1. business and industrial

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JANUARY 2002
NUMBER 2801
“Dollarizing” Maintenance:
How to Take Your Team’s
Performance Up a Level
If you want to take Maintenance
to the next level at your facility,
learn to express your operation’s
impact in dollars. Why?
Decision-making at the boardroom level always involves some
degree of cost/benefit analysis.
Your ability to present senior
managers with a crisp financial
description of even mid-level
departmental work — being able
to talk their language, in other
words — will do a lot to boost
your persuasiveness in the budgetary process.
earning to “dollarize” each maintenance cost center and function
brings you another important
benefit: an invaluable benchmarking
tool for your own decision-making.
You’ll gain a new means of predicting
the impact of projects and of assessing the results.
Conversely, the inability to construct and follow a sound business
model will orphan many otherwise
worthwhile initiatives for lack of the
needed rationale. Your operation will
either miss out on valuable cost-saving
opportunities or it will be lured into
costly mistakes. The choice is yours.
Thinking in such a financial style
may be alien to nuts-and-bolts-minded maintenance managers, but that
doesn’t mean that the task is beyond
your grasp. Far from it!
Here are a few basic how-to tips on
effective “bean counting” for plant
maintenance projects, offered by
L
Georgia-based engineering consultant
Terry Wireman.
Looking at the Numbers
There are three levels of plant
maintenance activity that can be financially evaluated, with each level characterized by its relative importance.
At the highest level we find critical
production equipment. Here, the
value of efficiency — or lack thereof
— is magnified. For these projects,
the formula that Wireman applies is
called Overall Equipment
Effectiveness or OEE. (See more,
below). It’s probably the best-developed and most-closely-scrutinized
index of maintenance reliability.
The next level involves the maintenance-specific functions. Less attention has been paid to monetary impact
at this level because the scale is less
dramatic. But you can measure
return-on-investment that is derived
from advanced maintenance efforts
— for example, predictive maintenance (PdM) or total productive
maintenance (TPM).
The same is true at the “bottom”
or most basic level: The dollars you
spend on routine preventive maintenance (PM) and other maintenance of
nonproduction systems can also be
expressed in terms of profit and loss.
Wireman advises starting out at the
top level, calculating OEE separately
for each production machine or system. Use the formula
OEE = Availability x Performance
Efficiency x Quality Rate
where …
Availability is the percentage of the
time that equipment actually runs,
against the expected or scheduled
run time. You should strive for at
least 90 percent availability, says
“Dollarizing”,
continued on page 2 ➧
IN THIS ISSUE
2
Maintenance Mainstream: An ROI Case Study
3
New Year’s Resolution: It’s Time to Tune Up Your Maintenance Plan
4
10 Ways to Boost Your Maintenance Effectiveness
5
The Case File: Did This Employer Live Up to Its Policy?
6
Staffing: You Can Plan Your Way Out of Overtime
6
Waste in Maintenance: Seven Types – And What You Can Do About Them
8
Outsourcing: Seven Steps to Successful Outsourcing of the Maintenance
Function
9
Shifting Gears: Your Car Does It – And So Can You!
10 Emergency Response: It’s Time for a Checkup
10 Call For Submissions
A BUREAU OF BUSINESS PRACTICE NEWSLETTER
bbpnews.com
9900003030
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perhaps preventing management from
launching an unwarranted expansion.
he following case illustrates how learning to talk the language of top
management — return-on-investments, in this case — can pay off in a
big way: A concrete company
in Canada calculated the downtime
cost of a tempering kiln at $10,000
of lost output an hour. Any shutdown for repair, followed by restarting, required a minimum of four hours.
In addition, the local power company surcharged the firm annually to the
tune of about $100,000 in penalties for the heavy demand caused by each
startup.
“The bottom line was, in one year they had to shut down perhaps six
times, with a minimum of four hours of downtime each time — a staggering
loss,” says Terry Wireman.
The magnitude was so great, in fact, that the company determined that
the savings provided by a reduction of even a few hours of this downtime
would easily pay for a full-time electrician and a backup mechanic “to do
nothing but preventive and proactive kiln maintenance,” he says.
During the year following these reassignments, not a single unplanned
shutdown occurred, and the modest investment “paid for itself many times
over.”
“We see this type of thing all the time,” Wireman says. “Companies often
work long hours of overtime or suffer prolonged downtime to recover from
unexpected repairs — all in an attempt to avoid adding another body to the
payroll. In reality, however, doing a cost study will often show that having
another mechanic will save three or four times his or her added salary. When
management sees those types of return ratios, suddenly the addition to your
department’s head count doesn’t look so bad. But unless you can show them
the total cost picture for the lost productivity, they’ll never add that body —
because all they do is look at the overhead cost.” ■
T
An ROI Case Study
➧ “Dollarizing”, from page 1
Wireman.
To calculate availability at your
facility, take the scheduled uptime of,
say, two shifts a week — or 80 hours
— and divide it by the actual uptime.
(Note: Subtract from both figures any
scheduled maintenance shutdowns.
Another key point: Many production plants run less than a 24/7 schedule, of course, but Wireman advises
expressing the top of the Availability
fraction with the maximum potential
of weekly hours. So, round-the-clock,
24/7 availability might equal 168
hours per week instead of only the
scheduled time.
