October - Library - Central Queensland University

66
The information data base resides at the various levels within the process hierarchical library. For example, it can be appreciated
how a tradesperson and planner would re q u i re the manufacture r ’s details when ordering the electric motor’s bearing. Altern a t i v e l y,
the collection of all history of work perf o rmed and the cost of maintaining the process should reside no further down than the electric
motor’s level given the benefits in tracking this information at the part’s level is a waste of time.
As stated earlier, the CMMS is utilised as the tool to increase both the organisational efficiency and effectiveness by facilitating
the collection, processing and analysis of the data. In terms of increased organisational eff i c i e n c y, this could be achieved for
example by linking the stores and purchasing functions when drilling down through the BOM to find and hence order the electric
motor or bearing either out of store stock or to purchase externally, and then the automatic initiation to replenish the store stocked
item.
In terms of increased organisational effectiveness, similarly the CMMS ‘s work order system should enable all history of work
performed and the costs associated with maintaining be housed and made easy to retrieve at the electric motor level. The CMMS
can then enable for example a Pareto analysis so as to identify a top five in terms of high costs and/or poor reliability. Put another
way, it enables the identification of the 20% of all (say) motors that create 80% of the issues - i.e. the 80/20 rule. This information
can then be utilised as the basis for a dedicated re s o u rce, such as a reliability engineer, to establish root cause and hence pre s c r i b e
a solution. This example of proactive maintenance, in which the establishment of root cause leads to a change in the way in which
the equipment is designed, operated, maintained or any combination of the three, relies heavily on accurate data. Based on this
and in relation to the pyramid of key maintenance management processes, it is obvious as to why proactive maintenance (which
will be discussed later) resides at the third level within the pyramid.
The information data base is a live and dynamic work in progress and there is no end to the amount of times that the data base will
be updated over the life of the plant / process. In other words, as work is completed by the trades (and others) on a daily basis,
when new equipment is installed and conversely old equipment removed, when maintenance plans are revised to (say) re f l e c t
proactive maintenance, etc so too should the data base be revised to reflect the changes.
The benefits of an accurate and dynamic information data base not only aids in the planning and scheduling of all work, it also plays
an integral role in supporting and development of the future key maintenance management processes (within the pyramid).
Specifically information will be used in the following areas (and will be discussed further at a later time):
• Proactive maintenance (as already touched on).
• To justify approval of capital expenditures.
• For zero based budgeting and/or historical budgeting.
• To justify the purchase of the most reliable and possibly the more expensive equipment as opposed to the cheapest.
• In terms of financial optimisation so as to establish the true cost of manufacturing (life cycle costing).
• Inventory and procurement.
• The list goes on.
INVENTORY AND PROCUREMENT
Reality check! Let us assume the following scenario:
Suppose that maintenance plans have been developed for one of the more critical processes within the plant, be it from a business
and/or bottleneck perspective, or maybe maintenance plans have been developed for just one or two critical pieces of equipment
within the process, or maybe for the whole plant - whatever. An ongoing acceptable level of compliance to the maintenance plan’s
schedule is being achieved - i.e. in excess of 70% (and climbing). The amount of work being planned and scheduled each week is
increasing and the work flow system is being adhered to. Collection of information into the data base is off and running albeit most
of the trades people, team leaders / leading hands and some of the supervisors are still confused with what is history and what is
shift log reporting. All in all though, there is an underlying appreciation within the organisation that things are improving due to an
i n c rease in uptime and a reduction in the amount of breakdowns and call-ins being experienced. This whole new concept may
actually be working.
With nothing else better to do it seems like an opportune time to address the issues associated with inventory and procurement.
Time to roll up the sleeves as this will be an uphill battle all the way given there are no gains to be made here, just ask anyone!
The trades people will tell you that they cannot give up their satellite stores and hand back responsibility to the stores people
because they can never get it right - i.e. every time the trades people go to the store to get something out it is never there, even
though the CMMS indicates there is two in stock. None of the trades people will ever admit to taking stock out of the store and not
booking it out so it must be the store’s fault, hence the need to carry satellite stores. The trades people know that satellite stores
leads to the following but it is still a better option than handing back responsibility to the store:
• Duplication of parts.
• Un-controlled condition of parts - i.e. not fit for use due to poor storage practices such as allowing shelf life to expire, etc.
• Parts are not automatically flagged for reorder when used.
• The list goes on.