Reducing Maintenance Costs in a Tough Economic Climate

So, let’s start with my hypothesis that TPM drives all three elements of OEE, namely: machine availability, speed and quality.   Traditionally as a Maintenance Leader and then Operational Excellence (OpEx) leader in paper mills and packaging manufacturing plants, my focus was all about machine availability.  If the machine was running, it belonged to operations and I could focus on writing PMs, improving RCM and building Gantt charts for my next planned outage.  However, experience has taught me that just focusing on availability is missing 2/3 of the opportunity to improve business by not embracing the entire OEE metric through maintenance action. 

Executives pursuing lasting improvements must take an inventory of their assets, then devise and implement a strategy that constantly reinforces the behavior of individuals along chosen dimensions. By addressing these areas in tandem with a performance and development (P&D) effort, companies can ensure that performance improvement efforts deliver value immediately and also stand the test of time.

For many organizations, these inspections are something they have to do to meet regulations. And, that’s important – those regulations are there to help provide a workplace that is safe for workers, the environment and the surrounding community. But, some companies are able to leverage those inspections to gain new insights into their operations and build additional efficiencies.

If you are managing a large facility using blueprint floor plans and spreadsheets to track assets, this article is for you. If, the last time you had a water leak during off hours and it took the emergency repair tech a half hour to get to it after wading thru paper maps, this is for you. If your HVAC repair technician got lost on the roof while looking for unit #34 that required maintenance, this might be useful. If your employees have your facilities management team on speed dial, then this was written for you.

Choosing an industrial heating system upgrade for any facility is a big undertaking—not only because it’s a major expense, but because it can have a long-tail effect on the facility’s energy efficiency as well as employee comfort. When looking for the best industrial heating system, several factors should be considered.

It is not uncommon that many reliability and maintenance improvement initiatives fail to deliver expected results. Why is it so? Some of the most common causes I have observed include:

REM recently caught up with Christer Idhammar, founder and executive vice-president of IDCON INC, and asked him to share his perspective on World Class maintenance.