“This approach — using a maximum potential figure — expresses
the true availability of the plant’s
equipment, rather than hiding it
behind spurious calculations,” he
explains. Although the resulting fraction is now smaller and perhaps less
impressive looking, there is a benefit:
It alerts the boardroom to the fact that
underutilized plant capacity remains,
Performance efficiency refers to the
percentage of the rated or designed
equipment spec for output that is actually being attained. For example, a
machine may be designed to produce
100 “widgets” an hour, but what does
it actually yield? Your goal here should
be at least 95 percent of the ideal.
Wireman points out that the rated
design specs may be inaccurate or
long ago forgotten, especially with
older equipment. If possible, try to
recover the original rating in order to
reach a truer benchmark.
Another point to be wary of is the
fact that sometimes an ingenious
technician has re-engineered performance to make a system yield more
widgets than it originally could. If so,
you’ll need to adjust the top of the
fraction. If you don’t, the resulting
reliability rating will be inflated.
Quality rate refers to the fraction of
the product output that meets the
acceptable first-pass quality standard. In percentage terms, put the
“perfection” figure (i.e., zero rejects)
on top and divide by “passed” or
acceptable units. The result should
exceed 99%. When adding up the
number of acceptable passed units,
don’t include any reworking, refiltering, repackaging, or reformatting
that isn’t first-pass quality.
Following a Case in Point
Now, for an OEE example. Let’s
say the figures for the facility are as
follows: an availability rate of 85%, a
performance efficiency level of 90%,
and a quality rate of 95%. This yields
the following computation:
.85 x .90 x .95 = 72.6% OEE
That number now serves as a baseline and benchmark. You can focus
Maintenance Management (ISSN 1080-188X) is published monthly by the Bureau of Business Practice, a division of
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© 2002, Aspen Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
Editor: Peter Hawkins; Editorial Director: Joyce Anne Grabel; Associate Publisher: James O’Shea.
2
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your maintenance efforts on improving each term. As a comparison point,
world-class maintenance is now
defined as achieving an OEE of 85%
or better.
However, although you now have
a starting index, your financial translation isn’t done yet. You need to
express that 72.6% in dollars. To do
this you’ll need to know the market
value of each piece that the equipment puts out.
Determining this may be tricky in
that accountants tend to use a variety
of costing methods. Ask them for
appropriate unit pricing. Wireman
points out that, “What’s important
isn’t which way you do it, but you
want to use one system consistently.”
This ensures that you’re comparing
apples with apples in your work-valuation measures.
Multiply the unit value that they
give you by the actual output quantity
during the period in question —
whether a week, month, or year.
For example, suppose the equipment, when operating at 72.6% OEE,
puts out 15,600 pieces per week, each
worth $12. Your world-class target is
an OEE of 85%. Arithmetically, that’s
an additional 7,800 pieces per week.
Achieving this will add annual revenues of $12 x 7,800 x 50 week/year
— or $4.68 million.
Although simple, OEE will prove
itself a powerful management tool for
prioritizing and doing cost/benefit
studies. You can use the figures to
support budget requests for additional
staff, training, or tools. Moreover, as
Wireman explains, “Whenever financial people want to know the impact
of your efforts on the bottom line, the
answer will be clear and understandable for them.”
Expanding Your Effort
Next, you’ll want to apply similar
analyses to other lower-level maintenance systems — the difference now
being that instead of counting production output (which doesn’t occur,
of course), you must establish some
other suitable valuation theory.
For many, this will take the form
of the cumulative expense generated
by the system’s operation. Hence,
you’re applying a kind of “negative
OEE” formula.
For example, a heat exchanger or
cooler does not produce an asset, but
it may rack up hefty overhead costs
for the needed cleaning, periodic
maintenance, and eventual replacement. One way to quantify this
expense meaningfully is to figure the
cost impact of outright zero maintenance (i.e., “run-to-failure”).
What will this “strategy of neglect”
cost? Almost certainly it will…
1. Increase energy consumption due
to decreased efficiency
2. Hasten a complete breakdown
3. Eventually necessitate either a
costly repair or replacement
In addition, ignoring this system
may also degrade air quality — with
potentially expensive repercussions.
For the greatest accuracy, strive to
total the cumulative downside cost of
this run-to-failure approach.
Now, against this expense total
you can estimate the positive impact
of performing work such as predictive tests, routine PM, and even TPM.
High-quality maintenance will greatly extend equipment lifespan — but
by how much exactly? And what is
the comparative worth? Calculate this
dollar payback as a function of the
ongoing maintenance investment.
In the same way, calculate
cost/benefit data for other equipment
and functions facility-wide — pumps,
motors, HVAC systems, parts inventory levels, even relamping.
What you end up doing, Wireman
says, is “dollarizing the maintenance
operation,” which, theoretically, can
lead to your “determining almost the
exact hour at which you should do
maintenance on that cooler or chiller
or furnace, or whatever.” Of course,
by using this method you may also
discover that you’re doing excessive
and needless maintenance on some
items, as defined in pure dollar outlay. Your dollarizing approach should
help you to detect and correct imbalances and wasted motion.
What’s crucial in this approach is
that “your determinations are not
based on what’s convenient for the
maintenance operation, but on what
is best for the company bottom line,”
Wireman says. Thus, you’re better
able to communicate the significance
of your department in the terms that
key financial people find most relevant — and your analysis will often
be eye opening to them.
“Very few financial people understand production constraints or production values,” Wireman observes.
“Few understand the impact of poor
maintenance and resulting downtime.
But many will be surprised to see this
kind of analysis coming from a maintenance manager.”
◆ Terry Wireman is a noted consultant and author based in
Woodstock, Georgia. He can be
reached at (208) 233-8585 and at
[email protected].
