June 09, 2005
Inventory and Purchasing Maintenance Tip
Inventory and Purchasing Maintenance Tips to
Enhance Maintenance Planning and Scheduling
(Tip 3 of 6 in a series) Archived at
http://maintenancetalk.com/blog.php/tipsblog
Proper Inventory and Procurement Staffing
This maintenance tip deals with having the proper staffing levels to care for all of the maintenance inventory and procurement activities. This is an overlooked area when the maintenance department has the inventory and procurement responsibility. In many cases, when business is good, the maintenance organization will properly staff the storeroom. When headcount is the maintenance department is reduced, the tendency is to reduce storeroom personnel and transition to an open storeroom, leaving the maintenance workforce intact.
The overall efficiency of the stores and purchasing function is dramatically reduced when the remaining personnel are inadequate to care for the:
• Issuing
• Reordering
• Receiving
• Locating in the proper Row, Shelf, Bin locations
• Cycle counting
• Analyzing Usage patterns
• Monitoring max/min levels, re-order points and quantities
• Identifying vendors for routine and specialty spare parts
• Negotiating delivery terms and pricing
• Etc.
This results in poor service levels from the inventory and procurement function. The resulting impact is that the maintenance inventory and procurement function can no longer support “best practice” maintenance activities. Activities, such as planning and scheduling are impacted, since the materials cannot be planned from accurate inventory records. This has an additional impact on the equipment availability, since the right spare parts will not be available when required resulting in unnecessarily long repair times.
While it may seem expensive to properly staff a maintenance stores location, a complete business analysis should be performed. For example, while the cost of the location and the labor to staff the location may be easily calculated, consider the cost of not staffing the location. These costs would include:
• The dollar value of all parts that no longer in the location without their costs being charged to a work order
• The cost of downtime that can be attributed to a part not being carried in the storeroom location when the inventory system indicated that it was
• The cost of lost productivity (labor hours X hourly rate of technicians X number of technicians assigned to the work) for each delayed job due to parts
• The cost of expediting a part in, when it was supposed to be on hand
• Etc.
When all costs are considered, properly staffing in a maintenance storeroom location can almost always be cost justified. Proper staffing of the maintenance storeroom will contribute to “Best Practices” in maintenance planning and scheduling.
Tip provided by Terry Wireman
GenesisSolutions
http://www.GenesisSolutions.com
Tel: (203) 431-0281
June 02, 2005
Guide to Predictive and Preventive Maintenance by Joel Levitt
CMMS-2005 Pre-Conference Workshop
Computerized Maintenance Management Summit
July 26-29, 2005
Indianapolis Indiana
A culmination of 15 years of research, teaching, and consulting, this workshop shares the best practices, mistakes, victories, and essential steps for success which Joel Levitt has gleaned from working with countless organizations.
Unlike other workshops that only focus on the engineering issues (task lists) or management issues (CMMS), this in-depth learning experience is the first to give true emphasize to the four aspects of success in preventive maintenance systems--engineering, management, economic, and psychological—thereby enabling participants to have a balanced view and understanding of what is happening in their organizations. Additionally, it blends concrete actionable steps and structures with the theory behind the steps.
Workshop attendees each receive a hardcover copy of The Guide to Predictive and Preventive Maintenance as part of the one day course.
Join Joel plus more than 35 other presenters, workshop leaders and learning labs directors at CMMS-2005.
Learn more about CMMS-2005 online
To learn more please call toll free 888-575-1245 or use this link
June 02, 2005
CMMS/EAM Tip
How do I ensure data goes into my CMMS?
A Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) is a data repository. It collects and stores the necessary maintenance information to enable sound maintenance decisions, but only if that information is entered consistently and accurately into the system. The root cause of this lack of accurate data can be attributed to several factors. These factors are easily corrected and apply to any system you may be using.
• System Implementation – Think about when the system was first implemented. Was it a do-it-yourself implementation? If so, how experienced are you in implementing systems? Unfortunately many systems are established without the benefit of implementation assistance. A CMMS is not intuitive and can be difficult if not almost impossible for the inexperienced implementer. If data fields are established incorrectly necessary data will not be available.
o The Fix – Assess the condition of the system implementation. This requires a complete revue of all modules, all data fields, and workflows or processes established to ensure data flows into the system. But how do you know what to look for? This is where experience pays off. You can get the necessary education to fully understand what to look for and develop a plan to address the issues, however, the most cost effective approach is to get that implementation assistance now. A CMMS assessment is an effective approach to identify the issues and present a plan to address them.
• System Access – Do all necessary personnel have access to input the necessary information into the system? This is typically controlled two-ways. Through system security or in the number of concurrent user’s purchased with the system. System security allows access to various functions and areas of the system and must be defined by the implementer of the system. The number of concurrent user’s is how many personnel may be on the system at any given time. So if limited access is coupled with the incorrect number of concurrent users necessary data is not being entered into the system.
o The Fix – Look at the security established for each user role. This simply stated is, who has access to what in the system. The goal is to have data entered by the appropriate user at the earliest opportunity. Too many systems are established with a limited number of personnel granted access to the system. Does your system allow enough user access to the system to input the necessary information? With limited access comes limited information. Look at the number of concurrent users purchased. Does it support the number of personnel utilizing the system? A good indicator is the lines you see forming at the end of the workday to input the necessary information (that’s money well spent). If it’s easy to provide information, the necessary information will be provided. Additional concurrent user licenses can be purchased from your software vendor.
