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fixed asset software
MAINTEC 09 17-19 March, NEC
Operational Excellence in Manufacturing - delivering year-on-year performance improvement
Maintenance North West, conference, workshop, seminars and exhibition, Manchester (2009)
Conference Communication
Conference Communication has been trading for over 30 years and specialises in Industrial Maintenance Engineering and Asset Management, and organises Conferences and Workshops on these and related topics.
We publish Maintenance & Engineering (the bi-monthly magazine for maintenance professionals working in the Industrial, Commercial and Public Sectors). For twenty two years we published Maintenance & Asset Management (a subscription journal featuring more in-depth articles on maintenance management and related topics). From the January 2008 issue of Maintenance & Engineering the journal articles are incorporated into the magazine. John Harris, Editor of the journal for the past 23 years, is continuing to edit his articles. Maintenance & Engineering Magazine is the official media partner for easyFairs® MAINTEC 09 in the UK, with M&E producing the official MAINTEC Preview and the MAINTEC Exhibition Catalogue.
The combined magazine and journal are available in digital format and can be viewed by clicking on the links above. In addition, maintenanceonline.co.uk features the abstracts from every article published in the journal – copies of originals can be ordered from the site – and the site editorial pages feature articles of general interest to Maintenance and Engineering professionals.
We organised the first UK National Maintenance Engineering Conference in London in the early 1970’s and which, over the intervening years, evolved into the MAINTEC Exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. MAINTEC, the leading Maintenance & Asset Management event in the UK was acquired by easyFairs® UK in March 2007 and, as easyFairs® MAINTEC, has been incorporated into a pan-european network of maintenance events.
We also distribute Maintenance, Manufacturing, Engineering and Management books drawn from various technical publishers; our Recruitment section features technical and managerial opportunities within industry and commerce; and using our Site Directory you can search our database of companies who offer products and services to either the Industrial Maintenance sector and/or the broader Factory Equipment/Services sector.
Simply click on the above links for further information. However, if you have a specific enquiry, either use the site search facility to access information contained within the site, or use the Maintenance Forum to put your question to a wider audience. Adding Real Value To An Asset Management Contract | The Business IMPACT of Enterprise Asset Management | easyFairs MAINTEC 2008 Review | The case for more comprehensive data collection and how it might be achieved: Part 2 | TPM - The 'Pinch-Point Solution For lean Manufacturing' |
Adding Real Value To An Asset Management Contract
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Anstee and Ware Ltd |
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A recent initiative undertaken by the Westland’s site facilities maintenance department saw Anstee Ware appointed as a specialist facilities management partner.
This article looks at how the process grew from an initial continuous improvement study to the award of the contract and the benefits that have developed for both parties.
 Adding REAL VALUE to an ASSET MANAGEMENT contract
Westland Helicopters is a name that is synonymous with excellence in aircraft manufacture and today, as part of the £3 billion AgustaWestland multinational, its production and assembly plant in the heart of Yeovil, employs more than 3500 staff on a 200 acre site with a rich history that dates back almost a century. The operation includes the manufacture of strategic components, such as rotor blades and transmissions, along with the complete assembly of military helicopters.
Maintaining such a large site is the constant challenge and responsibility of Dave Wakely, the Site Facilities Maintenance Manager who leads a team of 3 supervisors and 25 maintenance engineers working 24/7 shift systems, 365 days a year. The department works tirelessly to maintain the entire site, which still includes pre-war buildings as well as state-of-art facilities, plant and equipment.
Around two years ago, as part of its continuous improvement programme, the department began a major study to review and analyse performance with the main objectives to look at ways of reducing costs and increasing efficiency.
One of the most interesting conclusions the study revealed was that whilst the department was performing well, around twenty percent of each maintenance supervisor’s time was not being efficiently managed due to unplanned pressures. This typically involved the handling of breakdowns where supervisors needed to interface with up to one hundred contractors each year for repairs, spare parts, call-outs, marshalling on-site visits and dealing with SLAs. Due to the complexity and diversity of these requirements, which had grown over the years to match advancing technologies, the supervisors had accrued unplanned projects outside of their core specialisation resulting in extra pressure being placed on scheduled and other key duties.
To resolve this situation, it was decided to investigate the appointment of an external specialist who would be given the autonomy to handle these miscellaneous tasks as part of an asset management service with the key objectives to reduce their occurrence and impact by introducing preventative maintenance techniques and systems.
A study identified that the specialist should provide on-site engineering personnel reporting directly to the Westland maintenance manager. Having on-site and ‘hands-on’ support was fundamental to relieving the pressure on the supervisors, who would then be able to complete their own core duties. It was estimated that the increased efficiency and predictability of a fixed cost contract would return an overall saving.
As the aim was to essentially predict the level and frequency of unplanned maintenance, the task of writing a contract was going to be very difficult. It was decided to scope a contract by inviting interested parties to a series of site tours and meetings over a six month period that progressively revealed the requirements from both Westland’s and the contractors points of view. During this time it also became apparent that several contractors would be required to provide support across all of the diverse areas required.
The process involved a two-way exchange of information that not only helped Westland’s to draw up the outline for new SLAs but also identified key performance factors that all parties were comfortable with, helping to simplify the tendering process.
The meetings and subsequent contractual agreements called for total honesty from both parties, and a no-threat philosophy from Westland’s with the gradual transfer of work to each contractor. Provision was also built-in to each agreement to closely monitor, and if necessary make adjustments to, the initial cost predictions during an initial twelve month period. Three year contracts with extensions to five years were awarded during 2007.
Although Anstee Ware had more than ten years experience working with Westland’s in numerous site maintenance support roles, the evaluation process helped to firm-up its understanding of the site infrastructure and support logistics that would be needed, as well as the methodology for working within the on-site security requirements.
There were other aspects of the evaluation process that were invaluable, including the provision of method statements, conducting risk assessments and even extending to a disaster recovery analysis. The exercise challenged and sharpened Anstee Ware’s management team. It provided a much better understanding of its own company abilities and gave confidence not just for the Westland’s business but also for other asset management projects in other industries. Westland’s could also draw on the company’s considerable asset management experience with other major industrial manufacturing and service organizations, including aerospace equipment manufacturers such as Rolls Royce at its Filton based assembly plant.
 Anstee Ware now provides maintenance and asset management services for the support, repair and calibration of manufacturing, inspection and servicing equipment over the entire Yeovil site. This extends to over five hundred items used for both flight-critical and non flight-critical applications such as tensile testing equipment, press machinery, weighbridge and weighing systems, machine tools, x-ray machinery, gas monitoring and thermal imaging equipment. Backed by asset management specialists at its Avonmouth headquarters, the company’s own IFS software handles maintenance scheduling and a detailed analysis for each project and item of equipment covered in the contract - including detailed monthly cost vs budget reports using Westland’s own SAP codes. IFS also includes a supplier evaluation and approvals system that tracks spare part costs and logs quotations against typical repairs for critical equipment. This allows works orders to be raised promptly in the event of breakdowns and relevant suppliers to be contacted and/or parts ordered without delay.
