Fired Up: Alcoa Smelting Plant Pursues Excellence in Reliability (PDF)

RAISING THE BAR
Establishing definitions in a variety of
areas have helped trigger improvements. A
primary focus was to define “what is
possible?” and “what is progress?”
An answer came in accepting overall
equipment effectiveness (OEE) as a key
plant-wide metric. OEE tracks sources of
operating loss, including equipment availability,
performance and quality, and is
expressed as a percentage of optimum
performance.
“It’s basically defined by some past
best performance,” electrode production
manager Tom Svoboda. “You saw it
happen. It wasn’t fictional or hypothetical.
Whether the equipment was running
extraordinarily that month or you were
really on top of the process, it happened.
The question is, if you did it during that
one period of time, why can’t you do it
all the time?”
Using a sports analogy to illustrate the
importance of 100 percent OEE, if a high
jumper normally jumps 6 feet 6 inches but
establishes a personal best of 7 feet, what
specifically led to this peak 100 percent
performance. Did he train differently? Did
he change his diet prior to the meet? Did he
wear different shoes? He literally raised the
bar. What can be learned and what can be
done to achieve that mark time and again?
Maintenance and operations worked
together to define peak performance for
plant functions (for example, anode
assembly), processes (ore unloading),
outcomes (scrap) and individual pieces of
equipment (ring furnace). In compiling this
information, it was determined that $8.3
million in annual cost savings were possible
as the result of achieving OEE goals.
With the background information,
current states were defined and target
conditions established. Activities – work
projects utilizing lean manufacturing
tools such as kaizen and Continuous
Improvement – took place. Progress was
measured and analyzed. And, tangible
benefits were calculated.
In 2004, $2.4 million in improvements
were linked to OEE gains.
Looking deeper and taking actions also
led to decreased maintenance expenses in
the smelting plant. In the first year after
beginning the reliability initiative, expenses
dropped $1.9 million, from a baseline
figure of $32 million to $30.1 million. In
2004, the figure fell another $700,000.
The ratio of maintenance expenses per
metric ton produced also dropped to $109
in 2004.
THE PLAN ON ‘PLANNED’
A major effort also was made to better
define elements of maintenance. Specifically,
in this operator-led reliability system, “how
does work get planned?” and “how does
work get done?”
“Looking back, we were fooling
ourselves into thinking that we were
healthy,” says maintenance manager
Danny Reyes. “Many of our old metrics
were out of touch. We thought our
‘percent planned and scheduled work’ was
at 85 percent and our ‘percent PM completion’
was at 90 percent.”
LCE informed the plant that it was using
the wrong definitions.
“The ‘percent planned and scheduled
work’ was really just ‘percent scheduled.’
Planning was very limited,” Reyes says. “It
was schedule compliance. Probably 10
percent of those jobs were planned.”
WHAT ARE THE
CHARACTERISTICS OF
A PLANNED JOB?
1) There is an accurate time estimate for
the job such that the supervisor would
have a reasonable expectation on
when he or she could assign the task.
2) There is an accurate estimate of
needed resources in terms of crafts
personnel, repair/replacement parts,
tools, support equipment, etc.
3) All necessary information (blueprints,
permits, safety-related, etc.)
is obtained.
4) Job step sequence, procedures and
instructions to accomplish the work
are established.
5) All needed parts and materials are
kitted.
6) As a built-in check to assure a quality
planned job, periodically discuss the
nature of the job with a supervisor
and/or the craftsperson assigned to
complete the job. Assure there is a
full understanding of the scope of
work and that the kitted job package
is complete.
A 35-to-1 ratio of crafts personnel (140)
to planners (four) was the crux of the
problem.
“It did not work very well,” says
maintenance planner Larry McCubbins.
“There was very little time to plan. You
became a scheduler, and not a very good
one at that.”
A reactive environment thrives in this
setting. “We were doing the ‘home maintenance
approach,’” says Keneipp. “That’s
the way you and I tackle projects on a
Saturday morning. It’s really unplanned
and inefficient.”
The plant has since added three planners
for a total of seven, providing a more
manageable ratio of 20-to-1.
“That makes it possible for these guys to
set up, organize work, plan it, schedule it
out with production centers, make sure all
the parts are there, make sure the equipment
is down and the time is allotted,” says
smelting maintenance superintendent
Scott Deon.
Other keys to better planning:
1)A formal document now outlines the
components of a planned job.
“The poor four planners we had trying to
do everything didn’t do things the same
way,” says Deon. “This new format now
standardizes how to perform the work.”
2) A formal, secure area is now used by the
planners for job kitting. In the past,
needed parts and materials were
dispatched piecemeal to a job site. The
pile might sit for weeks until all items
arrived. During the waiting time, it was
not uncommon for parts or tools to be
moved, lost or used for another job.
“As the planner plans the job, he orders
all the materials and has them delivered
here,” says McCubbins. “When everything
for the job is here, we gather it on a pallet
or two. The crafts then come and take it
out to the job site and perform the work.”
3) Effective communication.
“I used to think that I knew what people
wanted. This process taught me that I
didn’t,” says McCubbins. “I didn’t know
what they wanted and what was right for
them. In the past, I planned the job and
didn’t ask questions.”
Adds Deon: “With the shared responsibility
with production, we now know which
job comes first. The person who owns the