You can find his Web site at
www.terrywireman.com ■
New Year’s Resolution:
It’s Time to Tune Up
Your Maintenance Plan
By Kevin M. Quinley, CPCU, ARM
Medmarc Insurance Group
ll buildings and equipment have
certain basic maintenance
needs, and prudent stewardship
of resources involves taking care of
A
what you have. A well-designed physical maintenance plan is a key aspect
of facility management. While your
company’s employees may have a
certain tolerance for clutter (remember the saying, “It’s a dirty job, but
someone’s got to do it”?), clients, cus-
3
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tomers, and visitors understandably
hold places of business and commerce to high standards of upkeep
and maintenance.
Many property managers use a doit-yourself approach to maintenance
by calling upon staff or employees to
attend to the needs of the physical
plant and other facilities issues. They
actively encourage employees who
have specific talents, such as carpentry, plumbing, gardening, or helping
with odd jobs, to become part of a
maintenance team. However, this
approach is not universally embraced.
sion that involves additional expense
care of everything from roof inspecand one that might be tough for facilitions and furnace cleanings to carpet
ties on tight budgets to manage.
scrubbing and changing light bulbs.
Also, there may not be a sufficient
Turnover in such positions is often
amount of work year-round to
high, however. If the staff
keep such a maintenance
changes, a property
staff busy. Or there may
manager needs to
A well-designed
be jobs that transcend
know what has
the expertise of a staff
been addressed
physical maintenance plan
person, requiring the
and what open
is a key aspect of successful items still must
outsourcing of mainfacility management.
tenance jobs. In this
be handled. A
case, the property owner
well-designed
takes a double financial
maintenance diary can
“hit,” paying for a staff position
help close the maintenance
and also going outside to hire a conloop and keep key tasks from slipping
tractor.
through the proverbial cracks.
A Key Decision
Other managers find it more expeYour maintenance plan should
A critical decision is whether a
dient to hire a professional firm to
periodically address the physical
property owner internalizes mainteperform routine building maintenance
plant’s major systems:
nance functions or outsources them to
chores.
HVAC (heating, ventilation, and
firms and contractors. Some hire a
And then there are the facilities
air
conditioning). Keep the building
full-time maintenance staff — a decithat go with an in-house staff to take
interior at a comfortable temperature.
Provide adequate ventilation, and
monitor humidity levels. This is not
just for the comfort of staff and visitors; it also prevents the spread of
mold or mildew. Papers and books
can warp and degrade from improper
1. Understand the tradeoffs involved in outsourcing maintenance versus
temperature and humidity.
“do it yourself” approaches.
Plumbing. This is the building’s
2. Review the life expectancy of all systems, but realize that these are
“circulatory system.” Pipes should be
guidelines, not guarantees.
in good working order and insulated,
especially for properties in colder cli3. Budget for maintenance well before maintenance needs arise.
mates. Leaking or burst pipes can disrupt a building’s operation, leading to
4. Even with the best budgeting, be prepared to occasionally make agowater damage and necessitating a
nizing decisions over dollars for maintenance versus dollars for opermessy cleanup.
ations.
View preventive maintenance here
5. Have written maintenance plans, with multiple copies available in difas an investment. Without running
ferent places.
water in the building, the local health
department may raise irksome,
6. Have maintenance plans broken down into daily, weekly, monthly, and
expensive questions.
annual tasks.
Roof. Inspect shingles and flat
roof systems for signs of degrada7. Update maintenance plans at least every six months, in case they need
tion. Address immediately any signs
to be revised or fine-tuned.
of leakage or of rotting boards
8. Network with other maintenance schedulers in your area or via the
underneath. Examine gutters and
Internet to assess different approaches to maintenance.
water drainage systems, keeping
them unplugged and free of clotted
9. View maintenance, especially preventive maintenance, as an investdebris. This is particularly important
ment rather than an expense.
in the fall.
10 Ways to
Boost Maintenance Effectiveness
10. Focus particularly on high-ticket items such as HVAC and plumbing,
where repair and replacement due to deferred prevention can be very
expensive. ■
4
Drainage. Make sure that downspouts and other systems that are
designed to draw water away from
the building and walkways are func-
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tioning as intended. This helps prevent flooded basements and
mold/mildew problems. It also helps
prevent puddles and slippery surfaces
that create slip-and-fall accident hazards that can spawn expensive liability and personal injury claims.
Security and physical plant. It’s
an unfortunate fact of life that businesses are vulnerable to thefts and
break-ins. For this reason, maintenance managers must be aware of
security concerns and incorporate
them into a well-designed maintenance schedule. This includes periodic attention to key security measures:
• Make sure that there are functioning
locks on all points of entry.
• Test and confirm the proper functioning of any type of alarm system
that is activated after hours.
• Make sure those sprinkler systems
are in good working order and that
functioning fire extinguishers are
readily available.
Progressive discipline policies
are usually a great way for
employers to protect themselves
against wrongful discharge
claims. However, for the policies
to work, employers must actually
use them.
Mitch Kane, a machine repairman for a lighting fixture manufacturer, was livid. His wife had just
left him after emptying their bank
account. Needing cash, he planned
to work overtime on Friday, but
found out the company nurse had
canceled his extra shift.
He telephoned the nurse, Trish
Marquette.
“What the h—— are you doing?”
he shouted.
“You can’t work on Friday. You
have a pre-op doctor’s appointment,”
Marquette said. Kane had been
For quick reference, post emergency
numbers for police, fire department,
and ambulance at multiple locations.