After the first twelve months of the contract, many of the benefits of the new system are emerging. Key performance indicators included improved cost controls and attaining predictable monthly expenditure, in addition to increasing the planned vs unplanned maintenance ratio. All these factors are being realised with Westland’s able to place orders against quoted prices for breakdown repairs before work commences, rather than have the situation where emergency work is completed before final costs are assessed.
Dave Wakely is more than pleased with results so far “After the first twelve months, we are seeing sizeable returns with Anstee Ware adding real value. After an initial time ‘in the tunnel’ we are now getting meaningful information from the IFS software that allows us to drive even more improvements through our preventive maintenance programme.”
Other added value experiences include departments that had previously carried out their own specialist equipment maintenance and breakdown repairs switching to using the contractor. An example is the Occupational Health department that had always handled its own calibration of medical equipment. As the confidence in the new set-up grew and they heard about the good work being carried out, they contacted the site facilities department and now all of their equipment calibration is managed in this way, enabling considerable cost and time savings to be achieved.
Another project involved the replacement of a troubled oil mist extraction system on a CNC mill used to machine both aluminium and carbon composite components for helicopter rotor blades. The existing system originally supplied with the machine several years earlier could not handle the switch between wet and dry machining, resulting in long downtimes that complicated production schedules. The contractor took the project over – troubleshooting, evaluating suppliers, recommending and helping oversee the installation of a new system that solved the problem.
As well as managing breakdown problems as they arise expertise is provided in solving ongoing problems, which can vary from machine re-designs, to sourcing replacement parts for obsolete equipment and making a contribution to PUWER audits. Anstee Ware has helped to find and appoint new contractors as part of its supplier evaluation exercises where levels of support have been found to be below standard, looks after the marshalling of visiting contractors in high security areas and contributes to H & S and security related training and induction schemes.
For some critical production and assembly machinery, condition monitoring has also been introduced using vibration measurement and thermal imaging techniques. Assistance is also being given with new capital equipment purchase by evaluating and recommending equipment from the maintenance and repair perspective.
Anstee Ware is continuing to provide its specialist asset management and maintenance services at the Westland site, developing its customer relationship with a true value-added service.
david.rausi@ansteeware.co.uk
“After an initial time ‘in the tunnel’ we are now getting meaningful information from the IFS software that allows us to drive even more improvements through our preventive maintenance programme.”
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The Business IMPACT of Enterprise Asset Management
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The Business IMPACT of Enterprise Asset Management
‘Maintenance & Engineering’ is pleased to announce it is collaborating with IBM and David Berger of Western Management Consultants (the author of our regular ‘Transatlantic View’ column) on the serialisation of IBM’s new book ‘The Business Impact of Enterprise Asset Management’. The book runs to seven chapters and in this first instalment we feature the foreword written by David and Chapter One – ‘The changing role of the plant engineer’.
A book of this nature allows you to zone in on specific measureable, realistic, and time-defined maintenance, repair and operation (MRO) goals that meet the demanding needs of your organization. Whether you are a VP of Operations, plant manager, facility supervisor, or shop floor professional, you reflect a basic industry trend: you are looking for data and a solution that can help you better align your specific activities with overall company goals and objectives. This book provides the guidance to meet many of these requirements by delivering a more holistic view of assets, along with the ability to execute according to specific asset management goals that are directly tied to operational performance.
For further information, visit www.eamresourcecenter.com
Foreword
We all have assets, at home and in our businesses. We have always had assets, but never quite so seemingly complex. Technology has become an integral part of our lives, enabling us to get products and services better, faster, cheaper. That’s the good news. But if you’ve been on this planet for more than a few years, you know that there are no free rides – something has to give.
I think you’ll find this book helps you sort out what the biggest trade-offs and challenges are in the world of asset management. As well, each chapter provides some practical solutions to consider, using Enterprise Asset Management software as an enabling tool. But most importantly, the book provides you with some answers to the “What’s in it for me?” question you will no doubt hear from key stakeholders across your company, as you try to get them excited about what Enterprise Asset Management can do for them, and vice versa.
Like many of you, I enjoy a challenge. This book covers all the key ones that may have a significant effect on Enterprise Asset Management. For example, we are witnessing the growing complexity and risk associated with increased automation, as our need for better integration of technology increases. In terms of human assets, we have to figure out how to more effectively transfer knowledge from the heads of an ageing workforce into the hands of the next generation. One of the most difficult opportunities presented in this book, but potentially the most lucrative, is the challenge to grow the bottom line through lower energy costs, reduced emissions, and so on, as regulatory pressures rise and the cries to save our planet intensify.
Roughly half of my career I’ve worked in industry, and half in consulting. One of the most satisfying accomplishments for me as an executive and a leader of people in industry, or as a consultant working with clients, is when the folks I work with experience an “Aha!”, that is to say, when they get it and their whole attitude and behaviour shifts dramatically. It’s when their face lights up and they are on a mission to make things better.
So as you read through this book ask yourself two questions. First of all, what can you do differently to better manage your assets, today and over the long-term. Secondly, what can you do to motivate, influence and convince others to behave differently. That’s what leadership is all about. And that’s what this book is about. Enjoy it.
Chapter 1
The changing role of the plant engineer
Taking over the new world …
If there is one lesson that IT has taught us in the last few years, it’s that nothing stands still. Not the world of business; not IT itself; and definitely not your job.
Not that long ago, science fiction writers used to make up stories about the horror of robots taking over the world. But if they tried that now, they’d be laughed off the shelves. No one would be frightened – because we’ve all seen it happening.
One recent survey1 showed that just over one third of all manufacturing plants in the US have at least 70 per cent automation and IT components on the plant floor. That figure is expected to increase to around 55 per cent of manufacturing plants in the next three years.
Another interesting statistic in the study was that the maintenance of those IT-enabled assets is no longer just the job of the IT staff. The majority of plant managers said the job belonged to IT, and to the maintenance staff. So in the new world we’re in, managing the assets is no longer just for the IT specialist.
The robots may be taking over the world – but we are taking over the robots.
1 Source: ‘Plant Engineering’ survey, November 2007
A whole new direction …
For the plant engineer, it’s a challenging prospect.
They’re used to change, of course – their role has always focused on making things, making them well.
There’s been a clear trend over the last few years for anything that doesn’t contribute to the manufacturing process – equipment or facility maintenance or energy management, to name a few – to be outsourced to other departments, or even other companies.
But today, managing IT-enabled equipment is a shared role between IT specialists and the plant engineers, and it demands people who have skills in both areas.
