Hotel Engeneering Notes-Importance of Maintenance Department in a Hotel

Importance of Maintenance Department in a Hotel

	For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

 

The age-old proverb goes: ‘A stitch in time saves nine’

Prevention is better than cure

Maintenance:       It is the total combination of actions taken on an entity (item / plant / equipment / machine), to retain or restore it to the required working level. The main objective of maintenance is to increase availability of plant and machinery to meet normal operating conditions and reduce system downtime.

Maintenance encompasses   i)Inspection, ii) Repair, iii) Minor modifications of equipment

Importance of Hotel Maintenance

Hotel maintenance is of utmost importance to ensure the following

a.                   To keep plant and machinery in proper working condition and reduce breakdown.

b.                   To make sure that the services from plant and machinery are smooth and uninterrupted.

c.                    All customers’ requirements are properly taken care of.

d.                   To obtain maximum return on investments incurred upon plant and machinery.

e.                    The safety of hotel guests / employees is assured.

f.                    The normal working life of equipments is extended.

g.                    The total system is ready to meet any emergent conditions.

h.                   The throughput / output of the entire system is enhanced thus increasing efficiency.

i.                     Wasteful expenditure incurred during breakdown is reduced.

j.                     Customer satisfaction is achieved by providing continuous services.

Duties and responsibilities of Maintenance Department

(Changing from FAIL and FIX approach to a PREDICT and PREVENT approach)

The care and operation of the physical assets (plant /equipment / machines) is largely the responsibility of the maintenance department. This would include Inspection, Maintenance, Engineering, Repair, Overhaul, Construction and Salvage of the complete plant system.

Preventive Maintenance

The simple question is often, “Why do we need to maintain things regularly?”

The answer is, “To keep things as reliable as possible.”

But the real question is, “How much change or wear has occurred since the last round of maintenance?”

Generally the answer is, “I do not know.” (Hence Predictive Maintenance)

MAINTENANCE
Planned Maintenance (Shutdown)				Unplanned Maintenance			Modification / Improvement
Preventive Maintenance			Corrective Maintenance	Emergency	Corrective	Breakdown
Scheduled / Periodic Maintenance	Self - Schedule	Condition Based / Predictive

Preventive Maintenance (PM) has the following meanings:

The care and servicing by personnel, for the purpose of maintaining equipment and facilities in satisfactory operating condition, by providing systematic inspection, detection and correction of incipient failures either before they occur or before they develop into major defects.

All Maintenance, including tests, measurements, adjustments and parts replacement performed specifically to prevent faults from occurring.

Preventive Maintenance is a combination of those actions as a result of which equipment will be expected to continue to perform the operation it is intended to do. It includes: Regular maintenance, oiling, cleaning and dusting.

Periodic Inspection (Identification of faults, wear and tear)

Preventive replacement before the equipment life.

Overhaul of equipment.

Breakdown Maintenance: This comes into play when there is a failure of equipment to perform and deliver to its expected capacity. The function involves the disassembling of the equipment, to locate fault, repair / replace the part, re-assembly, checking and testing for required performance.

Breakdown Maintenance needs heavy level of operator involvement. Thus the availability of skilled, trained and experienced operator / staff is to be ensured. They should be aware of the complexities of Breakdown Maintenance.

The cost of Breakdown Maintenance is very high, because it incurs direct cost of equipment part repair / replacement and also incurs indirect loss of output of plant / machinery.

Maintenance Engineering department works completely behind the scene.

All plant equipment and machinery installed in the hotel are required to deliver continuous normal output for the effective functioning of the hotel and customer satisfaction. For this purpose the maintenance of all these is imperative and it is a continuous on-going process. On the face of it, the customers’ rarely do need to interact with maintenance staff unlike front office, lobby, kitchen, reservation etc. But all these services are actually delivered based upon a strong and rigorous maintenance schedule of the items being used.

Periodic Maintenance: Time based maintenance consists of periodically inspecting, servicing and cleaning equipment and replacing parts to prevent sudden failures and process problems.

Contract Maintenance Departmental Maintenance (In-house)

Maintenance may be done by your own maintenance personnel or else the job may be off-loaded to an outside agency on contract basis. This will depend largely on facilities available in-house, trained staff, overall cost, availability of spares etc.

Contract Maintenance	Departmental Maintenance
No need to recruit trained personnel / staff Reduces labour cost Reduces cost of tools, spares, material. Uses latest techniques. Saves administrative time. Flexibility of meeting emergencies.	Involvement and ownership of staff. Multi-tasking, multi-skilled operation. Can focus more on Predictive Maintenance. Optimum utilization of man-power and machines.

 

Typical Organisation Chart of Maintenance Department

 

 

 

  

TYPICAL QUESTIONS

1.                   What are the objectives of Hotel Maintenance / Engineering Department?

2.                   Give the duties and responsibilities if Chief Engineer of maintenance dept. in the hotel industry?

3.                   Draw an organisation chart of maintenance department of a hotel.

4.                   Explain the difference between preventive maintenance and breakdown maintenance. Mention four activities undertaken under preventive maintenance.

5.                   Discuss how maintenance is related to other departments of a hotel.