As an added bonus, properties with
well-maintained security systems may
be able to get premium credits — a
savings that can help offset the price
tag of the facility’s security system.
Grounds-keeping. An effective
maintenance diary will also address
the appearance and condition of the
facility’s grounds. This may include
mowing and clipping, but could also
include reseeding, resodding, aeration, pruning, mulching, etc.
Holes, divots, or depressions on
property grounds can cause pedestrians to trip, fall, or turn ankles. In
some cases, these have led to liability
claims or lawsuits. Check perimeter
fencing for signs of needed replacement and for general wear and tear.
Some properties — fast food
restaurants, daycare centers, schools,
and churches — have playgrounds for
children. These areas should be moni-
injured on the job and was scheduled for surgery.
“Just a f——g minute! I rescheduled that for next week.”
“I won’t be talked to that way,”
Marquette said.
“Live with it, b——!” Kane said,
slamming down the phone.
Shaken, Marquette reported the
conversation to management. In the
meantime, Kane complained to his
supervisor.
“That b—— is taking money out
of my pocket!” Kane said.
“The nurse just called me,” the
supervisor said. “Where do you get
off using that language? Call her and
apologize.”
“No way!” Kane said. But after
cooling down, he changed his mind.
“I was out of line. I’m sorry,”
Kane told Marquette.
“Well — Since you’ve already
rescheduled the appointment, I’ll
tored regularly to keep them free of
trash and debris, to ensure that the
footing is safe, and to ensure that all
equipment (swings, bars, etc.) is in
secure and sound condition.
An essential aspect of a successful
maintenance management plan is a
system that reminds you of these
recurring maintenance tasks. This can
be handled through a master calendar,
tracked manually or electronically by
sophisticated scheduling software.
The benefit is that it allows you to
address situations proactively, since
— as in medicine — curative solutions are inevitably more expensive
than preventive maintenance.
◆ Kevin Quinley is senior vice
president – Risk Services for
Medmarc Insurance Group,
Chantilly, VA. He can be reached
at (703) 652-1320 or kquinley@
medmarc.com ■
release you to work on Friday.”
“Thank you,” Kane said.
However, the company decided to
suspend him. A few days later, Kane
met with the maintenance director,
who felt Kane was belligerent during their meeting. The company
fired Kane.
Kane filed a grievance, alleging
the company failed to issue a written
warning before terminating him as
its policy required. The company
pointed to its work rule against
using an “uncivil attitude” towards
supervisors or other employees — a
rule Kane violated three times by
using “abusive and insubordinate”
language with Marquette, his supervisor, and the maintenance director.
■ Was Kane fired for just cause?
■ See page 7 for the decision and
our comment.
5
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Staffing: You Can Plan
Your Way Out of Overtime
t used to be that overtime was a
fairly straightforward proposition.
If there was more work than could
reasonably be done during the day,
employees who were interested in
earning additional income could volunteer to stay late to complete it. In
many companies these days, however, overtime is expected from workers
as a matter of course — a policy that
leads to employee burnout.
The truth is, many workers tend to
like the idea of overtime and the
higher pay it provides — as long as
it’s sporadic. Anything more means
exhausted and unhappy employees.
As a manager, it’s to your advantage to have thought out your
approach to overtime and to have a
consistent policy in place. When
thinking about the matter, consider
the following:
I
• Is overtime completely voluntary
in your department? Or is it the
unspoken assumption that people
stay until the work is finished? If the
workload in Maintenance grows too
intense, could you imagine members
of the department rebelling?
• Are there ways to prevent such a
showdown? Rather than simply
assuming that your workers are agreeable to putting in the needed extra
time, make a point of periodically
asking if this arrangement is still
acceptable. And be sure to thank them.
• Is the workload in the department beginning to escalate, and
are people beginning to resist
requests for overtime? If so, take a
step back and review how the work
is currently being distributed. There
may be employees who are underutilized and who could make a greater
contribution.
• Are you allowing for the fact that
people vary psychologically? Some
may thrive — and feel needed or even
validated and important — when they
are overloaded with work. Others will
be perfectly content just doing their
jobs and going their own way.
• How much of what is deemed
justifiable overtime could actually
be accomplished during the regular workday if employees worked
more diligently? Can your people
work faster and/or harder and not
begin to show signs of stress?
Suppose that the budget is really
tight, and there is no possibility of
overtime. Would the work be left
undone at the end of the day — or
would your team somehow find a
way to get the job done?
Your answers to questions like
these will help you get a better grip
on overtime issues. If your answers
tell you that performance could be
improved in some areas, start working on them. As your performance
improves, you may find that the need
for unscheduled overtime may gradually disappear. ■
Waste in Maintenance: Seven Types –
And What You Can Do About Them
aste in Maintenance: Every
department has some — and
unfortunately, some seem to
have more than they’d like. It comes
in all forms: idle crews, needless
downtime, and pointless motion. It
may be gobbling up half or more of
your resources, according to some
sources.
Waste in manufacturing is defined
by practitioners of Lean Manufacturing (LM) as “anything that adds no
value to a process or to the bottom
line,” explains Greg Folts, formerly a
TPM maintenance manager and currently director of operations for the
Marshall Institute, a training and consulting firm based in Raleigh, NC.
More specifically, LM theorists have
W
6
identified seven common types of
waste to look for:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Overproduction
Waiting
Transportation
Motion
Processing
Defects
Inventory
Paralleling these losses in
Production are similar losses occurring in Maintenance. Fortunately, the
tools for detecting and correcting
them — and for running a “lean”
maintenance shop have also evolved,
having been imported from the practices of Lean Manufacturing.