The statistics have been gathered in the US, but industry observers are convinced that they represent a global trend – and that it’s a trend which will continue. As the wider world of business becomes less hierarchical, plant managers are increasingly involved in discussions about new construction and plant expansion, about production scheduling and financial management. Finance departments are looking to them for tighter budgets and new efficiencies; they are becoming involved in the development of purchasing policy in every field related to the manufacturing process, from compressed air systems to IT components and software. They are full partners in the business enterprise.
It is this new relationship with the IT department that is most significant. In an area that was once the jealously-guarded preserve of the specialist, plant engi- neers are being called on to use their experience and knowledge of how the plant works to provide important insight in drawing up the specifications for new Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solutions.
Plant managers always had experience and expertise to offer, but now the vast majority of them have degrees – and nearly a quarter have an advanced degree as well. There is a whole new layer to their responsibility within the organisation: now they are seen as being responsible for cutting costs, improving performance, and driving efficiency.
New challenges …
That is good news both for the plant managers and for their companies – latest figures show their 2007 bonuses up by nearly 46 per cent from 2006, the second time in two years they have shown sharp increases. Obviously, that’s good for the plant managers – and good for the companies because it shows that their productivity goals are being met.
But it’s a competitive world, and a chilly economic climate. It’s not enough to improve over one year. You have to keep doing it. And that’s where the picture gets a little gloomier.
It’s not only the pwlant managers who have new roles and new responsibilities – their staff, too, have to adapt to the changing global business world. There are also new challenges to face throughout the company, as responsibility spreads downwards.
The trend in the manufacturing sector is towards sharing responsibility for predictive maintenance of assets between full-time maintenance staff and the operators of the machines in question. That’s the logic of increased IT-enabled equipment.
But at present, many firms – 40 per cent or more, according to one study1 – don’t even have a predictive maintenance program in development, let alone up and running. And what’s more, the IT functionality of many assets simply isn’t used to its full potential.
The plant manager’s own IT competence isn’t enough. To get the real benefits of the technology, he needs to be able to improve the level of training among the operators of the equipment and throughout the organisation. That’s where the extra cost savings and the efficiency improvements, that he is being asked to produce, are to be found.
The technological solution …
Technology isn’t the problem – it’s the answer.
The pace of competition means that assets are being run more aggressively, with less room for forgiveness, and in an unpredictable regulatory environment. Increased automation throughout the asset management process has the potential to free the plant engineer and his whole department. New developments such as wireless sensors and activators – “smart dust” technology – will eventually load sensors, power supply, Circuitry, and microprocessors onto a mote the size of a speck of dust, and the growth of broadband and VoIP technology will revolutionise management and maintenance of sophisticated manufacturing equipment.
Handheld devices, rugged PCs, automated data entry, and satellite tracking systems mean that both fixed and mobile assets can be monitored, tracked, and maintained from a single computer platform.
These technologies aren’t only being used in the manufacturing of hard goods either. In pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, food and retail industries, these technologies are finding acceptance. They are driving productivity gains at every stage of the enterprise, from procurement of raw materials to delivery of finished goods.
Taking control of the revolution …
Globalisation; new technology; soaring energy prices – the pressures on global manufacturers is intense, and the result has been nothing short of a revolution. It’s almost impossible to remember what life was like in the simpler days of only a few years ago.
But any historian knows that it is impossible to take control of a revolution in full flood. This time, with the available technology and the experienced plant engineers to drive it, it might just be different.
1. Source: 'Plant Engineering' survey, November 2007
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easyFairs MAINTEC 2008 Review
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easyFairs MAINTEC |
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easyFairs® MAINTEC 2008 REVIEW
For the first time easyFairs®MAINTEC 2008 (11-13 March) was co-located alongside easyFairs®SOLIDS - the UK’s only show dedicated to the solids processing, handling and storage sector – and the Industrial Environment Forum.
MAINTEC attracted 150 exhibitors and 1,873 people – a 10% increase in visitor numbers, and when the crossover from the other two events is included the total attendance was 2139.
Peter Heath, Managing Director of easyFairs® UK Ltd, commented: “easyFairs® has many years’ experience in delivering effective, fascinating trade shows and easyFairs® MAINTEC 2008 has been a great success - a 10 per cent year-on-year rise in visitor numbers is very creditable given the testing economic climate.”
MAINTEC has acted as a hotbed for innovation in the fields of condition monitoring and hazard prediction technology for more than three decades and what better way to start our review of some of the highlights of this year’s show than a glowing endorsement of its’ success.
One visitor, Doug Ovenden from NDO Consultants, said: “The co-hosting made perfect sense because there’s a lot of synergy between exhibitors…and the new section dedicated to environmental aspects is a great asset as products helping factories adhere to ‘green’ legislation are going to become increasingly important.”
Another, Mark Weaver from electrical engineers Quartzelec – formerly Cegelec Ltd – was impressed with the programme of educational seminars. He added: “There was a real wealth of knowledge and experience at the seminars – normally you’d expect to pay to access such expert advice so these free debates were a show highlight for me.”
Exhibitors were equally enthusiastic.
PCB Piezotronics Ltd was a second-time exhibitor at easyFairs® MAINTEC. MD Graham Turgoose, said: “We came to showcase our sensors and instrumentation for industrial process monitoring. There were lots of visitors from big name companies on our target list present here. easyFairs® MAINTEC is the best show at which we have exhibited in the United Kingdom.” Email info@pcbpiezotronics.co.uk
And MAINTEC regular Midland Group Training Services (MGTS) has already booked a place at next year’s exhibition. Sales staff from the independent engineering training provider from Coventry, spoke to more than 55 interested companies about its courses.
This year MGTS focussed on maintenance engineering skills assessment and development tools and programmes. They also reported healthy interest in their apprenticeships as well as Mechanical to Electrical assessment and training courses and the 17th Edition Wiring Regulations training and qualification. Commercial Manager, Bob Dunn said: “We expect to identify a good number of business opportunities from the discussions held with the visitors seen.” Email dunn@mgts.co.uk
Training
The whole area of training was strongly represented by many exhibitors either as a stand alone service or an integrated dimension of a wider solution. A good example of the latter would be the Reliability Training Institute (RTI) offered by Reliability Maintenance Solutions Ltd (RMS). As the UK’s training organisation for the respected Mobius iLearn methodology covering Vibration Analysis, the RTI offers self pace training, mentored training, public or in-house live courses, as well as corporate –wide training via your Learning Management System.
