Comparative Analysis of Maintenance Models in Forest Machines

Abstract This study aimed to perform a comparative analysis between models of mechanical maintenance in forestry machines, subsidizing operational planning in order to reduce production costs. The work was conducted in a forestry company with feller bunchers, skidders and harvester machines. The comparative analysis included the Traditional Maintenance and the World Class Maintenance (WCM) models in the judgment of mechanical availability, hydraulic oil consumption and maintenance costs. Using the WCM maintenance model, the results showed a 5% increase in mechanical availability and a 60% reduction in hydraulic oil consumption. The maintenance cost increased by 3% in the WCM model due to an investment in infrastructure and the training of mechanics, but with the potential for better maintenance of forest machines, along with improvements in operational safety, production capacity and longer machine life.