Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 6

UPTIME When Best Practices Aren't Enough Bob Williamson Contributing Editor C onsider the following remarks. "Recently, our top executives announced that our cost of manufacturing still wasn't what it needed to be, even with all the maintenance improvements and lean initiatives over the past few years. And while our quality and delivery continue to be topnotch, one of our largest customers served an ultimatum that they would be taking their business overseas unless we could improve our pricing." "Despite all the maintenance best practices we've deployed, we (and others) are finding the department under the cost-cutting knife again. We've improved our spare-parts management significantly in the past two years, including stock outs, inventory levels, critical spares, and obsolete parts. Our maintenance labor hours are 90% proactive. But, new equipment continues to be added to the mix to reduce operating labor costs. What should we do?" Sound familiar? The opportunity offered by reliable manufacturing processes can eclipse cost-cutting initiatives. The real goal Cost cutting is not a goal. It's an action deployed as a way to achieve a short-term business goal-one that's often short lived. Here's the challenge: While executives may be preparing for another round of cost cutting, there could be a more powerful alternative. It's going to take thinking outside the maintenance box, however, to look at manufacturing process reliability. The real goal here is to show management how it can reduce manufacturing costs and position the business for higher earnings growth by tapping into the plant's hidden capacity. I recently discussed this approach with a company's top executives and plant-leadership team. They talked about how strong their business was this year and on into early next year. Their honest concerns centered around getting costs under control to improve the 6| MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY company's earnings in light of the potential loss of a large customer looking for price cuts. They summarized their strategic performance indicators as three overarching goals: ■ On time, in full-orders shipped to customers on time in the quantity and quality requested. ■ Lead time-reduced time between order received and order shipped. ■ Cost per unit produced-lowest all-in, total cost of making a product. These executives were describing their goals for a reliable manufacturing process, i.e., a process that performs as intended. Their vision reflects a real opportunity for the organization-one that eclipses another cost-cutting initiative. Thinking beyond maintenance Let's explore this opportunity by thinking about reliable manufacturing processes, i.e., thinking beyond maintenance. The executives who spoke with me agreed to form an improvement team of hand-picked personnel, including the maintenance manager, production operator, maintenance mechanic/union president, front-line supervisor, manufacturing vice president, and the continuous-improvement/quality director. The team used the following data-mining process to get started: 1. Identify the strategic key performance indicators (KPIs), i.e., lagging indicators. 2. Mine company data to determine the leading indicators and what form they take. 3. Determine how plant performance is inhibited, according to the current data. The next step involved a review of top-level indicators that plant leadership was focused on improving, including: ■ labor efficiency variance as a percentage of standard ■ indirect factory labor as a percentage of revenue ■ operating expense as a percentage of revenue ■ obsolete materials and work in process (WIP). Team members then began to look for specific factors that contributed to labor, operating expense, and materials cost. They also looked for factors that could interrupt flow through the entire manufacturing process to the paying customer. Based on the team's review of various ad hoc SEPTEMBER 2016

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

Editorial
Uptime
On The Floor
Old-School Approach To New-World Technology
Art Meets Reliability Science
Commit To Safety
Robot-Human Interaction Getting Safer
Sanitary, Stainless Conveyors Not The Same
Reduce Hidden Process-Safety Costs
Pace Your Reliability Program
Win The War With 'Lubrication By Design'
SAP Tips And Tricks
Understand Pump Vibration
Select The Right Relay
Bearing Care
Clear Up HOA Confusion
Potato Waste Becomes Clean Water, Energy
Products
Showcase
Ad Index
Final Thought
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 1
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Cover1
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Cover2
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 1
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 2
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 3
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Editorial
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 5
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Uptime
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 7
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - On The Floor
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 9
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Old-School Approach To New-World Technology
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 11
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 12
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 13
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 14
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 15
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Art Meets Reliability Science
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 17
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 18
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 19
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Commit To Safety
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 21
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 22
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 23
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Robot-Human Interaction Getting Safer
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 25
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Sanitary, Stainless Conveyors Not The Same
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 27
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 28
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Reduce Hidden Process-Safety Costs
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 30
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Pace Your Reliability Program
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 32
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 33
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 34
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 35
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Win The War With 'Lubrication By Design'
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 37
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 38
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - SAP Tips And Tricks
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Understand Pump Vibration
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Select The Right Relay
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Bearing Care
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 43
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Clear Up HOA Confusion
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Potato Waste Becomes Clean Water, Energy
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 46
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 47
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 48
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 49
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 50
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 51
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 52
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Showcase
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Ad Index
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - 55
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Final Thought
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Cover3
Maintenance Technology September 2016 - Cover4
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