Not only are the Basic, Intermediate and Advanced levels of training a fresh and interactive way to learn and retain valuable knowledge, they also follow the ISO 18436-2 standard and the ASNT SNT-TC-1a Recommended Practice. Email info@rms-reliability.com
The increasing interest in growing your own skilled personnel is something recognised by IPS International, one of the UK’s leading training providers of training and consultancies nationwide. As a Centre of Vocational Excellence in Advanced Maintenance Engineering, the company offers a flexible yet structured approach that covers initial analysis through to full training delivery and support in implementing the actions required to sustain long-term benefits. Where IPS takes things one step further is in working with clients to identify and attract the right apprentice for the job in the first place. Email donmacdonald@ips-international.com
The West Anglia Training Association (WATA) was demonstrating its comprehensive range of nationally accredited training courses and NVQ assessments. Covering key areas of interest including Health & Safety, Environmental, Leadership & Management, Quality Assurance, Youth Training and specific technical skills, WATA’s training is accredited by NEBOSH, IOSH, CIEH, and IEMA amongst others. WATA is also increasingly being approached by employers keen to maximise the possibilities made available by apprenticeships. Recognising that valuable skills are often in poor supply, WATA can work with companies looking to “grow their own” skilled specialists. Email info@wata.co.uk
MAINTEC newcomer, Imorph, take a different approach again when it comes to training. Recognising that much expert knowledge already exists within many companies, Imorph has developed what it calls “Activebrain Methodologies” which comprise differing approaches to helping disseminate knowledge throughout the company. A key component is providing training to key workers with expert skill levels so that they can then train others around them. At the heart of this is a recognition that different people learn in different ways so Imorph offers a highly personalised level of training in order to help deliver the best results. Email info@imorph.co.uk
Just a brief look at some of the other new companies who were exhibiting in 2008.
The AwareManager™ operations management software from Aware Technology International (ati) provides information solutions for some of the world’s largest buildings and most prestigious organisations, including world famous sports teams (eg Arsenal Football Club), towering skyscrapers (eg Hines Property Developers) and renowned events, institutions & facilities (eg the US Open Tennis Championships & the Super Bowl). Email info@awareti.com
J&P Group, based in Chester, provide engineering and management services. Their Engineering Services Divn offers an extensive range of both general and specialist engineering services from Calibration and Alignment to Manufacturing of Machine Parts to Process Line Maintenance & Service, and many more. Other divisions specialise in Supply Chain Management, Facilities Management, Asset Management, Procurement and Consultancy. Email info@jandpgroup.com
The TechAlert™ 10 real-time, on-line, wear debris detection sensor from Macom Technologies Ltd, a leading developer of condition monitoring systems, enabled the early detection of bearing and gearbox wear on wind turbines operated by Airtricity, where daily monitoring of systems is often an impractical solution. By establishing a benchmark trend for typical wear debris on a test gearbox and then monitoring operational gearboxes online, any increase in the levels of wear debris particles can be detected. Email info@macom.co.uk
If you have a requirement for ‘On-Site Machining’ then look no further than Nicol & Andrew Plc. With over 50 years worldwide experience the company’s On-Site Machining service is well equipped to help industry with fast, cost-effective repairs to all types of capital plant – drilling & reaming, flange facing, grinding & honing, journal machining, in-situ electroplating, line boring, milling and stud drilling. The company carries ISO 9001 2000 and Lloyds approval. Email repairs@nicolandandrew.com
Together with some of MAINTEC’s regulars.
When it comes to obtaining information that may be difficult to access the increasing prevalence of remote monitoring via GPRS and the Internet continues to offer revolutionary levels of results delivery. While some M2M solution providers continue to offer proprietary technology, Apollo Connect has gone down the true web-enabled route. With no need for costly licences or bespoke controls, Apollo Connect’s strength lies in its fully tailored approach, which means that whether you’re needing a single meter or machine monitoring in a remote location or multiple devices over a widely dispersed area, you only get - and pay for - exactly what you need. Email m2m@apolloconnect.co.uk
Aucotec Ltd were showing their Engineering Base software, an easy to use and powerful solution for electrical engineering design that is ideal for factory, machine, process plant electrical design and maintenance applications. It is based around familiar Microsoft products such as Visio and SQL Data Server, which makes new designs or documenting maintenanc e changes extremely simple without the usual expertise or training required for a CAD system. Email mah@aucotec.com
Think you can’t afford 640 x 480 resolution? Think again. Eurotron Instruments introduced their HotShot HD series high performance infrared cameras, which integrate state-of-the-art IR imaging technology, incorporate a new dual laser hot spot highlighter and include software functionality - RouteIR™ and ReportIR - created to address the demands of heavy duty IR camera users. Email moltrasio@eurotronuk.com
Jacob UK Ltd mass produce a range of thin-wall, full welded modular steel pipework and ducting components for air-conveying, extract lines or gravity chutes. Normally delivered from stock. 19 standard diameters are available from 60mm to 800mm in a choice of 1, 2 or 3mm thick primed, galvanised or stainless steel. A wide range of accessories complements the pipework – inspection doors, visualisation ducts, product-control and air-control valves & diverters are press formed to high tolerances. Email sales@jacob-uk.com.
With a portfolio of products from manufacturers such as IMC Measurement Systems, Sony, NEC San-ei and Dali-Tech, Metrum is a leading British provider of solutions for Thermography, Data Acquisition and Analysis. A full after sales support package is available on all products, including calibration, service and repair, which fully meets the company’s strict quality standards.
Nord-Lock is a unique bolt securing system that does not use traditional techniques to secure the fastener and yet it is a safe locking system. This proven wedge-locking method meets DIN 25201 and utilises tension instead of friction to secure a bolted joint, making it superior to traditional methods. They are the ideal solution to anyone wanting to combat loosening through vibration or dynamic load. Email enquiries@nord-lock.co.uk
Infra-red thermal imaging and industrial instrument specialist, Radir, exhibited the full range of Fluke IR cameras, Raytek sensors and the Ircom (fixed process imager) range – unique in the UK and Ireland. New for 2008, Radir is offering IR camera calibration (a quick turnaround UK service), the supply of IR calibration systems for any make of camera and the brand new web-based option of the proven wireless data logging system. Email maint@radir.com
Being placed in a sealed unit with temperatures in excess of 450oC would also classify as both remote and inhospitable. Which is why in the world of gas turbine high temperature accelerometers, the new PZEHT from Sensonics is somewhat unique in that it offers ICP type connectivity by separating the high temperature element from the signal conditioning electronics, connecting by means of a hardline cable. Robust and hermetically sealed the unique feature of this product is the built-in calibration function which offers a full mechanical check of the piezoelectric arrangement. In doing so, it offers an evolution for accelerometers with the ability to confirm calibration in situ. Email sales@sensonics.co.uk
A ground-breaking, browser-based CMMS was revealed by Shire Systems. Called Pirana, it sets fresh benchmarks for performance and ease of use at a new industry-low price-point. Alex Thompson, Pirana Project Manager, explained, “Pirana was born out of the wish-lists of maintenance professionals and only the features they rated as vital have been included. Shire have added its quarter century of FrontLine maintenance software development expertise to deliver a sleek and singularly affordable CMMS vehicle.” Email paul.dean@shiresystems.co.uk
Testo showcased its new 880 thermal imager and also announced that Andy McGrath, formerly Sales Manager at international consultancy, test & research organisation, BSRIA, has joined the company to spearhead its drive into the thermal imaging market. Of his new appointment McGrath commented: “Every day someone comes up with another application for thermal imaging. It is an expanding and highly competitive sector and that is why I decided to accept the challenge of taking Testo forward into this market.” Email info@testo.co.uk
A range of wireless remote monitoring and control devices were showcased by T-Mac Technologies Ltd. These devices enable site and facilities managers to remotely monitor, manage and diagnose machine performance, processes and energy consumption over the internet via a single PC. By managing equipment from multiple sites, worldwide over the internet, GPRS enabled monitoring and control solutions like t-mac are assisting business with proactive maintenance-ability to maintain and diagnose equipment remotely. Email lisa.wilkinson@t-mac.co.uk
Exciting MAINTEC show future
easyFairs® plan to extend MAINTEC’s reach and appeal in 2009, whilst remaining faithful to traditions that have been the show’s cornerstone since 1975. Next year’s event – scheduled for March 18-19 – is set to feature a wider range of plant and factory equipment, introduce industrial premises and facilities maintenance, and address environmental issues of specific interest to MAINTEC visitors.
