Analysis of Indicators and Cost of World Class Maintenance (Wcm) in Forest Machines

Abstract

The study was carried out at a forest company located in the Paraná State, Brazil, with the feller buncher, skidder and harvester. The following indicators were evaluated: mechanical availability, mean time between failures, mean time to repair, proactive maintenance index and maintenance costs, based on data obtained over a period of 18 months, contemplating the stages of implantation, maturation and stabilization of the WCM. The results showed an increase in the mechanical availability of the cutting and skidding machines from the implantation stage. The mean time between failures increased from the implantation stage, from 31.59 hours to 37.01 hours in the stabilization stage. As for the mean time to repairs, skidder and harvester presented an increase of 25.9% and 18.9% respectively; however, this increase in time represented an improvement in the quality of maintenance services, reflected in the results of mean time between failures. There was also a 31% increase in the proactive index of the machines studied, resulting in 9% reduction in maintenance costs between the deployment and stabilization stages.

Intelligent Predictive Maintenance (IPdM) in Forestry: A Review of Challenges and Opportunities

“…The overall forest machinery cost was estimated from 20% to 60%, depending on different factors such as machinery age, usage, operator experience, vegetation, weather condition during the production, maintenance strategy etc. [18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. The right maintenance plan, enhancing decision-making in maintenance, and performing work properly can cause cost reductions, boost efficiency, and advance vehicle reliability.…”

“…Although some research [17] ignored the effect of maintenance and downtime cost in productivity of machinery during the operation, others estimated the costs associated with forest machinery maintenance (e.g., feller-buncher, forwarder, skidder, processor etc.) vary between 20% and 60% [18][19][20][21][22][23][24] of overall costs. In 2019, Spinelli et al [18] indicated that chipper repair and maintenance may represent between 1.5% and 29% of total production cost.…”