Conceptually speaking, lean maintenance boils down to identifying
everything you do in an operation
that adds value to achieving what
your customer wants, and matching
this with how much is wanted, and
when. Whatever is extraneous to this
is waste.
Apply this paired concept of
value-vs.-waste to what you’re doing
in maintenance: Whatever fails to add
value is waste — and should probably be scrapped.
The LM strategy is simply to find
and evaluate the nonvalue-adding
events — and then look for ways to
curtail, minimize, or eliminate them.
Here, the LM model also offers several conceptual and practical tools.
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Here is an overview and some
examples:
1: Overproduction
Are you doing more PM than is
needed, gaining little or no demonstrable reliability improvement?
Are crews maintaining equipment
that should instead be allowed to runto-failure and then be replaced?
Folts comments: “We sometimes
find mechanics going out to check the
same equipment over and over without ever finding either deterioration or
failure. Still, the PM schedule hasn’t
changed in years. That is unnecessary
“overproduction.”
Pointless effort of this kind can be
an indication of two problems:
1. PMs are still done despite recurring breakdowns. This means that
the PMs themselves were useless
all along.
2. PMs are being done “ritually” for
systems that rarely fail, regardless
of whether inspected or not — or
which fail at predictable intervals.
In either case, it’s apparent that
PMs are having little or no effect.
Keep in mind that PM adds value only
if it enhances equipment longevity.
Folts believes that, “You have to
constantly reevaluate and reassess
these relationships. Look at the failure
histories that drive the PM schedule.
Be sure that the schedule is still reasonable and appropriate.”
In fact, “There are often disconnects like this,” he continues, “and
PMs are but one example among
other kinds of overproduction waste.
Others are excessive recordkeeping,
too much inspection and tracking, and
assorted busywork.
2: Waiting
Are mechanics forced to sit idly
as they wait for parts to come, or for
some other event to begin before they
can move?
“Whenever people aren’t in motion
and they should be, they’re not adding
any value,” Folts notes. That is waste,
and it shows a lack of good coordination between task elements — a common cause of maintenance waste.
One solution: Have schedulers ask
for detailed feedback from the work
crews so that they will have a better
understanding of where the bottlenecks are or where a mistiming is
happening — and why.
Waiting is caused in other ways,
too: It could be caused by outdated or
bad work procedures, or by a lack of
training. For example, an operator’s
machine goes down and needs repair.
The operator buttonholes a nearby
mechanic, and the two spend half an
hour troubleshooting in futility —
because the operator didn’t know (or
care) that the proper procedure is to
report the breakdown to a maintenance scheduler first. Or the operator
didn’t know how to create an accurate
work order and enter it on the computer terminal.
“To eliminate these waste areas,”
says Folts, “you have to explore all
the steps that occur, and then identify
those that add value or contribute to
progress in responding efficiently.
Look at what is necessary—and look
at what can be eliminated.”
3 & 4:
Transportation and Motion
In Lean Manufacturing, these two
events count as separate waste culprits. Both are similar, in that they
refer to “moving things and people
around the facility on foot or by vehi-
■ Was Kane fired for just cause?
■ No. The arbitrator ruled that the company should have taken into
account the “extenuating circumstances” of Kane’s situation. Kane had
felt that the company was being inflexible and arbitrary in insisting that
he keep his original doctor’s appointment. As a result, “frustration, rage,
and vulgarity ensued.”
Moreover, management failed to follow the progressive discipline policy outlined in its employee manual. The company should have issued a formal written warning between Kane’s suspension and his meeting with the
maintenance director. The warning would have formally notified Kane that
“one more diatribe could cost him his job.” Kane had a good employment
record with no prior incidents of insubordination. Therefore, “the unique
circumstances and statements which coalesced to provoke and inflame
[him] will certainly not recur,” the arbitrator said. His termination was
reduced to a written warning.
Management Memo: Even though Kane won his job back, the arbitrator clearly didn’t condone his tirade against the nurse or his obvious contempt for management personnel. However, the employer was faulted for
failing to alert Kane that his job was in jeopardy and that he had better
change his ways.
The courts in some states have ruled that a company-issued policy manual or handbook is an implied contract, and employers and employees are
both required to adhere to the rules set forth in it. The message for employers: If your company has a policy that calls for progressive discipline, use it.
Of course, even though companies should generally follow their progressive discipline policy as much as possible, sometimes it may be necessary to step outside that policy to address serious misconduct. Employers
should list examples of behavior that could lead to immediate termination
and also state that other unlisted behaviors could be also be dealt with
outside the normal disciplinary procedure.
Some details of this case have been fictionalized.
The case citation is available on request.
7
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Page 8
cle inefficiently,” he explains. Both
drain staff time and productivity, and
hence, both should be targeted for
correction.
Folts recalls having worked in
organizations where the central storeroom was three quarters of a mile
from the production floor. Mechanics
would get on a golf cart and drive
there, fill a parts order, and then drive
back to the broken machine — only to
discover that they forgot something
and had to drive back. Crisscrossing
like this — and long transit times as
techs shuffle back and forth to stores
or to an engineer’s office — is a common problem. Or techs may be called
on to perform tasks with elements
unnecessarily spread out.
