Executive summary
- MP stands for Maintenance Prevention — designing the need for maintenance out from the start.
- MP Design spans planning, design, manufacture, installation and trial operation.
- LCC is every direct and indirect cost across the machine's life, not the purchase price.
- An LCC analysis has five steps, beginning with the true purpose of the installation.
- A different purpose leads to a completely different technical option.
What MP Design is
MP stands for Maintenance Prevention. MP Design is therefore the design activity — spanning planning through execution — applied to products, equipment and production management, so that the result is maintainable, economical, usable, safe and versatile. It is driven by both technology data and maintenance data.
Activities in the study phase
- The technology to be used — both process technology and machine technology
- The qualitative and quantitative capability of the equipment
- The scale of the investment
- Operating costs: labour, materials, maintenance and energy
Activities in the execution phase
- Design
- Manufacture
- Installation
- Trial operation
- Production control
Why this matters
Good maintenance cannot be complete if things went wrong at the beginning — in product design, plant layout, equipment selection, or production planning and control. Each of these can obstruct effective maintenance for the entire life of the asset.
Life Cycle Cost
LCC is every cost arising from the machine, direct or indirect, past or present — from design, development, manufacture, operation and maintenance through to support activities. LCC analysis is the systematic way of deciding what to buy, install or build so that the chosen option is genuinely the most economical.
- Step 1 — Understand the requirement and purpose Establish the true purpose of the purchase or installation before anything else.
- Step 2 — Generate the options Collect every option that genuinely satisfies that purpose.
- Step 3 — Calculate LCC for each option Across the whole life cycle, not just the purchase price.
- Step 4 — Evaluate and conclude Select the option that is cheapest across the life of the asset.
- Step 5 — Write the analysis report Record the assumptions and figures so they can be checked against reality once the machine runs.
Worked example: selecting a conveyor system
First, understand the real purpose: is the conveyor there to move material, or to control line balance? The two purposes lead to entirely different conveyor systems. Then generate the options that serve that purpose, and calculate the LCC of each — installation cost, the staff needed to run it, maintenance cost, service life and spare-parts prices. Finally, choose the system with the lowest life cycle cost.
| Cost element | Example items |
|---|---|
| Acquisition | Machine price, freight, installation, commissioning trials |
| Operation | Energy, operating labour, consumables |
| Maintenance | Spare parts, technician hours, service contracts, special tools |
| Loss | Expected downtime, start-up quality loss |
| End of life | Removal, disposal, residual value |