Doc Palmer

Blast kills 1, inures 9 at New Jersey plant

An explosion at a New Jersey metal casting plant killed one worker and injured nine others. The accident occurred when Maintenance workers were performing maintenance on an air pressure vat used to cast molten metals into machine parts when the vat exploded.

Although unknown whether having a lack of detail procedures was a contributing factor in this tragedy it makes me wonder. Evaluate the on-going maintenance activities in your organization; look for some key behaviors displayed:

·         Detailed step by step procedures are provided for maintenance activities.

·         These detailed step by step procedures are utilized by the workforce (maintenance or operations).

·         Supervisors and managers are monitoring to ensure these procedures are available and utilized.

·         These procedures are in a state of constant improvement based on utilization and the changing equipment environment.

For the sake of your company’s and employee’s future do not leave this critical element out of your maintenance program. Make the utilization of the proper procedures a normal part of your employee’s culture.

What if…you could reduce those costs?

What if… every time a repair part was needed it was there?

What if…there were no obsolete items in your storeroom?

What if…you rarely had to expedite repair parts?

Big improvement huh… It’s relatively easy with a few simple steps.

Proactively manage the Materials Management function. Develop partnerships with Maintenance Planners, Materials Managers, and Vendors. Focus on developing Bills of Materials (BOM) to understand what’s needed and not needed. Empty the storeroom of the not needed items. Proactively plan all maintenance work to reduce or eliminate expediting parts. Establish the proper min/max for each item to ensure the needed items are there when their needed.

What if…you did nothing?

Not sure where or how to start? Attend our Materials Management training, Planner training, or Maintenance Management training. Follow the link for course information and dates. We can answer the what if for you with how to.

Being a die-hard NASCAR fan I enjoy spending my Sunday afternoons on the couch watching the race. In the past this had caused issues with my wife about getting those house chores completed. Performing a little Root Cause Analysis (RCA) on the issue I discovered the ultimate solution for our household. I implemented a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) for home use…

Now the way this works is…

All household chores must be submitted as a work order. Once it has been entered, it will never be forgotten (eliminates the “hey you forgot to do this” discussion). The job must be scoped and planned. This is the opportunity to identify necessary materials and estimate the cost for the activity (eliminates the “hey you depleted the household budget” discussion.

Once the job has been planned the garage is searched for the necessary parts/materials or parts/materials are ordered (trip to the local hardware store). The work order status is changed to “awaiting parts” for all missing items until the trip to the hardware store is completed. For all work orders that have parts/materials the status is changed to “ready to schedule”.

A weekly household scheduling meeting is performed with my operations counterpart (the wife) and the weekly operating schedule is reviewed (TV guide for race times). All work is then “scheduled” around the race (keeping that valuable couch time open).

All “scheduled” work is performed according to the agreed upon schedule, or if unforeseen circumstances prevent the completion (weather or additional parts/materials requirements) the work order status is changed to “completed”, “awaiting parts”, or “ready to schedule”.

Now when I assume the prone position to enjoy the races and hear “are you going to lie there all afternoon and watch the race?” I can guilt free say…yup, and pull data out of the CMMS and prove:

• All activities were completed in a timely manner (mean time to response)
• No activities were over-budget without approval (review of parts/materials utilized)
• Nothing was forgotten (review of the work order statuses)
• Review of craft utilization (working hours vs. non-working hours)

This was just the thing needed to ensure the valuable time stayed valuable. I was thinking if this CMMS thing works this good at home imagine what it could do for you at work…Not sure where or how to get started? We can help.

Tip provided by Dave Bertolini

Managing Principal

People and Processes, Inc.

dbertolini@peopleandprocesses.com

Doc will take the lead on Maintenance Planning and Scheduling (MPS) courses delivered by People and Processes (globally and at the RAMS Center), and will continue to apply his expertise working with companies around the world to optimize their MPS initiatives and programs. Doc has more than 23 years of industrial experience with 17 of those years directly in a maintenance role. He also has a master’s degree in business from the University of North Florida and a degree in engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. In addition, he holds a professional engineering license in the State of Florida. He is also a Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional.

Doc’s maintenance background with a technical and business education gives him a unique perspective on the maintenance environment and challenges. As an actual practitioner within a company’s maintenance organization, he recognized and developed the necessary principles, and then led the grassroots’ establishment of a successful planning program.

Jeff Shiver, Managing Principle for People and Processes says, “We’re excited about this renewed opportunity to work together formally after years of collaborating personally and professionally. We respect Doc’s work and value his contributions to industry.” Doc Palmer is the author of numerous well-received articles and presentations and is a recognized authority on the establishment of successful maintenance planning.

Yulee, Florida-based People and Processes, Inc. is an education and consulting firm providing professional services dedicated to business management functions involving asset/equipment management, continuous improvement and education in maintenance, operations, and reliability.