Maintaining productive production

Linking enterprise asset management systems (EAM) or CMMS (computerised maintenance management systems) with production management is the way to go for efficient production and inventory management. Production planning can be made aware of maintenance issues that might take a machine or a production line out of service so that where possible work can be scheduled around it. Similarly, central purchasing can become involved with spares acquisition, to get better prices or to pool spares to reduce inventory. Sharing information makes both maintenance and production more efficient. Not many companies are doing it yet, but 3M is one that is working towards it. Says Mike Lovering, maintenance project leader at 3M’s Gorseinon plant, “The vision I have is that the craftsman on the shop floor will be able to look at a single computer system and be able to see when a machine will next go down, either for a changeover or for maintenance. Faults during normal running will be logged along with output from condition monitoring systems so that we can build up lists of small jobs to be done. Then we can request the machine from production well in advance to give us time to put all the necessary resources in place.” Right environment first For 3M this has to be achieved in stages and the firm is progressing in logical steps. The first was to replace a character-based CMMS (Rapier), which allowed the move from paper systems to computer-based, with a modern system, Maximo from PSDI (now MRO.com). Much information has been carried forward from Rapier, and condition monitoring using Rockwell’s Odyssey system has been added, working directly with Maximo. The environment is now right for making a link between maintenance and production scheduling. “At the moment the connection is not automatic,” says Lovering. “Technicians on the shop floor can see the maintenance requirements and talk to production planning to get a slot. The plant is split into manufacturing modules and we can ask for a machine next week or next month, when the need arises. In the future this request will be made electronically so that when schedules are generated maintenance slots are included. It’s all about maximising machine availability.” The advantages are clear, and Andy Bates, e-manufacturing business manager for Rockwell, confirms that it’s an area of interest and activity. “A lot of people are starting to work it through,” he says, “but it takes a while to get from requirement to justification. The push for integrated maintenance and production planning comes from the production scheduling side, but companies need to have made the move to finite scheduling and it’s more than just technology. There are human factors involved and a lot of hard work might be necessary before an organisation is in a position to benefit from the integrated systems.” But the big change now taking place is that managers are seeing the clear connection between maintenance and the value of a company. In some industries 20—40% of product cost can be attributed to maintenance, so reducing these costs will have a significant effect on profitability. “Maintenance managers have become more aware of the commercial importance,” says Bates. “They have stopped focusing on technology so much and started to consider the financial benefits of what they do. A £500,000 reduction in maintenance costs could have the same effect on the bottom line as increased sales of £5 million. The technology is no longer a problem.” Manufacturer Ricoh is another example. “We use TPM and other best practice techniques to remove barriers within the organisation, and we use links between software as much as possible,” says David Ralph, maintenance administrator. “Operators get ownership of the plant and work in a team with engineering and maintenance. They go through step plans together to return the machinery to its original condition. Schedules come from production control and are put into the maintenance management system (from FDS Advanced Systems) which allows maintenance time to be scheduled, which includes flexibility so that rush jobs can be accommodated.” The technical aspects of integrating production planning and CMMS is no longer an issue, but forward-thinking companies are now working through the organisational and procedural changes necessary before this can become an everyday reality.