New Methods! From run-fail-fix to Reliability.
Learning how to manage complex assets evolved new methods!
I'm sure you've seen it: Mission critical assets break down. Superman to the rescue! Who cares what the cost of replacement might be ... it has to be done. Work overtime. Trash budgets. Fly the part in from Brazil! The asset must be up-and-running to make sure that production is up as soon as possible.
Superman AND Batman to the rescue! It's a difficult predicament. We need to do things different!
The downstream costs of failure are huge... customer commitments, delivery dates, customer satisfaction, quality, consistency, reputation. Yikes!
Shifting to a culture of reliability where repeatable maintenance practices are planned and scheduled, and the defects causing recurring problems are found and driven out, avoid the cost of failure and its downstream impact. Check out the Pit Stop example.
Super efficiency! Minutes. Effective. No waste.
While one tire can be changed after it fails by one person in several minutes, the Pit Stop approach uses a coordinated team of 6 skilled tradespeople, each with their own tasks executing in parallel, to change out a set of 4 tires in 20 seconds before any of the tires fail. If the objective is to keep the car on the track and in the race then this is the best solution.
Q: What elements are involved in this dramatic improvement?
A: The many ASPECTS OF CHANGE -- skills, motivation - incentives, training, the right tools and materials on-hand, teamwork, mastery in execution of detail process tasks, knowledge and compliance with safety regulations to name a few.
To address these needs -
Use Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) practices to define the needs of your assets
Employs how-to best practices
Use measures to track improvement in equipment, processes, and demonstrate how these improvement contribute to the organization's key performance indicators (KPIs)
Build in a feedback mechanism to adjust for poor performance improvement; adopt new techniques when expectations aren't met