Preventative Maintenance

PMPlanR™ (pronounced “PM-Planer”) is a robust standalone Preventative Maintenance Planning Software Application. PMPlanR allows you to “Build Your Plant”.  Within each Plant, you can enter all Equipment Components (Areas or Machines) and Assets that should be monitored.

PMPlanR preventative maintenance planning software can be installed on any Windows 7 or 10 operating system.  Accessing or signing into the PMPlanR software requires you to have a username and password, all set up in the Security Manager section of the software. The three primary areas of interest for users of the PMPlanR software are Plant Builder, Part Vendor, Service Tags, Preventative Maintenance & Work Orders and History Reports.  Other sections include System Parameters, Security Manager and PLC Communications.

Plant Builder

Each Plant that is set up can be divided into Areas and Machines. A Plant, Area and Machine are all “Categories”. A Plant Category can have multiple Area Categories that pertain to a specific process or production area. Within each Area Category are Machine Categories that build a production process.  Assets are categorized under Plants, Areas and/or Machines.  Plant, Area and Machine categories are used to help organize Assets, each Asset being able to be defined with a name and vendor part number.

 

Plant Category: A Plant is identified graphically using a unique icon. Each Plant is given a name and address location to help identify the Plant.  The Plant icon is in the Tree View on the left side of the Plant Builder Screen. Multiple Plants can be created, each containing Areas, Machines and Assets.

Area Category: An Area uses a unique icon. Each Area is given a name to help identify it.  An Area must be inside a Plant. Multiple Areas can exist in a Plant that usually defines a department within the Plant. The Area icon is shown in the Tree View on the left side of the Plant Builder Screen under the Plant icon.

Machine Category: Each Machine, such as a bag unloading system or batching system,  is given a name to help identify the Machine and must be created under an Area. Each machine can have several Parts or Assets that perform specific tasks.  Machines cannot be directly made under a Plant category. Multiple Machines can be contained within a single Area.  The Machine icon will be shown in the Tree View on the left side of the Plant Builder Screen under each respective Area icon.

Assets: Assets are defined as resources that are owned by a Category (Plant, Area or Machine) that performs a specific function, e.g. Limit Switch, Level Indicator, Vibration Sensor, Bearing Temp Sensor, Scale Load Cell, Supply Bin #1 Load Cell, etc.  Each Asset is given a name and vendor part number. By clicking on each Category in the Tree View a list of the Category Assets is displayed in table format. Multiple Assets can be created for each Plant, Area and Machine Category. Each Asset will have the following:

– Asset Name
– Part Number
– Manufacturer Part Number
– Description

Part Vendors

Part Vendors Screen

The Part Vendors screen displays and maintains a list of all Vendors and their Parts that would be assigned to one or more Assets.  Each Vendor has the following fields:

– Vendor Name
– Full Name of Vendor
– Account#
– Phone
– Email Contact
– Address
– City
– State
– Zip

Part Vendors editing pa– Code

A list of Parts can be created under each Vendor with the following fields or information:

– Part#
– Manufacturer Part#
– Part Description

Add vendor part 

 

 

 

 

Creating Vendors and Parts is easy. In the upper right-hand corner of the Part Vendors listing located in the right pane, there is a block called Part Vendors with a down arrow. Clicking on the down arrow will give you access to the editing panel. You can also access the Part Vendors editing panel by clicking on the Tables pull-out pane and clicking the Add button. Once the editing panel is visible enter a new vendor code, vendor name and full name for the vendor (vendor name and full name fields are optional but recommended). Next, press the Add button located in the editing panel to create a new vendor and insert it in the vendor listing. All vendor codes must be unique. To add a part to the vendor place a checkmark next to the desired vendor code and press Add Part in the editing panel. Other functions include deleting vendors and parts, copying and pasting, editing cells, table filtering and sorting, printing and exporting.

Service Tags
Service Tag Screen

The Service Tags screen allows you to display and maintain a list of all the controller tags that the PMPlanR™ Preventative Maintenance Planning Software is monitoring. Allen Bradley Logix’s family of controllers is supported. Consult with Sterling Systems & Controls for other controllers and brands. Each controller has a list of Tags and each Tag is available for monitoring.  Tags used for Service can be created within the PLC. Each Service Tag will be automatically polled and read its value from the controller.  Polling times can be adjusted and data compression on analog tags can also be adjusted. Consult with Sterling Systems & Controls for more information regarding Service Tags.

