When production availability starts slipping, the instinct is often to add more maintenance tasks to the schedule. But what if the answer isn't doing more—it's doing the right things at the right time?
IPSEN Biopharm Ltd faced exactly this challenge at their Wrexham, UK facility. Reduced process availability was impacting their production line in Building 2, and they needed a smarter approach to maintenance planning. Enter Strategic Maintenance Solutions (SMS EU) and their data-driven methodology that would reshape how the facility thinks about asset reliability.
The team at IPSEN knew something had to change. Their production line was experiencing unplanned downtime, but the root causes weren't immediately obvious. Historical data showed patterns, but connecting those patterns to actionable maintenance strategies required a deeper dive into how and why equipment was failing.
Rather than applying generic maintenance schedules or simply increasing task frequency, IPSEN partnered with SMS EU to conduct a comprehensive production line assessment—one that would examine not just what was breaking, but why it mattered.
SMS EU applied Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) methodology, a systematic framework that flips traditional maintenance thinking on its head. Instead of asking "what maintenance does this asset need?" RCM asks "what functions does this asset perform, and what threatens those functions?"
Over 16 weeks, SMS consultants facilitated collaborative workshops every week, bringing together maintenance teams, production staff, and OEM specialists. This cross-functional approach was crucial—maintenance logs could show what failed, but operators knew the operational context that made those failures critical.
The team analyzed two years of downtime history, corrective work orders, and maintenance logs from SAP, combining hard data with the practical insights of people who worked with the equipment daily. They examined existing task frequencies, OEM recommendations, and statutory requirements to build a complete picture of maintenance needs versus maintenance reality.
The program delivered comprehensive outputs that went far beyond a revised maintenance calendar:
52-week PPM schedule fully integrated into SAP CMMS, with preventive and predictive tasks aligned to actual failure modes
105 new failure modes identified that weren't previously captured in maintenance planning
54 new task instructions and 43 new PPMs created specifically for the production line's needs
34 design improvement suggestions to eliminate failure modes at the source
11 best-practice procedures to prevent operational errors before they occur
27 additional critical spares added to inventory to reduce repair time
14 strategic actions for short and long-term maintenance process optimization
Perhaps most importantly, the team developed a completely revised asset register with proper hierarchy and criticality ratings—giving the maintenance organization a clear framework for prioritizing activities and resources.
Following implementation, the production line experienced improved equipment reliability and a measurable reduction in unplanned downtime. The maintenance team now operates with greater clarity about why they're performing specific tasks and what failure modes those tasks prevent.
This isn't just about having a better schedule—it's about creating an auditable trail from probable failure modes through to specific maintenance activities. When a task appears on the PPM schedule, everyone understands its purpose and its contribution to overall reliability.
The IPSEN engagement demonstrates what's possible when organizations move beyond reactive maintenance and even beyond traditional preventive approaches. RCM creates a function-focused maintenance strategy where every task has a clear justification tied to operational needs.
For enterprise asset management, this case study offers several key takeaways:
Cross-functional collaboration produces better results than siloed maintenance planning. Production staff and OEM specialists bring insights that maintenance data alone can't provide.
Historical data analysis must be combined with operational context. The numbers show what happened, but people explain why it matters.
Systematic methodology like RCM ensures maintenance activities align with actual asset needs rather than assumptions or industry defaults.
Continuous refinement matters. SMS continues supporting IPSEN because maintenance strategy isn't a one-time project—it evolves with the operation.
As IPSEN continues refining their maintenance approach with SMS support, they're building on a foundation of structured analysis and evidence-based decision making. The production line in Building 2 now operates with greater predictability and reliability—not because they're doing more maintenance, but because they're doing smarter maintenance.
For organizations struggling with equipment reliability, the message is clear: transformation doesn't require massive capital investment or complete system overhauls. Sometimes it requires stepping back, analyzing what's really happening, and building a maintenance strategy around actual failure modes rather than assumptions.
That's the power of getting maintenance strategy right.