Equipment Maintenance – Several processes.

Process 1 – Basic Lubrication Service

Objective: Get the right oil in the right hole at the right time.
Why? Too early throws away oil & filters with remaining life.
Too late accelerates wear on components.

The Steps:
1. Pick the service intervals (L&M Guide not a bad place to start).
2. Track usage – operated hours or SMU.
3. Calculate due date.
4. Make a schedule and generate a work order.
5. Execute lube service work order.
6. Monitor compliance and accuracy with a scatter diagram.
The Implications: If the servicing organization cannot do this, what hope is there for something complex?

Process 2 – Planned Repairs / Repair Before Failure

Objective: Complete repairs with minimum downtime & maximum efficiency.
Why? Downtime is very costly.
Unplanned repairs consume more downtime (perhaps 8 to 1) and labor.
Labor is not unlimited and must be efficiently used.
Supervisors can plan and control with certainty if armed with information.
Parts lead-times and requirements ($) need to be under control.
Production can be told what, why and how long so they can plan accordingly.

The Steps:
1. Monitor machine condition.

• Daily inspection by operator (if capable) or mechanic.
  
• Pre-PM inspection – daily or as dictated by parts lead-times.
  
• PM inspection – defer repair action to next window of opportunity if parts are not on-hand.
  
• VIMS download – do with pre-PM inspection because of parts lead-times.
  
• Oil Sampling, particle count – if make-up oil is being tracked and analysis is in hand in under 4 days.
  
• Diagnostic / system tests – pressures, temperatures and flows.
  

2. Feed condition-monitoring findings into backlog system as individual repair items perhaps in the form of individual work orders or work requests. Paper backlog management systems work and so do most computer systems. (Abelardo Flores has written one in Microsoft Access that is a dandy.)
3. Use technicians to convert any listed “symptoms” into “problems” or “action needed” items.
4. Assign repair priorities and estimated repair times to each work order.
5. Order parts per edited list of problems.Receive and stage parts.
6. Identify a widow of opportunity for repairs.
7. Schedule repairs and plan manpower resources based on backlog requirements and the available window.
8. Communicate backlog particulars to production for “go ahead”.
9. If required arrange for tooling or special equipment.Complete backlog items per the plan and work order instructions.

The implications: you can not plan for things you don’t about nor work efficiently without managing the repair backlog process. Condition monitoring and backlog management are two parts of one process. A planner is key. A parts coordinator is worth the money.

Process 3 – Analyse Maintenance and Repair History

Objective: Find out what has been happening so objective, rational analysis can be utilized to make improvements.
Why? Seat-of-the-pants and gut feel have often proven to be wrong.
Many issues require quantification.
Pareto analysis requires data and date segmentation.

The Steps:
1. Open individual work orders for all repairs.

• Fast, low cost field repairs and lube service can be blanket or standing work orders.
  
• Header should show unit, component, date & time down and up.
  
• Body should show problem description (not symptom) and action taken.
  

2. Open “informational” work orders for unresolved problems or complaints, bad SOS reports or VIMS machine events with long range implications
3. Apply labor to the work order number.
4. Apply parts to the work order number.
5. Segment and sort to “Pareto - ise” in the computer.

• Downtime.
  
• Labor hours.
  
• Repair incident count.
  
• Costs (parts and labor).
  

6. Generate reports.

• MA, MTBS, MTTR by fleet and unit.
  
• MTBS & MTTR by component / system
  
• Repair incidents by component / system.
  
• Costs by component / system.
  

7. Dig deeper into work order detail when reports show the need.
The implications: you cannot improve what you cannot measure or quantify

Big Conclusion:
Without “Process 1” a company cannot survive.
Without “Process 2” a company cannot be competitive in a world market.
Without “Process 3” a company cannot improve