Maintenance Technology October 2016 - 14

PLANT PROFILE
'fishbones?' There are different types of programs you can
tion, and we were able to dig deeper and find the root cause," he
use to problem solve. Once you get down to the root cause,
explained.
what should you do to correct that? What are the effects from
Labor hours and costs for parts are charged directly to each
the corrective actions? It's basically a template for us to walk
machine through the eMaint system so every asset is tracked.
through and identify those savings."
For each of the 1,800 assets, the data are entered into
The information is tracked, along with related expenses.
the CMMS and attached to a department. Every asset has a
"What I showed our teams for the first time recently is that
specific location on the floor. All work orders are tracked by
when each person orders parts from store rooms, they should
department, and labor and repair hours are tracked to the
understand the cost to the business and be accountable,"
specific asset. There is a work-order history, so all mechanic or
McKenna said. "[It's costly to order] 10 filters and [put] them on
electrician comments are also trackable, as well as depreciation.
the back of your maintenance cart and maybe you drive around
"At any time, we can run a report and tell which machines
and three of them fall off and get
need general maintenance,"
dirty and you just throw them
McKenna said. "The production
away. They need to understand the
manager can see which machines
cost to the business and we break it
are down and costing money. We
down like that. Now they underare creating charts on a monthly
stand and can help us pay attention
basis so we can see which machines
to the details."
are causing the most problems.
Percentages of purchases can
Then the discussion is about PMs
also be applied specifically to
that will keep these machines from
maintenance. "Tracking maintehaving so many labor hours on
nance has become an operations
them. We can determine if there
management exercise and very
are parts we need to change. We
Dana's maintenance programs are robust and relihigh tech," he said.
look at this and will get together
able, thanks to (from left) Mark Howard, Jon Weber, with engineers to identify and solve
"You can usually attach a dollar
figure to each panel," McKenna said. Bob McKenna, and Craig Linthicum.
the problems. We also track PM
"Sometimes it's a safety advantage.
performance."
We've been doing this for a couple
Weber emphasized that building
'When you can track the data
years and by compiling this data,
charts and graphs is one thing, but
we can also share it with other
and use it to incorporate better understanding what the data tell
Dana facilities. It's a great way to
you is the key to improving mainteshow what we've been doing, what's
programs, that's when the knowl- nance programs and saving money.
working, and put it out there where
"One thing I learned from reading
edge really becomes powerful.' Maintenance Technology years ago,
everyone can see it."
Between maintenance and
is that an emergency repair costs
production, there are approximately 600 people working at the
you seven times more than a planned repair," Weber said. "You
Fort Wayne facility. "We can show the savings from maintetake the cost of the downtime against having parts kitted and
nance ideas, and cost of shutting down a machine to clean it
planned work scheduled, and you can begin to put cost savings
out or make a change in the process line," McKenna said. "We
to maintenance. I am here to tell you, the guys who perform the
track all of this. For example, we realized a large savings with
labor are interested in the business side. It's important that they
all this new equipment coming in. We needed to buy adapters
understand that everything they do affects the end user. Every
that bring our power from the overhead system down to the
decision that we make as maintenance professionals affects the
machine. We considered new adapters and had vendors bring
cost of doing business. These guys are out looking for ways to
some reconditioned ones for testing, which ended up saving us
improve all the time. And when you can track the data and use
two-thirds on cost."
it to incorporate better programs, that's when the knowledge
The savings in that project calculated to more than $100,000,
really becomes powerful." MT
he said. "It was great that it came from our team leader. He did
the research, brought in the people, and made it happen."
For a look at the Dana manufacturing process, please view
Another great example involved machines that were having
several videos from our tour of the Fort Wayne, IN, facility
dirty coolant-fluid issues. Several engineering groups were
at maintenancetechnology.com/dana.
brought in, but they couldn't get it solved. Two Fort Wayne
mechanics presented a simple idea to make a few physical
changes on the machines, and it saved $40,000 on each
Michelle Segrest has been a professional journalist for 27 years.
machine. McKenna created a PowerPoint presentation that
She specializes in the industrial processing industries and has
showed the changes and tracked the savings through data
toured manufacturing facilities in 34 cities in six countries on
gathered in the CMMS. "The data drove the ideas for the soluthree continents.

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MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY

OCTOBER 2016

http://www.maintenancetechnology.com/dana

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Maintenance Technology October 2016