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 Structuring
an effective maintenance operation
by R.T. “Chris” Christensen
Part 2: From firefighting to RCM
As you will recall, part one of this series addressed “fighting
fires,” or the most cost ineffective way of managing the maintenance
function. This article will give you some pointers on moving away from
fire fighting to the world of RCM or Reliability Centered Maintenance.
The third article will be
about the cost benefit analysis that the cost improvement that goes
along with the improvements made as you move to RCM.
RCM as a way of life
The first thing to realize
is that this is not an implementation program but more of a fundamental
change in the way you approach your maintenance operation; RCM is a
continuous process that takes a great deal of effort.
The objective is to move
from a reactive to a proactive maintenance operation.
The goal is to know the
condition of the equipment and maintain to the level needed to do the
job. We don’t want to over-maintain the equipment, which is a waste of
money, but we do need to maintain the equipment so that it is fully
capable to complete the task that is required. This is Reliability
Centered Maintenance. The catch here is that you just don’t say that we
are going to do RCM and be doing it the very next day.
This is where most of the
current maintenance functions have problems when they move from
firefighting to RCM. When you were in a firefighting mode you were in
what we call high cost maintenance. You ran to failure and then only
patched it or did minimal work to get the equipment back into service.
You thought that you were saving money by getting all you could out of
the equipment before the repair, but you really weren’t.
What run-to-fail really
costs
While there is a cost to repair,
the biggest cost is lost production. All your repairs were being done
while the equipment was scheduled to make parts. Run-to-failure means
all those parts are late, or even worse, the order is lost because you
couldn’t produce and meet the customers’ requirements.
While run-to-failure is
costly, what is worse is that you consumed the equipment. The equipment
has not been properly repaired or maintained and as such it is no longer
as capable as it was when new. It still works but the outgoing quality
is now lower, the machine is probably running slower and the time
between failures is getting shorter. Output is down and maintenance cost
is rising. Understanding this simple fact prepares you to move toward
RCM.
From reactive to
proactive in seven “easy” steps
What you need to do is to bring
the capabilities of the equipment back to the level it was before you
began to run it into the ground or consume it. This basically means that
you now have to spend money and correct deficiencies that are now part
of the operations of the machine and restore its capabilities. You must
pay for all your past shortcomings and replace the worn out parts that
you have been living with.
The basic steps in
moving from reactive to proactive maintenance are:
1. Establish a budget for the
work
2. Schedule machine down time through production
3. Choose the highest volume, most problematic machine or process and
correct it
4. Establish proactive Preventive and proactive Maintenance programs for
that machine
5. Apply Lean technology and 5S programs to the machine so it can
perform as desired
6. Establish machine performance metrics
7. Begin work on the next problematic machine.
Doing this will allow you to
attack the main causes of the problem machines that you have and also
begin to add reliability to the machines beginning with the equipment
that has the highest use rate.
What we have found is that
the cost of maintenance actually will decrease and the time available
for production will increase. And, (and this is the greatest saving),
the machine will be maintained during time when it is not needed for
production and minimal production time will be lost. This is where you
need to change how you measure machine effectiveness.
Useful metrics
Try using some of these metrics
to track your equipment:
1. Maintenance cost per run hour
2. Out-going machine controlled quality levels
3. Set-up downtime
4. Machine adjustment downtime
5. Machine available for production time
Only measure what the
machine is involved in. Total maintenance cost per machine means nothing
unless it is tied into the parts produced per dollar of maintenance.
Machine utilization is a measure of sales. The more sales sells, the
more the machines will have to do and the more that they will run and be
utilized. Utilization is NOT a maintenance measure.
So think your way through
and work on making the shift from reactive to proactive maintenance all
the way to RCM. What we have seen when companies do this is a reduction
in maintenance cost in the 20 to 30 percent range and an increase in
productivity of the equipment in the 5 to 20 percent range. More for
less, what a concept.
R. T. “Chris” Christensen
is Emeritus Faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and is
Emeritus Director of Operations and Maintenance Management Certificate
Programs at the Universities Executive Education Department in the
School of Business. Contact Coach Christensen at 262-613-0073; E-mail:
crchristensen1958@wi.rr.com.
This article appeared in the
June/July 2006 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright 2006.
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