Efficient Plant June 2018 - 39

department | on the floor

skip less-critical PM checks because many can't be finished in
time and/or are on the monthly schedule (with these tasks often
reported as completed, thus making the KPIs look good).
struggle to find the correct part because all parts are not coded
with a standardized system, a problem that also affects reordering/
procurement
learn that only some of the asset history is captured because
work orders are not closed with enough detail, or at all
hoard parts because they do not trust stock-room data
do not perform root-cause, trending, and reliability-growth
tracking analyses because they lack quality asset data
see continuous backlog growth, assuming you are counting all
work orders not performed
are unable to predict costs, other than that they continue
to go up
doubt data validity/accuracy, though KPIs look good (for the
most part looking at daily plant-floor practices reinforces their
distrust).
Here's a good example of such problems: PM compliance is reported at 95%, but those that are doing the PMs and repair know that
proper PMs are only being done on 60% of the assets. Are you reporting compliance on 100% of your assets? The same is true for predictive
technologies, meaning only routes identified are being tracked (so the
numbers look good). Nobody talks about what percentage of assets
have proper technologies and routes.
Done once or a few times, any of these behaviors may not have
a significant impact. However, cumulatively (done individually
or by different persons), they can cause a significant negative outcome in reliability and maintenance performance. It's all related.
Maintenance, just like production, needs standardized work
processes to enable best practices. For example, three trades/technicians (at various levels of experience) should be able to perform
the same work order and achieve the same outcome. If not, more
clarity is needed in your PM tasking.
"Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting
different results is the definition of insanity," (author unknown,
although Einstein often gets credit for this quote). With maintenance needs being so unpredictable, and 75% of North America
not doing enough predictive/condition-based monitoring (you
can't fix what you don't find), you are just fixing the same stuff
over and over again, at different times.

JUNE 2018

If this is your operation and you think that it's going to make
things better, you're feeding insanity.
Many of the sociotechnical systems (people and processes) in
which we live and work are chaotic and complex. By better understanding how it's all interconnected, we can avoid major issues. By
doing a better job of performing standardized work, accountability,
precision maintenance, and so on, some of the unpredictability
(and unwanted consequences) can be removed. But you first need
to understand how it's all related. EP

Based in Knoxville, Klaus M. Blache is director of the
Reliability & Maintainability Center at the Univ. of Tennessee,
and a research professor in the College of Engineering.
Contact him at kblache@utk.edu.

EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM |

http://www.EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Efficient Plant June 2018