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By: Dave Army at Strategic
Asset Management Inc.
Editors note:
This is the first article in a series of articles by
Dave Army and Ralph Hedding.
Click
here to read Part 2: Prioritization
Click
here to read Part 3: Long Range
Scheduling
Click
here to read Part 4: Look Ahead Scheduling
Click
here to read Part 5: Materials Management
Click
here to read Part 6: Preventive Maintenance
Beginning with this article, I will, over
the next few months take the reader through the basic elements of SAMI’s
model for Maintenance Excellence -- The Operational Reliability
Maturity Continuum.
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The
Operation Reliability Maturity Continuum |
The first step in this process is the
identification of work. Why is identification of work so important?
Some may say that we’ve got so much work on the books, that we can’t
handle it anyway. Well, when the other Stage 1 elements fall into
place, it is imperative that you understand the material condition of
systems, components and structures. Knowing the condition, through an
aggressive work identification process, allows for the proper
prioritization of activities and corrective actions prior to failure.
In a purely reactive mode, work is
usually identified as equipment fails. Maintenance is then tasked to
fix the equipment in as rapid a manner as possible (after all, the
equipment that failed has most likely affected production or some
critical function). If you’re lucky enough to schedule and actually
perform a preventive maintenance (PM) task, you may identify other
related tasks that, if identified earlier, would have been more easily
accomplished.
Minor tasks, when left to their own
devices, will often turn into larger tasks. Sometimes these minor
tasks will turn into emergencies. Often, the minor leakage of steam
from a valve packing turns into a valve replacement due to steam
cutting. What once could be performed on line has turned into a major
activity involving isolations, welding and replacement of parts. A
simple task has turned into an expensive one.
For those of you who work on mobile
equipment, when a piece of equipment comes into the shop for PM, doesn’t
it just make your day when you identify other work in addition to the
PM you’ve scheduled? Most of this work is not necessarily difficult
to accomplish, but without the parts on hand, they are difficult to
complete. The result is that either the equipment goes back into the
field with a known deficiency, or the time in the shop is increased
until the part(s) is located and the repair made. All of which leads
to the perception that maintenance is ineffective or that schedules
are meaningless.
In these two examples, there are a
couple of quick and easy solutions. First, your organization must be
willing to accept the concept that “Maintenance”
is not the sole responsibility of the Maintenance Department. “World
Class” maintenance organizations
have embraced the concept that like safety, good maintenance is the
responsibility of all organizations. I firmly believe, and tell
clients when working reliability solutions, the first line of defense
is the operator. The operator understands the equipment better than
anyone else does. They are around the equipment at sometime during
every shift and are the “eyes, nose, ears, etc.” for detecting the
first indications of degrading equipment.
Second, we often don’t capitalize on
this understanding. Therefore, I encourage all of us to make use of
this resource. Make operators part of your first line of defense. The
use of operator rounds, check lists, walk-downs, etc. are all valuable
tools to use.
Getting the operator to properly
identify equipment related issues, prior to failure, is a powerful
cost saving tool. Knowing beforehand, allows the maintainer to plan
for the activity, have the part on hand and finally, take prompt and
efficient corrective action. We can now prevent that small task from
turning into the costly, inefficient, and time consuming task.
Everyone profits. Why don’t you give it a chance?
Dave Army is the Vice President of
Results Delivery for SAMI. His expertise includes analysis, design and
implementation of maintenance and operations solutions for numerous
industries. He currently oversees all SAMI implementation and
assessment activities.
Click
here to visit the SAMI Web Site
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