Abstract
Autonomous Maintenance is an order winning
paradigm shift maintenance philosophy which has operators that
use machines personally conducting maintenance activities,
including cleaning, oiling, retightening and inspection thereby
raising production efficiency to its limit. Such activities prevent
forced deterioration of equipment. This is because equipment
can revert to systemic failure even after maintenance has been
carried out if due regard to maintenance instructions is not
adhered to. The savings accrued in routine operations and
scheduling leads directly to large reductions in operations cost.
This paper looks at how autonomous maintenance has a direct
correlation with improving availability performance and hence
profitability in the fertiliser industry in Zimbabwe.