easyFairs® is especially keen to expand the show’s ‘green’ credentials by showcasing relevant eco-technologies, energy efficient products, energy monitoring instruments, and factory health and safety developments.
Peter Heath said: “Our research indicates that today’s maintenance professionals often wear more than one hat. As organisations slim down their headcounts, these professionals carry heavier burdens and need to find a broader range of reliable, innovative suppliers of technology and outsource services. We need to move with the times to ensure the show concept remains compelling for MAINTEC’s visitor audience. This move will create an even better event for senior and operational decision makers. The focus for easyFairs® MAINTEC 2009 will still be principally on condition monitoring and predictive maintenance technologies – and we feel embracing other related businesses will enable exhibitors to reach a much broader cross-section of relevant professionals.”
easyFairs® commitment, investment and understanding of the maintenance market is evident in its portfolio of events across Europe, many of which take place in the Continent’s industrial heartlands.
They include next month’s (9-10 April) easyFairs® EUROMAINTENANCE expo in Brussels – a highly prestigious event which runs alongside a key conference of the same name – easyFairs® INSTANDHALTUNG OST (26-28 June) in Chemnitz, Germany, and other maintenance shows in Lyon, Zurich and Dortmund.
Heath again; I’m extremely excited about the future of easyFairs® MAINTEC and am confident the show will continue to go from strength to strength.”
Make a note in your diary today:
easyFairs®
MAINTEC 2009
18/19 March NEC Birmingham
The exhibition floorplan is now available and anyone interested in booking a stand should contact Joao Costa on +44 (0)20 8622 4467 or email joao.costa@easyFairs.com
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The case for more comprehensive data collection and how it might be achieved: Part 2
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The case for more comprehensive
data collection and how it might be achieved: Part 2
David Sherwin
Former Professor of Terotechnology, Lund and Växjö Universities, Sweden, now retired
Abstract
This paper is about possible methods for the practical application of Terotechnology. It is explained that data analysis is prerequisite to formulating, and later updating, optimal maintenance and plant renewal policies. The nature of optimal maintenance policies in the context of the Life Cycle Profit (LCP) method of Hans Ahlmann is discussed, as are the requirements for applying this method, the most important of which are (i) a better database than most managers of companies are used to, and (ii) better software to analyse the data. It is explained that, for productive systems, the long-term costs involved in data collection to permit full realisation of LCP are unlikely to exceed the long-term benefits of a management policy based upon Total Quality Manufacturing and LCP rather than Management by Objectives and Reliability Centred Maintenance, this being particularly so if data requirements for the firm are integrated.
In the first part of this paper (in the previous issue) the author explained why he believes that management science has failed to integrate or deal optimally with the maintenance function and discussed the need for, and availability of, statistical modelling aimed at the optimisation of maintenance policy. In this second and concluding part he offers a detailed critique of combined systems of overall management and maintenance optimisation and explains why he believes that there is a strong case for comprehensive data collection.
Keywords: LCP, LCC, Database, IT, Integration of business functions, Terotechnology
A CRITIQUE OF COMBINED SYSTEMS OF MANAGEMENT AND OPTIMISATION
TQM and LCP versus MBO and RCM
A straw poll of large companies and government departments in Britain, the rest of Europe, the USA and Australia suggested that in all areas except Northern Europe, maintenance was more often than not conducted using Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) against an overall management system based on Management by Objectives (MB). In Scandinavia, and to a lesser extent Germany and the Netherlands, a real effort had been made to manage according to Total Quality Management (TQM) principles using the Life-cycle Profit (LCP) method for keeping score and optimising functions including maintenance. Against those who contend that these four acronyms, three letter abbreviations (TLAs) or trigrams are not incompatible, I offer the following insights.
MBO and TQM are basically incompatible. Comparing their fundamental characteristics, as in Table 1 demonstrates succinctly that their philosophies are opposed to one another. Companies from Britain to Australia via the USA have developed corporate schizophrenia attempting to reconcile them.
Table 1. Characteristics of TQM and MBO
Nor is it possible to combine LCP and RCM successfully, unless RCM is modified so extensively that it morphs into that part of terotechnology directly concerned with maintenance [see Ref 1]. This is because RCM is unfriendly to the data collection that is necessary for proper calculation of individual and combined optimisations and friendly to MBO. It contains some wrong models that do not represent the real situation to be optimised, the principal error being misinterpretation of the theory of system reliability and availability.
It is true that data collection at parts level is not essential for calculating life-cycle costs and profits, but the data are needed to analyse the causes of falling short of expectations and so to get directly to effective improvements. Without data one has to rely upon anecdotal evidence and trial and error solutions, which, because of the inevitable delays, will usually waste more money than could possibly be spent on data collection, even in the most comprehensive IT system.
Under MBO, each department ruthlessly pursues its own internal targets with little regard for the plight of other departments. Unless the coordination of objectives is done exceptionally well, managers find they are competing with one another rather than their true opponents in other companies. Their optimisations will be compartmentalised also. Why, for example, should a maintenance manager under MBO consider costs and benefits outside his own budget? If his objective is to minimise costs to his own departmental budget, he will not include downtime costs in his optimisation calculations, even if he has the data needed to do so.
Six-Sigma and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)
Six-Sigma is an over-simplified version of TQM, with an unjustified emphasis on one questionable idea. If a company has already been through a Deming-style Quality Improvement Programme, Six-Sigma may even set it back a bit. It also lacks economic focus; it is possible to improve quality but lose the market through costly, unnecessary precision. The technique that gives it its name confuses drift with precision (but that is for another paper). The silly ‘martial arts’ terminology is not conducive to the calm cooperative aegis necessary for real progress under the TQM banner. I really do not like it at all; a less critical and more extended view has been put forward by Magnusson et al2. TPM is partly an extension of TQM principles to the maintenance function, so it does fit with Six-Sigma fairly well. The rest of it attempts life cycle costs and profits (LCC/P) optimisation via a drive for cost effectiveness.