Another problem occurs when
mechanics burn inordinate amounts
of time searching for key information, such as schematic diagrams,
manuals, parts lists, or repair histories “which are critical to servicing
but are scattered and unorganized,”
he says. “Mechanics may not even
know how many sheets exist … so
they must first go look in Joe’s
bench, then in the engineer’s files,
then in the machine shop ….” And
the clock keeps running.
To plug such gaps, do some basic
time-and-motion studies. Quantify
the unnecessary movement factors.
Give thought to how your parts,
stores, tools, people, and equipment
might be better repositioned so as to
make them closer, handier, and logistically more accessible.
For example, in Lean Manufacturing a common kind of “proximity improvement” is called pointof-use tooling. This means “getting
tools and supplies close to where
they are being used, as opposed
to having them placed off somewhere else.”
As for machine documentation,
typically, he says, “You’ll want to set
up some kind of centralized library
system, where all documents are
well organized.” In addition, make
copies of key data sheets and diagrams, etc., to hang next to each
piece of equipment.
Efficiency gains from measures
such as these will be compounded by
8
improved response times, faster detection of imminent failure, increased
productivity, higher machine reliability, and better overall communications.
5 & 6: Processing and Defects
money?
To help you manage stocks efficiently, formulas are available to calculate reorder points, quantities, and
supply levels.
What about storeroom layout and
processing flow?
The first of these categories includes such typical maintenance
• Are items cataloged efficiently so
quagmires as the inefficient or garbled
that retrieval takes minimal time?
work order system, excessive or
• Are rooms logically
time-consuming reporting
arranged, with highforms, mismanaged
demand items close
Efficiency gains from
training that fails to
convey needed
measures such as these will at hand?
• How about
instructions and
be
compounded
by
improved
shelves and bins
must be retaught,
response times, higher machine — Are they well
and the like.
marked, so that
Under “defects”
reliability, and better overall
parts are easily
are instances of
communications.
accessible?
reworking and redoing
— repeatedly repairing
Good storeroom manan item, making multiple
agement
will
carry such impact
cuts, and so on. Of course, “The custhat
bringing
in
a
consultant
or taking
tomer wants none of these things,”
a
course
will
easily
justify
the
investand none are value-added, Folts notes.
ment,
especially
if
this
aspect
hasn’t
Solutions to wasteful processing
been examined recently.
and excessive reworking can be had
from studying the specific problem,
Of course, this discussion merely
but a few typical measures may
scratches
the surface. LM methodolinclude the following:
ogy gives maintenance managers a
dozen or more efficiency improve• An upgrade to your computerized
ment tools to learn and adapt for use
maintenance management system
in their operations. If your plant is
• Improved flow process analysis
already doing LM, but its techniques
• Redesigned equipment or processes
have yet to be embraced on the
• Retraining of staff
Maintenance side, it’s time for a
• Work flow reassessment and
change.
streamlining
Unfortunately, due to a perceived
• Clarification of instructions
disconnect
between Maintenance and
• Better recognition of actual root
Lean
Manufacturing,
notes Folts,
problems
“Maintenance
is
sometimes
left out.”
• Systematizing of work order forms
If
that’s
the
case
at
your
company,
• Improved work planning (i.e., the
make an effort to study LM’s techold adage, “measure twice and cut
niques and procedures — and then get
once”)
involved. “At the very least, you’ll
• Instilling in employees a better work
gain the benefit of its efficiency tools
ethic or devotion to doing things
such as standardization, improved
right the first time every time.
setup practices, better preparation,
and communications,” says Folts.
7: Inventory
Often, you’ll find that a major
drain of time and overhead cost in
parts and storage.
• Do mechanics find some items
chronically “out”?
• Are obsolete parts still sitting on the
shelf, coated with dust and tying up
◆ Greg Folts can be reached at
(919) 834-3722 or at [email protected]. The Marshall
Institute can be found on the Web
at www.marshallinstitute.com. ■
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Page 9
Shifting Gears: Your Car
Does It – And So Can You!
ou know how important it is to
organize your routine work and
follow a schedule. In most
cases, your own judgment tells you
which of your regular duties takes priority. But there’s no way of foreseeing
when a phone call from the shop may
make it necessary for you to stop what
you’re doing and work on a maintenance crisis that’s more urgent.
This kind of interruption should
present no problem if you’re caught
up on your regular work. However,
there are times when you’re working
on one deadline already and you’ll be
asked to handle two rush jobs at the
same time.
Suppose, for example, that you’re
working on a report your boss told
you is needed for a meeting at 4:00
p.m. today. You’re right in the middle
of the project when the phone rings:
“I need you to run over to Building #3
— immediately. I just got a call …”
Of course, a lot depends on what is
meant by “immediately.” Your boss
may be the kind of person who uses
“immediately” or “now” or “right
away” as a way of indicating to you
that the work is important and should
be taken care of as soon as possible.
Or perhaps it means that the work
should be done sometime today rather
than tomorrow or early next week.
Then again, it could mean, “Drop
everything! This is an emergency.”
That’s why it’s up to you to find
out exactly what your boss does
mean. To keep the wear and tear on
your nerves to a minimum, here’s an
approach that you can use to find out
just what your boss wants done —
and when:
Y
• Stop, look, listen. Quit whatever
you’re doing, and give your boss
your undivided attention. Don’t type
“just one more line” or file “just one
more letter.” And don’t risk annoying your boss by assuming an “I’m
so swamped” attitude. Chances are,
he or she already knows how busy
you are.
