Sometimes is it good to go back to basics. 4 Basic Pillars of Undercarriage Management

1. Collecting Undercarriage Field Inspection data – Measuring the undercarriage component wear needs to be done regularly and accurately. Readings should then be supported by images and comments. Automatic calculation of % wear and the physical limits along with any prior reading history help the Inspector provide quality information. All this functionality should be available offline and on devices that are readily available.
2. Identifying Actions to be completed – the field inspection data along with historic trends, images and comments paint a picture for Reliability Engineers to then make recommendations for the various repair and replacement actions that will help the undercarriage components possibly achieve 100 to 120% of the useful life. Examples of these actions could be: – swapping of components, rebuilding some wear material, turning Pins and Bushes etc. These recommendations need to be planned into the machines servicing and downtime schedule.
3. Completing the Repairs and Replacements – All actions need to be recorded at the date and hour meter of the machine to ensure the correct commencement of recording hours on the wear surface. Costs can also be recorded at this stage to enable an accurate assessment of cost per hour. The End of Life inspection should be automatically recorded to enable a complete history of the components performance.
4. Forecasting the Future Wear Condition at the Next and Following Service Intervention – this is the forecasted future wear position of the individual undercarriage components at a future date, typically the next major service intervention. This forecast enables the Reliability Engineer to clearly see the wear condition of the components at a future date, for example, the next and following service intervention, and to plan which tasks will be completed at these interventions. Forecasts should be based on accurate wear rate trends. This supports planning for replacement components to be available when needed, along with potentially swing chains and frames.

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