The Balanced Scorecard, TPM and LCP
Kaplan and Norton’s Balanced Scorecard (BSC) approach3, for all its magnificent diagrams, still leaves the student with few ideas about how to balance the scorecard economically, i.e. how much time and money to expend on each aspect to achieve the best long-term outcomes. This is because its literature does not attempt to model the effects of these aspects upon one another. These effects may be very difficult to model; some are psychological effects and others obviously very complex, but even a partial analysis is usually better than none at all, and better data will eventually lead to better understanding (see Figure 1) and so to better mathematical models by means of feedback or Deming’s ‘Plan-Do-Check-Act’ (PDCA) loops.
TPM, and particularly Al-Najjar’s TQMain4, come closer than RCM and MBO to what is needed. Indeed they form stepping-stones on the difficult path towards a full LCP system. In TPM the factors themselves require further breakdown, which TQMain provides. Al-Najjar’s concept is that any of the many factors can be regarded as the pivot for the others. In fact all the factors are important and none much more than any other. This is also the theme of the BSC and we have no quarrel with the aims of either. But whereas Al-Najjar’s analysis and model can be expanded to a full mathematical model, including all the factors, the BSC reverts to a subjective points table.
BSC, however, does advocate use of the PDCA loop in all aspects of implementation, and Kaplan and Norton mention more than once that the basis of decision-making should be the analysis of good data. Nevertheless, the required detail is missing, without which this is just another way of approaching what is really needed without ever catching up. Advocates would perhaps argue that details are necessarily unique to situations, but surely some guidelines are needed if it is to be taken seriously.
Figure 2 shows the PDCA loop with progress reported to the BSC in the middle so that control can be devised and applied. BSC includes questioning the means used to achieve ends; it advises review of underlying assumptions and then of both aims and means if progress is too slow. Kaplan and Norton imply that without the BSC, companies have no idea where they are going wrong, which is surely not the case. It is essential to be able to measure progress objectively. If you cannot measure it you cannot manage it. Lord Kelvin said much the same 120 years ago. I would beg to add that if you cannot model it, you cannot optimise it.
Kaplan and Norton also warn against losing financial perspective, and criticise TQM-based systems for saying that if you do the right things, the finances will come into line by themselves. This is to miss the point of TQM-based terotechnology and its insistence on LCC/P as the criterion of success. BSC provides some but not all of the means for implementing the terotechnological dream, (of total control through perfect knowledge of the relationships between factors), in that it provides a way of judging achievement and progress.
BSC is not incompatible with terotechnology except where it fails to relate achievements in training and other indirect investments back to the bottom line. Kaplan and Norton may be right, though, when they say that this is not really possible; but terotechnology says that one should measure the certain gains nevertheless. Kaplan and Norton do not prescribe any metrics; they leave that to the implementing company. And neither do they dictate what weighting should be given to the four aspects, Financial, Customer, Internal Operational, and Learning. Above all, they say, if it is not working then find out why and adjust your strategy and targets. They do NOT say, as Deming does, not to blame junior people for the failure of the management’s system. Like TQM they advise application to Strategic Business Units, often corresponding to individual factories, not whole corporations.
Terotechnology, cost reduction, short-termism and Just-in-Time manufacture
Terotechnology would actually advise funding development in one flagging company division out of profits elsewhere, making it essential to expand modelling and calculation beyond the local and the present. This is perfectly reasonable and drug companies, for example, do it all the time. Viagra was developed using profits from stomach potions and is manufactured by a different division, but each in turn was the cash cow. The drugs industry is forced by patent expiries and public opinion to do this, but other industries often rely on outdated products made on old machinery until it is too late to modernise and develop new products. Most of all, terotechnology opposes the current craze for downsizing and cost reduction for its own sake.
Under terotechnology, we ideally wish to trace the effects of all factors upon all outcomes, particularly upon present profits and future security. This is partly because, as Hans Ahlmann pointed out at the 2002 IFRIM conference in Sweden, value to the customer and internal efficiency must be traded off5. Figure 3 is from this paper and shows how the Total Effectiveness is best increased by paying attention to both internal and external factors.
For example, compare the original BMC mini and VW beetle (or bug) motorcars. The buyers loved the mini but profits were low or negative throughout its production. The mini’s total numbers made were high but still an order of magnitude fewer than the VW because of low internal efficiency at the factories and lower reliability and durability than the beetle. The author had a mini in which the gearbox was unacceptably noisy from birth and hard to change (in all three senses!).
An investigation by Birmingham University Master’s students in Q and R in 1984 revealed that the gears were hobbed on machines supplied more than forty years before, for war production (they had broad arrows on them!). Assembly of gearboxes was by trial and error; if one pairing would not go together another was tried, and so on until the box was both complete and would rotate in all gears; there was no other testing. Statistical analysis of measurements gathered by the students showed that the machines were incapable of meeting the tolerances, so that this policy would result in about 2% of unacceptably loose boxes. The author had to quote these results to get new gears, so others must have suffered and possibly bought a VW next time around. That was a quality problem, but there were also problems of detailed design, such as blowing hot oily air through the radiator and over the left hand front tyre, that were never corrected on grounds of (probably false) economy.
What a waste of a brilliant basic design! Even very good marketing could not realise its true potential in the face of quality, reliability, durability, servicing and delivery failings. Without detailed and complete data on all relevant factors in design, production and marketing, it will never be possible to model the connections between them. For instance, unless we document the effect, on retention of key personnel, of reducing expenditure on employee comfort, we can never discover an approximate equation to link them to profits, and the ‘savings’ proposed by the MBAs will be passed without effective protest. (The author left a reputable firm of consultants, who had just promoted him for generating fees six times his salary, simply because they would do nothing to improve the comfort, cleanliness and noise in the office.)
Just-in Time (JIT)
Like Six-Sigma, JIT was accepted by industry without sufficient deep thought about its consequences. In particular, for lack of good data the assertion that JIT would improve productivity went unchallenged.
Old-style manufacturing had buffer stores between stages. JIT eliminates these by insisting that nothing is made until needed. This makes it rather inimical to maintenance if utilisation is to be high. The only way a fully utilised machine can be maintained is by having a standby machine to take over. This is frequently more expensive than the holding costs of a sufficient buffer stock. The literature of JIT hardly touches on this. But this obvious potential problem is familiar also to managers and maintainers of process plant. In both types of plant, maufacturing and processing, the tendency is for capital cost and rated output to be higher with each successive generation of equipment, so that redundancy and breakdown become simultaneously unacceptable from a profit viewpoint.
The acquisition cost of process plant for a given purpose is roughly proportional to the surface area of the steelwork, whereas the throughput varies roughly as the enclosed volume. This gives rise to a two-thirds power law between initial cost and maximum output rate, viz.
However, as scale is increased, eventually new technology must be used for the moving machinery and there is a fall in reliability, availability and system effectiveness, which may be so large as to make a system of duplicated half-size machines with crossovers preferable.