• Don’t assume anything. Don’t
clear your desk or your computer
screen of the material that you were
working on until you know for sure
which assignment your boss wants
to designate “top priority.”
him or her about the other rush job,
and provide an estimate of how
much longer it will take you to finish
it. Perhaps the second job can wait if
it will take only a little while to
complete the first.
• Take notes. Write down the instructions from your boss for the second
rush job as he or she fills you in on
what needs to be done. It’s hard to
switch your train of thought to a new
assignment when you’re already
focused on another project. Taking
notes will help you to focus your
attention on what your boss is saying,
and the notes will act as a backup in
case your memory fails you later.
• Leave the deciding to your boss.
Let your boss make the decision
about which job gets done first. He
or she probably knows better than
you which task is more important.
But if there is something you know
about the project that you’re working
on that might make a difference in
the ultimate decision, now is the
time to share that information.
• Do some fast figuring. Quickly
calculate the time it will take you to
do the new job. After all, your boss
might not realize that an assignment
that takes two minutes to explain
may take two or more hours to execute. If there’s a possibility that you
won’t be able to meet the deadline
your boss had in mind, break the bad
news now. Don’t wait until the boss
asks for the completed work to let
him or her know that the deadline
was unrealistic.
• Make it easy on yourself. If your
boss decides that the second job has
priority, take steps now so you can
easily pick up where you left off on
the first job when you get back to it.
Flag your stopping point on the draft
of the report you were working on,
for example.
• Jog your boss’s memory. Remind
• Put everything else out of your
mind. Concentrate on the assignment that has just assumed top priority. Fretting about the interruption
and all the things that still need to be
done will only slow you down. ■
“I’ve seen some limited warranties, but what’s this
‘three weeks or until something breaks’?”
9
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Page 10
Emergency Response:
It’s Time for a Checkup
6. When employees are exposed to
bloodborne pathogens, are
immediate postexposure medical evaluations and follow-up
provided?
7. Are emergency phone numbers
hen it comes to the safety and
vide timely emergency treatposted?
health of your workers, an
ment, is at least one employee
ounce of prevention is defion each shift currently qualified
8. Are first-aid kits easily accessinitely worth a pound of cure. But
to provide first aid?
ble to each work area?
despite the best-laid intentions of your
5. Have all employees who are
safety plans, accidents do happen. And
9. Are first-aid supplies periodicalexpected to respond to
when they do, you’re not going to want
ly inspected and replenished as
medical emergencies…
to take the time for “would’ves and
needed?
should’ves.” Minutes count in a crisis,
• received first-aid training?
and you’re going to want to
10. Have first-aid kit supplies been
• had hepatitis B vaccinaensure that emergency
approved by a physician, inditions if they have been
medical help will
cating that they are adequate for
arrive as quickly as
a particular situation?
Minutes count in a crisis, made available?
• had appropriate
possible.
and you’re going to want to
training in proceHow can you
11. Are means provided for quick
minimize the im- ensure that emergency medical dures to protect
drenching or flushing of the
them against bloodpact of incidents?
eyes and body in areas where
help will arrive as quickly
borne pathogens,
A good place to
employees handle corrosive liqas possible.
including universal
start is with a quick
uids or materials?
precautions?
first-aid and medical• been provided and taught to
services audit. OSHA outQuestions like these will help you
use appropriate personal protective
lines your facility’s responsibilities
get a grip on the adequacy of your
equipment to safeguard against
for providing employees with prompt
facility’s planned emergency
bloodborne diseases?
medical assistance in Subpart K of
response. ■
the general industry standards:
§1910.151 (Medical Services and
First Aid).
Is your facility’s current plan adequate? Check it against the following
questions:
You are the expert on what you do. That makes you a valuable
W
Call for Submissions
1. Is there a hospital, clinic, or
infirmary for medical care near
your workplace?
2. Does your community provide
emergency ambulance service
— and is it available during the
hours when your people are
working?
3. What is the service’s typical
response time to your facility?
And are there times when
response times might be expected to be longer, significantly
delaying the arrival of assistance?
4. If medical and first-aid facilities
are not close enough to your
workplace to be relied on to pro-
10
resource to us — and to your colleagues in Maintenance and
Facilities.
Why not share your expertise and advance the profession at the
same time? Send us your ideas on ways to improve operations,
on any topic that will help your colleagues meet the challenge of
their maintenance operations. If your idea is selected, we’ll even
work with you to write it up.