• System Training – After implementation of the system was a comprehensive training program developed and conducted? In many cases, organizations attempt to save money at the end of an implementation by cutting or reducing training. As stated earlier these systems are not intuitive and training is essential to ensure all personnel know the proper process to ensure valid data is appropriately entered into the system.
o The Fix – Train, train, and retrain on the proper way to utilize the system. Training is best understood and retained after the system has been properly implemented, workflows and processes have been developed, and proper system security has been established. Training should be available to all new employees and you should monitor for proper system utilization, conducting refresher training as necessary.
If you address these areas you can be confident that proper data collection will enable the critical maintenance decisions you face each day. Can you afford to waste money, time, and resources that contribute nothing to the bottom line of your company?
Maintenance tip provided by Dave Bertolini
Ashcom Technologies, Inc.
http://www.ashcomtech.com
June 02, 2005
Jumpstart Your CMMS Project
If you seeking improved CMMS use for your current system or are planning a CMMS implementation or re-implementation - please join us at CMMS-2005 - The Computerized Maintenance Management Summit from July 26-29 in Indianapolis.
There are four full day workshops by Terry Wireman and Joel Levitt, six short courses and over 35 expert paper presentations focused on CMMS.
Please call toll free (888) 575-1245 to register and learn more or…
June 02, 2005
Electrical High Energy Safety DVD
Mikron Infrared and Lowry Eads have produced a “must see” safety DVD for Infrared Thermographers and anyone else working around Motor Control Centers, Switchgear, Substations and other electrical gear. This DVD discusses Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Arc Flash Assessments and NFPA 70E in a down to earth fashion. An Arc Flash can generate over 35,000 degrees (hotter than the sun) and the need to recognize high energy situations and prepare with the proper PPE is a critical safety issue. You can request your DVD at no cost by calling Mikron directly at +1-906-487-6060 or fax your request +1-906-487-6066.
June 02, 2005
Training Tip
Training has been called one of the biggest weaknesses of the present maintenance structure in the United States as noted by Terry Wireman and numerous other experts.
Having maintenance personnel that can maintain the equipment is of paramount importance. To ensure that the most people know as much as possible about as much of the equipment as possible is critical. The only way to ensure this knowledge and skill is readily available is through training. When training begins one must see the results quickly in order to motivate the maintenance person receiving the training and management who is expecting to see results for the money and time spent on training. I call this “High Impact Training”. Training, must embrace some basics principles:
Things not to do:
1. Relying on training books to train your maintenance staff without “hands on” training to follow.
2. Providing “on the job” training by maintenance personnel who themselves are not fully trained. (time on the job does not equal knowledge gained)
3. Train on everything. I call this “Training in the Dark”. Many companies provide training to say they are training. (Train to the most critical, most frequent, and most important task first and train for results.)
4. Hire maintenance staff without testing knowledge and skill to the level required for the position
Things to do:
1. Ensure all maintenance training is measured.
a. Student test scores (written and hands on testing)
b. Mean Time Between Failure (and MTTR also)
c. Parts usage
2. Remember, practice the “Adult Learning Principle” where a student must hear or do something 7-21 times in order to retain the information.
3. Test new hires for mechanical aptitude, knowledge and skill required for the position, and the reading comprehension level required for the position (typically 12-16 years of college reading comprehension level) “Remember when hiring, you are hiring not just for now but also for the future”.
4. Use your CMMS to track and monitor all training to include results from training.
Tip provided by Ricky Smith CMRP, author of “Industrial Repair, Best Maintenance Repair Practices” http://www.success-in-training.com
June 02, 2005
Alignment Tip
When performing a plumbness check on a vertical shaft machine with a laser-based alignment system, use a familiar reference point to label as 0° or 12:00 o’clock, such as a bolt hole or split line. This will make the rest of the point markings easier and also help keep a more consistent history of the plumbness checks. Also try to have your cardinal positions line up with any installed jackscrews as this will make effecting corrective moves later much easier.
Tip provided by LUDECA, INC.
ALIGNMENT * VIBRATION * BALANCING
http://www.ludeca.com
Tel: 305-591-8935
June 02, 2005
Motor Testing Tip
The multi-technology approach to motor diagnostics means you are utilizing different testing technologies that will complement and validate each other. One example is your vibration technician suspects a possible rotor problem in a critical application, but the cost to replace means a shutdown of production, where the motor’s cost is small compared to the incurred costs of the shutdown. Faced with this situation, many people would be reluctant to make the call for replacement, because of the high cost associated with an incorrect diagnosis. Therefore, this motor may be run to failure, due to the uncertainty of the diagnosis. In this case, to put the multi-technology approach in practice, use either Motor Circuit Analysis (off-line, de-energized testing) or Electrical Signature Analysis (on-line, energized testing) to confirm (or rule out) the preliminary findings (bad rotor). By utilizing the multi-technology approach you will have more confidence in your findings and hence, a greater degree of certainty that you have determined the real fault(s).
Tip provided by ALL-TEST Pro, A Division of BJM Corp
Tel: 860.399.5937
Download a PDF paper on the Multi-Technology Approach:
http://www.alltestpro.com/pdf/Multitechnologyapproach.pdf