In the manufacturing of discrete objects, JIT has in some instances merely shifted the buffer stores from the main works to those of the parts suppliers by applying stringent sanctions for deliveries outside time limits. Where several models use the same machinery at different times, rapid tool changing is essentia,l and because the productiveness requirement increases at the expense of time for maintenance, the reliability must be improved, usually through TPM, including the parlour factory and operator involvement aspects thereof.
JIT also generally involves flexible manufacturing machines and facilities for rapid tool changing, which also tend to increase unit costs. Unless the redundant machines can be owned for less than a single machine plus the holding cost of enough product to cover the worst repair of a single machine, duplication is not worthwhile. If the redundancy is only partial, as often occurs in plant that has had its output increased by de-bottlenecking, the calculation is more complicated and involves the unit availabilities.
One might imagine that nowadays companies would calculate all this and simulate it where calculation was not possible. Some do try, but without the basic part failure parameter values, GIGO applies. Parameter values can only be obtained from data collected for the previous model, adjusted for the application of the lessons learned.
The electric power and compressed air supplies for the North Sea Brent field oil platforms turned out to be inadequate, and so valuable gas, enough to supply Birmingham in winter, was wasted. The compressors were changed, but there was no room to fit a fifth Avon+ generator on each platform. (Why does nobody ever mend air leaks!?) The author advised fitting a ring main round the four platforms to minimise the motor-driven gas compressor downtime due to lack of power. In manufacturing, a major tobacco company developed high-speed, highly automated, machinery for making and packing cigarettes, which was never reliable enough to repay the enormous investment.
In both the above cases the reliability studies were sketchy and used inaccurate data. In particular, they did not accommodate the concept of common services like power, cooling water and compressed air. Modelling has improved since these studies but data quality has not. Wishful thinking has given such modelling a bad name.
DATA COLLECTION
The Case for Data Collection
The case for the collection of comprehensive data regarding the operation, maintenance and repair of assets used in the manufacturing and process industries has mostly been made in the preceding paragraphs. To summarise, terotechnological progress depends upon the analysis and proper use of data at parts level to construct accurate mathematical models of system behaviour so that we can improve the productiveness and economy of present and future systems by fact-based evolution. It has not been shown, so far, that the proposed exercise is either fully possible or worthwhile. That is a ‘Catch 22’ question. It is impossible to prove conclusively either way without trying it. However, there is much anecdotal evidence that improved information leads to improved decisions and vice versa. The mathematical theory of Information Content (IC) also suggests that that is so.
Statistical IC is related to expected error through the variance-covariance matrix of the factors involved. A model formed from estimates of parameters derived from inaccurate, incomplete, misconceived or uncertain data will fail, when applied, to predict future performance sufficiently accurately to be useful because of high variances and covariances. Indeed, the whole model may be wrong, not just the estimated parameter values, because the causes of failure have been misunderstood.
To overcome this last problem, it is necessary to be very sure about our understanding of the basic statistics of cost and failure, the most common error being to assume that the constant rate of occurrence of failures (ROCOF) of a complex item of many fallible components is immutable, when in fact it is malleable under maintenance. Even this simple concept, which is easily simulated, cannot be demonstrated in a particular real case without comprehensive parts data.
The most cogent reason for collecting data and analysing performance is the ammunition it generates for insisting that the next generation of equipment can and must be better. Companies that have tried working with their suppliers through sharing technical and statistical analyses of data have found them most amenable. At the very least it indicates which suppliers should be avoided in future. Similarly, data about one’s products guides the design improvement process. Taken together, these two aspects of data collection improve both the performance and the stability of the company in a way that simplistic cost reduction and returning to so-called core competencies never can.
Data form the working fluid of all the managerial feedback control systems. Simulations by the author suggest that age-based opportunity maintenance can be combined with condition-based maintenance to make considerable savings over a fixed PM schedule. These simulations assumed that the statistical failure parameters of the parts were known. It is likely that even more spectacular savings would result in a real case if the data generated were used in Bayesian models to adjust the scheduled intervals for renewal and inspection of parts.
It may be that there is an economic limit to the complexity and detail of data collection, even after the time saved by a more ‘joined up’ approach and the elimination of inaccuracies are included in the calculations, but that limit has surely not yet been reached and is likely to be stretched by improvements to computers and IT.
The aircraft and aero engine industries illustrate that better data leads to quicker and more certain temporary solutions and continuous design development. It is ironic that the advocates of RCM claim this industry as their own while simultaneously denying the efficacy of more detailed and better-utilised data1.
How can better data collection be achieved economically?
The usual objection to comprehensive data collection is its cost. In a typical large company or in a fighting service, each department is already collecting data; they must do so to retain primary and financial control of operations. Many of these data files are inaccurate and partially duplicated. This leads to a great deal of wasted time. It is too often necessary to use several sources to compile a file for a particular exercise, because discrepancies must be resolved before any useful work can start. This can take weeks, as the author discovered when trying to perform, against his better judgement, an RCM analysis of a small offshore oil platform. Four separate computer systems had to be consulted, viz. Operations for the running times, Maintenance for the downtimes and labour costs, Stores for the spare gear details, and yet another system to get the real cost of the downtime in terms of deferred output. All we wanted to do was put it all in one spreadsheet, but two months later we were still trying to match stores to jobs and deferred output to specific failures. The records were incomplete because of carelessness, and did not align because each department had specified the inputs from its own selfish viewpoint. Higher management did not sort it out because all they wanted were the post facto summaries for which each data system was exclusively and selfishly designed.
In another plant, higher management actually threw away potentially valuable data once the executive summaries had been extracted. Middle managers were then told to fix things without the benefit of the discarded data, analysis of which would have guided them to a better solution. So they just fudged the data for the next summary. Decision quality deteriorated along with morale.
Under an improved system, the productiveness-cum-LCP model would have been constructed before the plant was built, using parameter values derived from those of the previous similar plant, modified for the expected effects of improvements. The data would have all been in one comprehensive system, meeting the needs of all departments as well as higher management. The system would save money by eliminating duplication and the time it wastes. All data would be recorded just once and training would emphasise the importance of data accuracy and completeness. Experience suggests that if data are only recorded once, the response from the recorders is much better, especially if they can see that the data are being properly analysed and used to make sensible decisions that make their lives easier.
