Asset Productivity Articles
Our expert staff is well known throughout the industry for its breadth of knowledge gained through years of practical experience. The following articles, written by members of our staff, have been published in industry journals and Web sites.
You Cannot Mandate Change
By R. Keith Mobley, Principal SME, Life Cycle Engineering
Over much of my career, discussions centering on how to change the work culture—viewed to be one of the roots of poor performance—have been frequent and often quite heated. It seems everyone has an opinion or favored methodology to get the workforce to adopt new policies or work practices. These methods vary depending on the organizational level and background of the individual...Maintenance Planners: At the Center of It All
A highlighted topic from our popular Maintenance Planning and Scheduling course
Successful maintenance organizations are built around effective communications between all functions within the organization. Therefore, maintenance planners must establish strong relationships with key functions in the organization. Supervisors, Operators and Maintenance Technicians all play key roles in the success of planning and scheduling. Relationships between employees in these roles must be nurtured in order to avoid departmental silos, communication barriers and increased down time.People do what you inspect, not what you expect
By R. Keith Mobley, Principal SME, Life Cycle Engineering
How much time do you spend in your plant and with your direct reports? Years ago, we were asked to lead the transformation of the second largest integrated steel mill in the world, all 20,000+ hourly employees and 13 labor unions. In our initial meeting, the V.P. and General Manager, who was also the corporate “fixer”, asked what had to be done to transform this operation from one that was losing key customers and hundreds of millions annually to one that could compete in the new global marketplace...To Kit, or Not to Kit: That is the Question!
By Al Emeneker, Life Cycle Engineering
In the world of manufacturing, we are looking for better, more efficient ways to improve our production uptime and quality, reduce the cost per unit, improve human capital utilization and create a higher quality of work life for our personnel. Kitting for maintenance crafts to perform their tasks is one of the easier and more effective ways to allow quality completion of the job with minimal productivity impact, especially when accompanied by a well planned and functionally scheduled job.What are the elements that contribute to a thoroughly planned work package?
By Tim Kister, CMRP, Life Cycle Engineering
There are basically five areas that if addressed properly would result in a well planned work order...There Are No Silver Bullets
By R. Keith Mobley, Principal SME, Life Cycle Engineering
If I had a nickel for every time a client has said, “…but you don’t understand, we’re different,” I would be a rich man. While it is true that there are differences, this is too often an excuse we use for not doing what we need to do—acknowledge our shortcomings and admit our imperfections. Then and only then can we overcome limitations and truly achieve our full potential.“Pruning” Your Inventory: Setting MRO Stocking Levels
By Doug Wallace, CPIM, Life Cycle Institute
As appeared in the IMPACT newsletter
In the 60’s there was a TV commercial that posed the question: “Is three enough? Is six too many? You never know with prunes.” If you’re old enough to remember it, then you probably recall what it was about. If not, you can Google Fletcher’s Castoria later. The point of the ad was that there’s no right amount for every situation; it depends on the circumstances.R. Keith Mobley's Introduction to Reflections on Excellence
By R. Keith Mobley, Principal SME, Life Cycle Engineering
At the cajoling of friends and associates, this is the first in a series of letters that will share my experience and observations gleaned from a career devoted to continuous improvement in manufacturing. If nothing else, almost 50 years of involvement at all levels of plant and corporate management has shown me what does not work and hopefully what is needed to be successful and competitive.PAS 55 – What is it and what’s the next step?
You may have heard the term PAS 55 and wondered how it applies to you. Here’s some background to help you understand what it is and where we go from here. In 2004, the British Standards Institute (BSI), in collaboration with the Institute of Asset Management, released Publicly Available Specification 55 part 1 and 2, which was considered the first internationally recognized specification for Asset Management.
The Five Biggest Risks to Effective Asset Management
The main focus of this article will be on physical assets, but you will find that some of the risks to asset management identified herein will be shared with the other asset type categories.
