Implementation efforts for software solutions have typically been performed with the goals of expedient implementation with a limited focus. The results have often been that the software is successfully loaded but the full benefits of the solution are not obtained because of a lack of integration between data sources and work processes. For example, when implementing an EAM, the preventive maintenance tasks have to be identified. Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) can be used to analyze equipment failure causes and to identify the best set of preventive and predictive tasks possible. These tasks are then loaded into the EAM and work orders are generated.
Failures still occur because the original analysis was not perfect and equipment performance changes. The failures get documented in the EAM and someone is asked to evaluate the effectiveness of the PM program. The typical result is that the evaluation is not effective because the list of predicted failure causes doesn’t match to the list of actual documented failure causes. A simple task for data integration would be to ensure that the failure cause list for the RCM analysis is the same list as used in the EAM when a work order is closed.
The problem arises when the RCM analyst wants to define the failure causes in great detail and the list of failure causes for the analysis becomes very long. The RCM analysis is typically documented in a separate database or in spreadsheets thus there is no direct link between these two data sources. The weakest link in this continuous improvement path is the manual data entry when work orders are closed. The shorter and simpler the list of failure causes, the greater the chance of collecting consistent data. With a consistent list between the RCM analysis and the work order close out process, the effectiveness evaluation can be easily performed.
Thus, the RCM analysis has to be performed with the goal of ensuring data collection, so a compromise has to be made. A less detailed failure cause must be used in the analysis to ensure that data collection can be consistently performed. And, the best results occur when there is one shared table of failure causes. Thus, it is important to select an RCM software package that integrates directly to the EAM. For more discussions on data integration attend the workshop at the SMRP conference October 6,entitled "Information Integration: The Next Generation of Maintenance and Reliability Tools"
Steve Shores
The DEI Group
sshores@dei-group.com
Originally published at the Manufacturer
Maintenance and asset optimization programs are about more than just shop floor operation reports Matt Bolch. When done properly, they can be shown to drastically improve the bottom line
J.M. Smucker Co. takes good care of its assets. That may be one of the reasons the Orrville, OH-based food manufacturer best known for its jams and jellies has been around for more than a century.
Still, company officials didn’t use the term “reliability” until a few years ago to describe how the company cared for and maintained its assets, says Chuck Armbruster, corporate reliability engineering manager. “As the company grew, we knew we couldn’t have each plant autonomous,” says Armbruster, who has been at the main Smucker plant for 15 years. “In order to leverage our strengths and purchasing, you have to look at the macro level.”
Two years ago, Smucker took over Crisco and Jif plants from Procter & Gamble, picking up more than product lines and factories. The company also adopted P&G’s operating philosophy that focuses on good maintenance practices. “We try to put good practices in place that by default save you money in the long run,” Armbruster says. That would include using preferred vendors who have demonstrated a commitment to quality and following good equipment installation practices to minimize vibration during commissioning projects.
Once equipment is up and running, operators take control of their areas of responsibility instead of merely running equipment. The Smucker Quality Management System (SQMS), based on P&G tenets, is being rolled out two plants at a time through the Smucker Co., which has 16 US plants. Armbruster says SQMS enjoys strong commitment from the company’s co-CEOs as well as from managers and frontline employees throughout the company.
When followed religiously, maintenance and asset optimization programs can be shown to reap significant rewards. Companies have found that maintenance represents from 15 percent to 40 percent of a product’s total cost and dollars saved in maintenance are a cost avoidance, says Terrence O’Hanlon, a certified maintenance and reliability professional at Reliabilityweb.com, an Internet resource for asset management.
“People are starting to take notice” of the importance of maintenance, says Terry Wireman, a senior industry analyst at GenesisSolutions, a professional services company focused on industrial asset optimization based in Ridgefield, Conn. “Many companies view maintenance as a cost center, failing to consider the impact maintenance has on their assets, which can mean fewer redundant assets and better returns.”
Because asset management isn’t taught at most business schools, Wireman says a company’s commitment to it can run hot or cold, depending on who’s in charge. But it does appear the tide is turning toward protecting one’s physical assets. GenesisSolutions looks at maintenance costs as a percentage of a facility’s estimated replacement value. A benchmark is to spend two percent of the asset’s value each year on maintenance. “We’ve seen some companies as high as five percent, but we see a lot of waste in it,” Wireman says.
Unlike many factory employees, a minimum number of maintenance employees should be employed despite product demand, a downturn in orders or other factors that could affect plant staffing, Wireman says. And once you find good maintenance workers work hard to keep them, the analyst adds.
Retirements have thinned the ranks of maintenance workers, and apprentice programs are lagging as younger workers find glitzier career paths to take. This occurs as equipment becomes more sophisticated, which requires better trained maintenance workers. As a result, maintenance costs are rising, Wireman says.
From a competitive standpoint, asset management also makes sense because a company that takes care of its equipment is more efficient, which can drive per-unit costs down while building profit margins, says O’Hanlon from Reliabilityweb.com.
For many companies, physical asset management represents the final frontier to wring efficiencies from the manufacturing process. The process ranges far beyond maintaining an asset, starting with its design, procurement, construction and installation, continuing with its maintenance until the asset is disposed of when its useful life is complete. “In the past, these functions were not always connected or viewed as a single process, but today, with competitive pressures increasing, companies are finding huge amounts of untapped productivity and profit can be had by actively managing physical assets,” O’Hanlon says.
Up to 65 percent of the operations and maintenance cost of a physical asset are designed from the start, O’Hanlon says, so getting input from maintenance and reliability experts prior to designing or procuring an asset is critical to keep overall maintenance costs low in relation to plant net asset value.
The Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals, based in Knoxville, Tenn., has been bringing maintenance people together for 12 years. Joe Petersen, the group’s business manager, says membership numbers have been stable. Members include such manufacturers as General Motors, Harley-Davidson and Alcoa, along with suppliers and consultants.
In fact, SMRP conferences in 2002 and 2003 set attendance records despite the down economy. Petersen says interest in the organization increases when manufacturing capacity gets squeezed, which is occurring now in many industries. “The savings [from asset management] come from increasing your capacity,” Petersen says. “If breakdowns cost five percent to seven percent of capacity utilization and you can improve that, you’ll get a sizeable gain.”
Since SMRP started its Certification for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals course, 900 people have taken the exam and 600 have passed. As reliability issues continue to move toward the forefront of a plant manager or CEO’s thinking, Petersen says the certification will take on increased importance.
Another issue that’s taking on increased importance is the nascent development of an International Standardization Organization standard on maintenance. While Petersen says that the United States and Australia lead the world in asset reliability, manufacturers must get involved in helping the ISO group set a standard they can live with. “Once again, if North American industry doesn’t get behind it, we may have standards dictated to us that may not be in our best interest,” Petersen says.