MAINTENANCE & MANAGEMENT

Asset reliabilitydrives Lean maintenance

A CMMS/EAM is the backbone ofa proactive maintenance organization

Lean maintenance is the application of Lean phi-lo.sophies, methods, toois and techniques to main-tenance functions. It has the same fundamentalgoals: eliminating wastes associated with labor,

inventory, procedures and techniques, resulting in improvedproductivity and reduced costs.

Lean maintenance is not simply a "slash-and-dash"approach in eliminating jobs and cutting costs. This com-mon approach of slash-and-dash doesn't eliminate wasteor cut costs. Lean maintenance philosophy reduces costsby eliminating wastes that can be defined as "anything thatdoesn't add value to the product, process or service."

Many ofthe tools used to implement Lean principles formanufacturing al.so apply to maintenance. They include:5S, Kaizen.Just-in-Time, elimination of the seven deadlywastes, and so on. However, although this article doesnot discuss these Lean tools, it does emphasize using aCMMS or EAM as a tool to aid in accomplishing Leanmaintenance goals.

Lean maintenance principlesMuch has been written about Lean manufacturing prin-

ciples. Many of them are directly applicable to Lean main-tenance, which include:

Workflow - One ofthe common performance metrics isplanned vs. unplanned work orders. The benchmark goal hasbeen 909c planned {PM and other planned activities) and 10%unplanned corrective/breakdown maintenance. In reality,with most organizations, the ratio is anywhere from 10% -30% planned maintenance to 70% - 90% unplanned. This isindicative of operating in a reactive mode, which contributesto waste, reduced equipment life and lost productivity.

A thorough understanding and analysis of maintenancework process flow makes it easier to identify and eliminatewaste. The goal is not only to eliminate waste, but to developan improved work process flow that is more effective andproductive. As the flow is thoroughly reviewed and ana-lyzed, the entire process flow becomes visible. Wastefulactivities such as delays and unnecessary travel are easilyidentified (Fig. 1).

A typical maintenance work process flow can point outwasteful activities, which include:

• Overproduction - In the maintenance environment,overproduction is doing any work that does not add value.Performing preventive and predictive maintenance tasks

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more often than is necessary and redoing jobs that werenot done correctly the first time are examples

• Waiting - Areas of wastes in this category include main-tenance personnel waiting for equipment availability, jobassignments, tools, parts, instructions, other crafts, permitapproval, etc. Waiting is not a value-added activity andshould be eliminated or reduced as much as possible

• Transportation - Unnecessary travel is the result of inef-fective planning and scheduling. Examples include traveling

Creating a detailed job pian

Step-by-step procedure

Irts/tools

Labor skills

Instructions, drawings,sketches

rTime/cost estimates

Permits/safetyrequirements

ty 1't I

Outside contractorrequirements

Fig. 1. The goal of Lean maintenance is not soiely tite eiimination ofwaste, but the understanding and improvement of the work process flow.

to the maintenance shop to get technical information (0/Mmanual, prints, etc.) and traveling to the storeroom for partsand tools. Although not always visible, poorly-designedPM routes also contribute significantly to waste

• Process waste - When performing a breakdown repair,maintenance personnel are typically under tremendous pres-sure to fix the machine as soon as possible and return it toproduction. They are not given enough time to fix it properly.This results in poor repairs and recurring problems. Properlypertbrmed repairs would eliminate this process waste andsave lost production time in the long term. Many organiza-tions use CMMS or EAM systems. Processing wastes alsooccur when inefficiencies exist in these systems. Examplesare poorly designed applications that require multiple entriesof the same data, or material requisitioning processes thatrequire redundant approvals

May 2008 45

MAINTENANCE & MANAGEMENT

• Defects - In maintenance, adefect can be defined as leavingan asset in an unreliable condition.Causes of defects in the maintenanceenvironment are numerous. Defectsdue to poor workmanship arise frominadequate training, inadequate/out-dated procedures and not havingproper tools to do the job. Equip-ment/asset reliability can minimizedefects. Machines that are reliableproduce products that are withinspecification, less scrap and eliminate the cause of defectcorrection. Equipment must be ready to run when demandis presented

• Root cause - Although breakdowns and failures are neverplanned, they still cause the loss of production and money.Finding the root cause of a failure provides an organizationwith a solvable problem. Once the root cause is identified, afix can be developed and implemented, which - if properlydocumented - can prevent a recurring failure situation

• Parts inventory - Examples of wastes in spare parts inven-tory management are obsolete inventory, excessive inventoryand inadequate PM programs. Most storerooms contain asignificant amount of obsolete inventory, which ties up capitaland consumes management resources. It can easily amount to10% to 20% of annual inventory dollars. Excessive inventoryis not obsolete, but it is inventory maintained at unnecessarilyhigh levels, also tying up capital and consuming management

Lean maintenance philosophyreduces costs by eliminatingwaste that can he defined as"anything that doesn't addvalue to the product, processor service."