CONCLUSIONS
1. There is a strong case for comprehensive data collection down to parts level for both plant and products.
2. Data system improvements should be costed at the margin, after essential data and analyses have been included.
3. Truly scientific management, eschewing fads and fashions, cannot be pursued without accurate and complete data.
4. The matter can only be settled finally by trials in real systems, but simulations are encouraging.
1. Sherwin D J, A critical analysis of reliability-centred maintenance as a management tool, ICOMS Conference, Wollongong, 2000
2. Magnusson, Kroslid and Bergman, Six Sigma: the Pragmatic Approach, Studentlitteratur, Lund 2000
3. Kaplan R S and Norton D P, The Balanced Scorecard, Harvard Business School Press 1996
4. Al-Najjar B, Total Quality Maintenance: An approach for continuous reduction in costs of quality products, Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, pp 2-20, Vol 2, No. 3, 1996
5. Ahlmann H, From traditional practice to the new understanding: the significance of life cycle profit concept in the management of industrial enterprises, IFRIM Conference, Växjö, Sweden 2002 (Conference papers are available from IFRIM or the author)
This paper was first presented at MESA’s (the Maintenance Engineering Society of Australia) annual International Conference of Maintenance Societies (ICOMS) held in 2003.
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TPM - The 'Pinch-Point Solution For lean Manufacturing'
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Conference Communication |
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TPM—THE ‘PINCH-POINT SOLUTION
FOR LEAN MANUFACTURING
Part 1
In the July/August 2007 Edition of Maintenance & Engineering, Dennis Mc Carthy gave an insight into ‘’What is Lean Maintenance?’’ and explained how the philosophy of TPM is embedded into this thinking.
In this two part article, Peter Willmott of Willmott Solutions, reminds us of the fundamentals of TPM and underlines some of the Must Do’s’ and Must Avoid’s.
Is the Effectiveness of your Equipment your Weakest Link?
n the Manufacturing sense, Lean Thinking is about striving to eliminate waste in all its forms in order to maximise value–adding activity and hence the velocity of converting a customer’s order into money in your bank account (Figure 1)
The drive and focus on most of our Manufacturing Processes is highlighting what we’ve probably always known:-namely that the concept of Lean Manufacturing and therefore ‘Manufacturing Velocity’ is only as good as the Reliability and Predictability of our strategic Manufacturing Assets. Low levels of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) often results in those critical Manufacturing Assets becoming the Pinch-Point in the Supply Chain. So, maybe adopting a TPM philosophy can relieve that Pinch-Point in your business
But do we really understand what TPM- or indeed ‘Maintenance Best Practice’- really looks like? What is the right Maintenance Philosophy for your Operations, including the correct mix of the various improvement tools, techniques and maintenance service providers? Is what you are currently doing and pursuing the correct recipe anyway? And if not, then why not, and what should you be doing differently?
Let’s address these perennial ‘hot potatoes’ by attempting to answer the following six questions:-
In this Part 1 Article…
A What do we mean by Lean and TPM?
A How does TPM fit into your Manufacturing Philosophy?
A How do we go about selecting the right Tools and Techniques?
... and in the Part 2 Article (January / February 2008)
A What are some of the Myths & Realities of OEE?
A How can we create the right Environment and generate the right Behaviours to Sustain the Gains?
A What are the common Pitfalls to Avoid?
1.0 What do we mean by Lean and TPM ?
Lean thinking, and hence lean manufacturing, is about the elimination of waste in all its forms-whether it is a waste of time, effort, energy, material, capacity, money…. in order to maximise value added in all that we do. It demands a continuous improvement mentality that recognises ‘what is good enough today will not be good enough tomorrow. Moreover Lean Manufacturing has to be sustainable as a way of life. Lean Manufacturing will only work on four conditions:-
I It is positioned and seen as a top down strategic tool
I It results in levering profit through growth –and hence a bigger slice of a bigger cake
I You ‘value map’ both physical and information flows
I You transform the culture
Remember however, that physical and information transformation through lean is relatively easy- sustaining it through changing the culture is difficult-and why is this the case ? Lean thinking is revolutionary to most companies ,but culture change is evolutionary, because resistance to change is both universal and a natural human characteristic.
Your philosophy and approach therefore must centre on tapping into the potential of your people through involvement- Fortunately TPM sets out to do precisely this by giving ownership to the new and improved ways of working.
A useful definition of TPM is to think of it as ‘’unlocking your installed productive capacity by unlocking the potential of your people’’
2.0 How does TPM fit Into your Manufacturing Philosophy?
I make no excuse for reproducing these two diagrams below (Figures 2 & 3) which I first used in a DTI sponsored Maintenance study and publication 15 years ago because they have stood the test of time and they therefore still hold true !!
TPM attacks the six classic equipment based losses and is about effective teamwork between Production and Maintenance-sharing the responsibility for developing and carrying out an effective Maintenance and Asset Care regime comprising routine and regular front-line inspections and checks by the Operator-the look, listen ,touch ,feel check and adjust actions- Under-pinned by regular and relevant condition monitoring (Vibration monitoring, Oil debris analysis, Thermography etc ) and fixed interval pm’s carried out by the Maintainer
Many companies bang the drum of ‘Operational Excellence’ as their Lean Driver or ‘World Class’ Manufacturing Vision-Well, I would sound a cautionary health warning here which simply says …. ..you cannot achieve ‘Operational Excellence’ without ‘Operational Basics ‘ in place!!
This means the fundamentals of:
I Standard and Safe Operating Procedures
I Best Practice Work Place Organisation (5S)
I A disciplined and self-determined Asset Care Regime (driven by TPM principles)
I Repeatable and relevant Manufacturing Process Control
I Reliable Data Collection and Interpretation
I Continuous Development and Training of your People
3.0 How do we go about selecting the right Tools and Techniques ?
The answer to this question is simply ‘‘I don’t know-until I know your industry / sector and what you’ve already done well in terms of Continuous Improvement’’
What I can be confident about- whether you’re in Chemical Processing, Mining, Nuclear, Off-shore Oil & Gas , Aerospace , Pharmaceutical, Food and Drink or whatever- is that it’s about effective Teamwork between Maintainers and Operators who get the right proactive support from their Managers and Key Contacts (figure 4). However, like football team you have to give them a football to play with (figure 5). Remember also that you can’t play football on a poor pitch-so the team has to practice 5S to create a ‘World Class’ Work place and cut their own grass and mark out their own pitch !! The 9x step ‘football’ (figure 5) is very powerful and makes use of the usual tools and techniques including (where appropriate) :-
Steps 1 & 2 – OEE Software
Step 3 – Brainstorming, Fishbone Analysis, SMED
Step 4 – The best parts of RCM (without
disappearing into a ‘black-hole’!)
Steps 5& 6 – The application of common sense !!
Step 7 – 5S,Operator Asset Care, CBM techniques,
CMM Systems
Step 8 – Standard (and Safe) Operating
Procedures, Single Point Lessons, Training
Matrices
Step 9 – Problem Solving Techniques like 5 Why’s,
FMECA and P-M Analysis
In the second part to this article (January 2008 issue), Peter Willmott will set about providing some answers to these three questions:-
I What are some of the Myths & Realities of OEE?
I How can we create the right Environment and generate the right Behaviours to Sustain the Gains?
I What are the common Pitfalls to Avoid?
To contact the author, enter 877 at
www.maintenanceonline.co.uk/ME
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