8700. Check out more at obsidianmfg.com/brands.

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