 

If any Service Tags are assigned a PM Task, they are listed and shown by clicking on the “+” button in the row header to expand the selection. Each Tag has the following fields:

– Tag Name (contains both the controller name and the controller tag name)
– Tag Type (BOOL, SINT, INT, LINT, REAL, STRING)
– Boolean tags are considered discrete tags, all others are analog tags
– Value; the value of the tag as read from the controller on the last scan made
– Controller; Controller type the tag is associated with
– Polling; Polling rate in milliseconds of how often the PMPlanR software will read the tag value
– Active; Enable or disable the polling and reading tag value from the controller
– Configure; Allows the tag to be configured for data compression (only for analog tags)

If a Service Tag is assigned to one or more Preventative Maintenance Tasks (PM Tasks) the PM task can be viewed with the following field descriptions:

– PM#; Unique preventative maintenance ID number given when PM task created
– Creation Date; Date when the PM task was created
– Description
– Frequency; A value that represents the cycle time or the PM task
– Unit; The Unit that describes what the frequency field represents (time or cycle)
– Path Name; The location of the Asset that is linked to the Service tag in question

Creating Service Tags
New Service Tag

Creating Service Tags can be easily accomplished from the editing pull-out panel. From the pull-out panel, click on the Add button. The controller tag selection box allows you to select the tag that you want to be monitored.  Press OK to add the controller tag as a new Service Tag to the Service Tag table.  Service tags can also be Deleted, you can Copy and paste, Edit Cells, and Validate Service Tags (this checks if the tag exists in the controller and will report an error if not (PLC Communications setup is required).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Controller Tag Selection
Controller Tag Selection

 

 

 

 

 

Preventative Maintenance Tasks

The Preventative Maintenance Task table maintains a list of PM Tasks which the PMPlanR™ Preventative Maintenance Planning Software application monitors and notifies you what and when maintenance should be performed on the equipment.  PM tasks can be time-based or based on monitoring for a change in condition or state from a PLC controller.

The PM task screen is divided into two sections where the Tree View on the left is an equipment hierarchy built from the Plant Builder screen and a list of PM tasks in a tabular format at the right.  The Tree View on the PM task screen is already prebuilt for you from the development of the plant in the Plant Builder screen. When a PM task needs to be performed and is overdue, the Asset in the Tree View and PM Task item in the table will turn Purple.

Choosing Time or Cycle Based Frequency: After creating a new PM Task, you have the option to select either time or cycle-based frequencies for the task to perform against.  This is the PM Frequency and it is defined as how often a maintenance task should be performed. The due date is calculated with the frequency in hours, days, years or cycles. Hours, days and years are considered time-based which is dependent on elapsed time while cycle frequencies count the number of events that occurred. There are also two frequency mode selections which are Due Date and Remaining Time. Regardless of whether time or cycle-based frequencies are used, some conditions must be met for how and when they are used.  For example, if there is no PLC controller connection specified for the PM Task, only time-based options can be chosen and time is automatically tracked without stopping.  If a tag connection to a PLC does exist, both time and cycle-based options can be used and the frequency commences and is monitored if the value of the connection tag exceeds the value threshold.

Completing a PM Task: After a PM task is completed, the Last Date which represents the date when the task was completed must be updated which in turn will reset the frequency timer or counter.

PM Tasks can also be deleted, you can Copy and Paste, Edit Cells, Print and Export.

Work Order Tasks

Work Order Tasks

The Work Order table maintains a list of work orders that are created by you and are tasks or jobs that can be scheduled or assigned to someone to complete. Work orders can be created as follow-ups for inspections or auditing. The WO Task screen is divided into two sections where the Tree View on the left in an equipment hierarchy built from the Plant Builder Screen and a list of work order tasks in a table form on the right.

Creating Work Order and Tasks: In the right-hand corner of the Work Orders listing located in the right pane there is a block called Work Orders with a down arrow. You can view and access the new work order editing panel by clicking on the down arrow or clicking on the Tables pull-out pane and clicking on the Add button.

 

 

Available Work Order types include:

– Preventative: A work order assigned to a PM task
– Scheduled: A scheduled or planned work order
– Unscheduled: Not scheduled or an unplanned task that must be performed
– Breakdown: Work order created to perform service on equipment that brokedown
– Project: A work order assigned to a project
– Safety: A safety-related work order that must be performed
– Emergency: Emergency-related work order that must be performed
– Rework: A work order that was done previously but did not get accomplished
– Other: Any other work order

After a new work order is created, one or more tasks or jobs must be assigned to it.  Use the Add Task button in the editing toolbox. By clicking on the Add Task button one of two popup boxes will appear depending on the work order type:

– Preventative Type

 

 

 

 

– Any Other Type

 

 

 

 

Using WebPM™

WebPM™ is a software package that allows corporate users to access the PMPlanR™ preventative maintenance planning software database. This can be used to view and print historical reports. WebPM and PMPlanR software must reside on the same network.  WebPM uses a web browser. WebPM is sold with two concurrent licenses which allow two people to simultaneously log into the system. If more licenses are required, contact the Sterling Systems & Controls factory. Sample WebPN screenshots are below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Working With Us

Give us a call today to talk about your business and process objectives and see how Sterling Systems & Controls can provide a custom engineered solution.  You can reach us by phone at 1-815-625-0852, toll-free in the USA 1-800-257-7214, or by email at sci@sterlingcontrols.com.

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