Efficient Plant May 2018 - 10

feature | maintenance processes

THE ULTIMATE RELIABILITY and maintenance goals of any manufacturing operation are to
achieve failure-free operation and low maintenance cost. Why are these two objectives critical?
Achieving 99% uptime (the highest level of mechanical availability on record) provides the
maximum return on investment. The difference between where those below this historic
benchmark are and those that have achieved it is free, unrealized capacity. Unfortunately, manufacturers with lower levels of asset reliability often unnecessarily
spend countless millions, or even billions, on green-field projects.
Sustainable, low maintenance cost, which is only attainable through high
reliability, provides a game-changing competitive advantage. The global
benchmark for world-class maintenance cost is 1% of plant replacement
value (PRV).
Many manufacturers measure the cost of maintenance on a perunit-of-production basis. This is called maintenance cost per unit
(CPU). Coupling a low maintenance cost per unit of production
with maximum throughput results in the lowest maintenance
CPU. Companies leverage this advantage by reducing their
sales prices to undercut competitors. In more extreme cases,
high-reliability, low-maintenance-cost manufacturers ship
their goods throughout the world and undercut local producers. The fact is that winners and losers in today's global
marketplace are separated by only the slightest difference
in margin.
But having failure-free operation doesn't automatically
lead to low maintenance costs. Operations that have high
reliability but no well-defined maintenance work process
suffer inherent labor inefficiencies and organizational ineffectiveness. These inefficiencies can push maintenance costs
to second- or third-quartile levels of performance.
Note that every dollar of inefficiency reduces the competitive
advantage
gained through high reliability. Stated more directly,
Maintenance work processes must be
every dollar of maintenance cost is one less dollar of profit.
well defined and followed to realize the
One might wonder why those who work so hard to achieve high
true benefits of reliable operations.
levels of reliability fail to place equal emphasis on maintenance efficiency. The answer is simple: Once they have increased capacity and
profit, they become careless and lose their focus on good management
Al Poling, CMRP
practices. That's why it's essential to develop a well-defined maintenance
RAM Analytics LLC
work process-and more important, to follow it.

Six
Steps
That Cut
Costs

WORK-PROCESS STEPS
Despite protestations from poorer performers, their maintenance operations aren't
different or unique. Maintenance is performed the same way around the globe. A need
is identified, documented, and prioritized, and work is planned to address it. The planned
work is scheduled, preferably at an opportune time, and completed, and the root cause of failure
is captured, along with the activities executed in the repair. In short, the maintenance work steps are
identification, authorization, planning, scheduling, execution, and closure.

| EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM

MAY 2018

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