Maintenance Management – Defining, Clarifying “Reliability”
Torbjörn Idhammar, IDCON INC
The purpose of this column is to raise questions and challenge plant leadership on strategy, vision and execution of reliability and maintenance management. Since the name of this magazine is Reliable Plant, I think it would be interesting for my first column to challenge you on the meaning of the term “reliability.”
Reliability is often used by plants to define future improvement efforts and set expectations for employees and managers. In several recently written mission statements, I’ve seen expressions such as “to increase profitability through increased reliability.” But when companies are asked to define what the words mean, what reliability is and how it’s measured, it’s unusual to get a comprehensive answer.
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TPM and RCM: Whirled Class
When a piece of production machinery broke down at the Whirlpool plant in Findlay, Ohio, several years back, it was accepted practice for the machine operator to call maintenance and then sit back and wait for the problem to be fixed. Critical information and knowledge was not shared between the operator and maintenance technician. Like many companies, these workers were stuck in traditional roles - operators run the machines, maintenance fixes the machines, and the two do not cross. As a result, productivity opportunities were missed.
Where Do Maintenance Professionals Come From?
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TPM and Tecate: The New Translation
The true translation — might it be proper to say a new and improved translation? — is being used today by Cervecería Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma, one of the largest brewers of beer in Latin America. Known throughout this company as Mantenimiento Alto Desempeño (MAD), or translated as High-Performance Maintenance, the concept of TPM is alive and well at the company's six plants in Mexico. Perhaps the best example is at CCM's brewery in Tecate, located a short drive from the U.S.-Mexico border on the Baja California peninsula.
