DEVELOPMENT OF MATHEMATICAL MODELS FOR OPTIMAL PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE POLICY IN A STEEL INDUSTRY : SIX SIGMA APPROACH

This paper deals with a critical evaluation of the Preventive Maintenance system in steel industry. This study helps in implementing Six Sigma solutions to reduce the down time of two critical machines i.e., Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) and Billet Casting Machine (BCM). It is clear from the analysis of EAF and BCM respectively that, variations in output are quite possible because the machines output not only depend on maintenance time but also on several other variables. Further, the objective is to design a preventive maintenance programme on the same equipment situated in the plant using Six Sigma. The breakdown of these equipments could very well affect the production rate. For this, the mathematical models have been developed and these models are used to obtain the optimum preventive maintenance frequency for minimizing the down time and maximizing the profits.