Maintenance work process flow

Initiate work request

Validate work request Performance indicator

resources. Inadequate PM programscause equipment failures, which intum result in additional parts require-ments {consuming working capital)and downtime.

A CMMS/EAM can monitor andcontrol parts inventory. It keepstrack of inventory items, ven-dor performance, parts receipts,issues and returns. In addition.CMMS/EAM can automate theparts purchasing process. Vendor-

managed and stocked inventory can also drastically reduceparts quantity (stocked in the storeroom) and save money.

Fig. 2. Establlsbiag a woili process flow for maintenance schedttliagbreaks down the components of maintenance procedures.

46 • May 2008 PIANT ENGINEEBING

TrendingCondition monitoring usually involves the use of installed

devices (gauges, meters, etc.) to monitor the operatingconditions of equipment and other assets. An example isa pressure gauge on a chiller. Maintenance can establishoperating limits for the conditions being monitored andtrend the observed data.

If the observed data is outside of certain predefined rangeof values, some maintenance action may be required. Thisis referred to as condition-based maintenance and can bevery effective and less expensive than periodic or fixed-frequency maintenance.

Planning, scheduiingThe planner/scheduler role is very important in a Lean

maintenance environment. The goal is to optimize the use ofavailable resources. Detailed job plans should be developedfor all approved open work orders including:

• Number of and type of labor resources (how manyplumbers, carpenters, etc.)

• Time estimates, so required manpower can be deter-mined

• Detailed job steps, including permit/safetyrequirements

• Parts and tools requirements (pre-kit if necessary)" Clear job instructions, drawings, sketches, etc.' Job site walk down to determine the most efficient way

of doing the job• Equipment availability coordination• Outside contractor requirements (if any).

Delays must be avoided at all cost. Weekly schedulingmust be done with daily fme-tuning as necessary. This levelof detail and coordination is required to achieve a Lean andefficient maintenance operation (Fig. 2).

CMMS/EAM as a Lean toolThe CMMS/EAM can be looked upon as a tool that can

help implement and support Lean maintenance in manydifferent ways, which include:

• CMMS/EAM enables the use of Lean principles by refin-ing PM activities. For example, it allows users to define assetsby size, type, subtype and kx:ation, as well as to customizePM to a specific asset. This way users can control and opti-

MAINTENANCE & MANAGEMENT

The goal is not onlyto eliminate waste,but to develop animproved workprocess flow that ismore effective andproductive.

mize PM frequencies for specifictypes of equipment. The abilityof the CMMS/EAM to track andmanage work requests, labor, plan-ning and scheduling allows usersto streamline the work processflow to cut wastes and improveproductivity

• With easy access to detailedasset information, maintenanceplanners are better equipped toschedule ta.sks. plan routes andestimate the materials required.

For example, muUiple assets that share similar require-ments or are at the same location may be combined in asingle work order, cutting maintenance labor costs

• A CMMS/EAM can produce reports indicating overduePM tasks. Performing PMs on time can contribute to higherequipment uptime resulting in higher overall productivity

• A critical aspect of maintenance planning is the availabil-ity of real-time data. A CMMS/EAM can use the real-timeinformation through mobile technology to allow usage-basedscheduling of maintenance tasks as opposed to a fixed calen-dar base. For example, an air-handler PM might be scheduledon runtime hours instead of at monthly intervals

• Real-time information allows users to set alarms basedon condition monitoring. For example, if a temperature

reading is outside of predefined range, the CMMS/EAMsystem can issue a work order automatically.

Asset reliability can drive Lean maintenance concepts.Maintenance can help eliminate a number of differentcauses of waste by maintaining assets to do what they areexpected to do and when they are expected to do it. Doneright. Lean concepts can lower maintenance cost and [ 3increase productivity. U

Kris Bagadia is president of PEAK Industria! SolutionsLLC. in Brookfield, WL A consultant and educator, he hasbeen active within the maintenance field for more than20 years. He can be reached at (262) 783-6260 or at krisb@peakis.com

PlantEngineenng.com hosts niimeiuub aiiiUcb snd news items Itiat ottei

insight on Lean methods and how they can be applied to many aspects of

manufacturing and power generation, including maintenance. They include:

"The many faces of lean Maintenance" Py Bruce Hawkins

"Cotlaborative maintenance: A strategy to help manufacturers

become Lean, mean, and agile" by Mike iaszkiewicz

"The evolution of maintenance strategy" by Ralph Rio

learning how to leverage Lean Six Slgma's power" by Steven Bogart

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