Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 33

RELIABILITY STRATEGIES Table I. Strategic Plan for a Typical Reliability-Improvement Initiative Strategy Change the organization (Short/long term) Objectives Plan Goals Yr. 1 Goals Yr. 2 ■ Establish a reliability function at the site. ■ Hire a reliability engineer. ■ Deliver higher levels of proactive asset care. ■ Dedicate mechanics to preventive and predictive care. 25% critical assets with care plans 50% critical assets with care plans Top 3 to 5 identified Top 3 eliminated 25% standard work 50% standard work Operator rounds started Operators performing PMs Transitions reduced by 50% Transitions reduced by 75% ■ Establish asset care for critical equipment. Eliminate failure (Short term) ■ Remediate site's top three bad actors. Ensure execution of proactive work (Long term) ■ Complete higher levels of proactive work on the schedule. ■ Identify top causes of failure. ■ Identify actions to eliminate. ■ Revise the maintenance work process. ■ Create standards for planning and scheduling. ■ Create more standard work. Develop operator ownership (Short/long term) ■ Implement operator-driven reliability (ODR) program. ■ Train operators on equipment care. ■ Revise operating instructions. ■ Convert some PMs for operators. Reduce transition times (Long term) ■ Apply lean manufacturing principles to reduce transition times. ■ Analyze product transitions. Improve productionline performance (Long term) ■ Develop a long-term capitalimprovement program for the site. ■ Begin to implement total productive maintenance (TPM). ■ Lean the process and remove barriers. ■ Evaluate asset condition and performance. ■ Dedicate lines to high volume products. ■ Capital plan in place ■ Justify automation and asset replacement for higher-speed processing. ■ Realigned product lines ■ Align product-line volumes with line capacities. New highspeed line in place This table lays out a reliability-improvement plan that should produce tangible results in two years. 1. Ensuring that all critical assets have the appropriate care should be high on the priority list. This can be accomplished as defects arise and through tools such as Pareto and root-cause analyses. There's no sense in revising care for equipment that hasn't shown a long history of failure. Evaluating work history and having a trigger system to identify what to work on is crucial. 2. Maintenance and reliability work processes must then be modified or built and "tied" together. This means that workhistory analysis and planning and scheduling should be a focus. Those steps are how these two work processes come together. Remember that reliability designs asset care and is strategic in nature while maintenance is tactical and executes care. Work history provides information to the reliability process to revise care to prevent future failure. Planning and scheduling ensures that the care tasks designed by the SEPTEMBER 2016 reliability function actually are executed by maintenance. Impatience and a desire by management to see the results of improved reliability seem to go hand in hand. 3. Competencies must be evaluated for the existing workforce and new hires. Competency descriptions for maintenance, reliability, and operators, and any new job descriptions need to be created. New hires should be evaluated against these requirements. Staff training should be obtained through sources such as plant trainers, community colleges, third-party consultants, and vendors. A long-term goal for certification is also a way to create a "pull" for knowledge for the staff and provide incentives for career development. 4. Finally, programs for lubrication, predictive analysis, stocking critical parts, precision work, and stores management (to name a few) can be implemented over the long term. Appropriate sectors of each organization, i.e., operations, procurement, engineering, and maintenance, should take responsibility for selected elements. Lubrication should always top the list. Without good lubrication practices, the remaining reliability elements cannot be effective. Note that these details represent just one way to pace a reliability program. Many variations exist, depending on the strengths and weaknesses of an organization. Whether your site relies on in-house staff or work with a consultant, never jump into a plan without some form of conditional assessment. Since MAINTENANCETECHNOLOGY.COM | 33 http://www.MAINTENANCETECHNOLOGY.COM

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