Insight

Engineers spend a lot of time trying to avoid equipment failures, but learning from breakdowns when they do occur is critical to improving maintenance regimes.

As economic conditions tighten, organisations are delaying the replacement of ageing assets. The challenge for maintenance engineers is keeping old machines running efficiently.

Tough economic times increase the pressure on maintenance engineers to maintain uptime and avoid outages. But a predictive approach, based on analysing data from condition monitoring, means you can carry out maintenance when it’s really needed.

More than a third of manufacturing businesses have made net zero a priority and already have a strategy in place. What role will maintenance engineering teams play in meeting climate commitments?

Has reactive maintenance had its day? When the parts you need are suddenly unavailable, a planned maintenance approach starts to look much more attractive. Maybe it’s time to think again about priorities that drive maintenance engineers?

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, many businesses were unprepared to deal with the impact on their operations. We look at the lessons to be learned and what you can do to prepare for future events.

With demand for contract maintenance rising, you can’t risk being left at the back of the queue. But by using digital solutions you can have real-time data about your asset performance and guaranteed maintenance when you need it.

Have you ever been frustrated when a proposal for what seemed to you like a sensible process improvement is turned down on financial grounds? Understanding how finance works could be one of your best career moves.

Manufacturing gurus often refer to Industry 4.0. At its heart is the Industrial Internet of Things, where condition monitoring happens in real time and engineers use digital technologies to improve plant performance and avoid breakdowns.

How do you transform yourself from a technically savvy maintenance engineer into an engineering leader? Here are 10 competencies that can help you expand your circle of influence and be recognised as the person others want to follow

A maintenance engineering strategy sets out the guiding principles that will enable an organisation to meet its objectives. The challenge is to create one that reflects reality over optimism.

Companies with high-performing maintenance engineering teams outperform their competitors on all key business metrics, according to research by McKinsey. Here’s how you can build a winning engineering team.

Just-in-case is replacing just-in-time for manufacturing supply chains as the aftershocks of the pandemic and Brexit continue. Digital solutions are emerging as the key to resilience.

Whether it’s tackling climate change or helping to ‘level up’ deprived communities, maintenance engineering underpins efforts to make the world a better place

Today, many companies expect managers to produce a business case to justify major purchases or investment requirements for new operational projects. But what should you include? Here’s a straightforward guide for maintenance engineers.

Most industry experts agree that digital manufacturing is the future. But how do you get there while maintaining production and without breaking the bank? Here are six steps to set you on the road to a digital future in maintenance, repair and operations.

Planned maintenance cannot cover every eventuality, but you can develop an agile approach that allows for the delivery of reactive maintenance when unforeseen challenges arise

Fridges and freezers shut down as roof-mounted control cabinets overheated. The heatwave this summer was a dramatic demonstration of the importance of effective climate control in sensitive electronic equipment.

What are some of the big issues facing engineers in MRO right now? And how can trusted suppliers help them to address these challenges?

Simply switching to renewable energy isn’t enough to make in-house operations carbon-neutral. 

The digital transition is here. Challenges from fractured supply chains to soaring energy prices are driving change at a rapid pace. Where will engineering go next and what are the trends driving change?

The first in a series of blogs by RS Component’s Richard Jeffers, exploring the aim of the maintenance, repair and operations (MRO), within a maintenance organisation and the key enablers to deliver it

RS Component’s Richard Jeffers explains how structuring your maintenance team can deliver a streamlined process for Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO)

RS Component’s Richard Jeffers pinpoints the skills needed for effective planning and maintenance, supporting Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO)

RS Component’s Richard Jeffers explains how to identify a critical backlog and develop a restoration strategy supporting Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO)

Richard Jeffers, Director for Maintenance Solutions at RS, explains how to develop effective KPIs to evaluate your maintenance performance for MRO