Lean Shutdowns: How to Cut Fat and Do the Right Thing
For most companies that run continuously, shutdowns and outages consume a lion’s share of both the maintenance and capital budgets. By its very nature, the shutdown is fat.
Breaking Down Organizational Barriers by Creating Plant Partnerships
As appeared in the IMPACT newsletter and our popular Reliability Excellence for Managers course
In many companies organizational silos prevent departments from working together effectively. These barriers are sometimes due to lack of communication, competition within the organization, or a difference in processes. Breaking down these barriers can mean the difference between working at optimal capacity and working in a less productive environment. Building partnerships between departments allows the organization to operate as one cohesive unit.Prioritize MRO storeroom items based on criticality and effect
By Doug Wallace, CPIM, Life Cycle Engineering
Although there’s no direct correlation between the two, an ABC analysis on MRO parts is similar to criticality rankings that reliability engineers develop for plant equipment. Criticality rankings define an asset’s relative priority in terms of its effect on plant safety, productivity, efficiency, or other criteria. An ABC analysis determines the relative priority of MRO storeroom items based on their criticality to the support of operations and their potential effect on plant inventory and investment.Put inventory consignment excuses on the shelf
By Doug Wallace, CPIM, Life Cycle Engineering
The concept of consignment isn’t new, and it’s not particularly complicated: a supplier agrees to place inventory on your site and they don’t invoice you for it until you use it. It’s one of the most effective ways to increase turnover and minimize inventory carrying costs while assuring an adequate supply of materials. Yet fewer than half of the plants I visit use consignment effectively, if at all.How “green” is your energy consumption?
By Wally Wilson, CMRP, CPIM, Life Cycle Engineering
As appeared in RxTodayEnvironmental responsibility is becoming more than just not discharging pollutants into the nearby stream or emitting toxic materials into the atmosphere. Many companies are making the decision to “Go Green” to show their customers, share holders and employees they care about the environment, and as an equal incentive they look to lower energy consumption, increase equipment reliability and cause a positive change to the profit and loss statement. As the leadership of an organization begins to look for potential areas to make investments to achieve these goals, they often look at their production processes to find these opportunities.
Is Your MRO Storeroom a Productivity Trap?
By Doug Wallace, CPIM, Life Cycle Engineering
The key to any best-practice work process is to ensure that whatever activity is being performed is being accomplished as effectively, efficiently and safely as possible, preferably at the lowest possible total cost. In the Materials Management world, and specifically within the MRO storeroom environment, there are a number of best-practice work processes that are designed to manage and control the storeroom inventory (and associated investment) and other resources (people, equipment, information etc.) at their optimum levels, including:Spare Parts Can Kill Your Plant’s Efficiency
By Wally Wilson, CMRP of Life Cycle Engineering
As appeared in Reliability Web's e-newsletter
You could be introducing premature failure in your equipment assets caused by the inventory management practices for spare parts in your Maintenance, Repair, and Operating supplies (MRO) storeroom. The storeroom is one of the foundation blocks that support the maintenance department’s efforts to keep production equipment running at the most efficient levels possible.Symptoms of Ineffective Planning
By Bobby Rivenbark, Life Cycle Engineering
Planning is one of the main processes of effective maintenance departments. By determining the work details up front before the actual work takes place, planning allows for the most efficient use of maintenance resources.Why are Preventive Maintenance (PM) inspections not always effective?
By Al Emeneker, Life Cycle Engineering
Are you experiencing equipment failure even with what you consider a good PM program? What questions are you asking about the failures? Are the Five Why’s tying back to the actual PM tasking? Or are the Five Why’s pointing to something else? Is the PM tasking appropriate for the results expected on the specific equipment?Realizing the value of risk-based management
Operators can derive the best results by collecting relevant data from the value stream, and using it to make fiscally responsible decisions. Asset management has been redefined in many ways over the years, and typically has a financial feel to it. It is important to differentiate between an enterprise asset management system, and the strategy and plan that helps us manage our assets across the enterprise.