Send your ideas to
Maintenance Management
Peter Hawkins, Editor
125 Eugene O’Neill Drive, Suite 103
New London, CT 06320
FAX us at (860) 442-0791
Or e-mail at [email protected]
msb 2810
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Page 11
INDEX
January 2001 through December 2001—Issues 2701 through 2712
Subject
Issue
Page
Subject
Issue
Page
AIR QUALITY
Ceiling Choices Help Facilities Improve Air Quality ..........2707..............3
EQUIPMENT RELIABILITY
SAE Standard Helps Improve RCM Performance ..............2701..............8
ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE
Employee Performance: Tap Your EAP for Help in
Preventing Problems ..............................................................2711..............1
Do’s and Don’ts for Dealing With Troubled Workers ..........2711..............3
COMMUNICATION
The FAQs File: How Do I Get Through a Public
Speaking Event? ....................................................................2706............11
COMPLIANCE/LEGAL
OSHA: Hospital Cited for Alleged Safety Violations;
$79,000 Fine Proposal ..........................................................2705..............6
EPA: Connecticut Facility Fined for PCB Violations ..........2705..............6
OSHA Calls: Avoiding the Pitfalls ........................................2706..............6
EEOC Claims That Airline’s Safety Policy Violates ADA ..2707............11
OSHA Fines Paper Company $157,500
Following Amputation ..........................................................2707............12
You’ve Been Called to Testify – Will You Be an
Effective Witness?..................................................................2711..............8
See also The Case File
COMPUTERS AND MAINTENANCE
Your New Software: Is It All You Expected?........................2707..............8
DISCRIMINATION/INEQUALITY
Age Discrimination: Watch Those Work Assignments
After RIFs! ............................................................................2702..............8
EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Disaster Teams – A Critical Step in Your Facility’s
Crisis Planning ......................................................................2704..............1
EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION
Five Tips for Improving Employee Involvement..................2703............11
Behavior-Based Safety: Should Maintenance People Be
Their Own Safety Managers?................................................2711..............6
EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
Troubled Employees: Are Your Hands Tied?........................2707..............5
Avoiding Disciplinary Action: Use the “Human Approach”2709..............7
It Works for Me: How to Address Intergroup Conflict ........2710............10
Employee Performance: America’s Workers –
Overworked and Overwhelmed ............................................2711..............2
FIRE SAFETY
Safety Recall: CPSC, Central Sprinkler Announce
Replacement of Sprinklers ....................................................2710..............2
Fire Safety: Are Your Detection and Sprinkler Systems
Ready to Respond? ................................................................2710..............4
Fire Sprinkler Update: Companies Sued Over
Defective Sprinklers ..............................................................2712............10
LEADERSHIP
The Buck Stops Here: Taking the Trauma Out of Your
Decision-Making ..................................................................2709............10
Leadership Skills: How Effective Is Your Technique? ........2711............10
LIGHTING
You’ve Adjusted the Floor Plan – But What
About Your Lighting? ............................................................2709............11
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Seven Steps to Successful Outsourcing of the
Maintenance Function ..........................................................2706..............8
Profit-Centered Maintenance: A New Millennium
Improvement Strategy............................................................2708..............6
Using Maintenance Audits to Build a More Efficient
Maintenance Operation..........................................................2709..............1
Managing Change: Critical to Maintaining
Safe Operations......................................................................2711..............4
PEOPLE POWER
How Effective Is Your Equipment Inspection? ....................2701..............1
Hostile Work Environment: Tips on Bully-Proofing
Your Workplace......................................................................2703..............9
Use Customer-Focused Maintenance to Prioritize Your
Department’s Effort ..............................................................2706..............1
If Quality Is Important – and It Is – Make Sure Your
Workers Understand ..............................................................2704............10
PEST CONTROL
Bird Pests: Here’s How to Get the Upper Hand ..................2706..............9
PLANT STRUCTURES
Roofing Maintenance: Is Your Strategy Effective? ..............2707..............1
Floor Maintenance: Simple Tips Build Solid
Repair Strategy ......................................................................2710..............1
Roof Maintenance: A Way to Protect Your Investment ........2712..............6
See also The Case File
PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE (PM)
ENERGY CONSERVATION
Building Recommissioning: How to Achieve Energy
Savings and Improved Comfort for Your Facility ................2705..............8
Energy Problems: From Crisis to Solution ..........................2708..............1
With Energy Costs Rising, More Facilities Are Looking
to “Information-Based Solutions” ........................................2709..............5
Energy Savings: To Maximize Impact,
Involve Your People ..............................................................2710..............3
Preventive Maintenance: In-House or Vendors,
the Choice Is Yours ................................................................2703..............1
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
SAFETY & HEALTH
Tapping the Benefits of ISO 14001 ......................................2701..............3
What ISO 14001 Provides the Front-Line Worker ..............2703..............5
How to Survive an ISO 14001 Audit ....................................2704..............5
Environmental Compliance: Issues for Management ..........2711............11
It Works for Me: Simple Tips to Make Safety
Meetings Work ......................................................................2701..............6
Warning Signs of a Heart Attack ..........................................2701............10
Ten Tips for Improving Your Facility’s Safety Plan ............2702..............1
RECORDKEEPING
OSHA’s New Rule on Recordkeeping ..................................2712..............2
RISK MANAGEMENT
Confined Space Entry Issues: Help Is on the Way ..............2710..............6
11
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Page 12
Subject
Issue
Page
Subject
Noise in the Workplace: How Much Is Too Much? ............2703..............6
Contractor Safety: A Critical Issue........................................2704..............3
Back Injuries: Aggressive Intervention Yields
Improved Results ..................................................................2705..............4
The FAQs File: Minimizing Skin Cancer Risks ..................2706............12
How to Create a Naturally Healthy Work Environment ......2708..............9
Lack of Enforcement Is Key Cause of Failure to Use PPE..2709..............4
What Causes Accidents – and What You Can Do About It ..2709..............8
Safety Incentives: How to Build an Effective Program........2710..............9
Lockout/Tagout: A Key to Safety in Maintenance ..............2712..............1
OTC Medications: Are Free Pills at Work a Good Idea? ....2712..............4
How Safe Is Your Facility’s Mailroom?................................2712............11
TEAMS
Issue
Page
The Manufacturing Game: An Effective Way to Boost
Your Team’s Performance ....................................................2708..............4
THE CASE FILE
Is Your Security Lighting Getting the Job Done? ................2701............11
Alternative Work Schedules and Company Policy ..............2701..............5
Was There Cause to Discipline a Whole Department? ........2702..............5
Does Moonlighting Lead to Sick-Leave Abuse? ..................2703..............5
Does the Fact That OSHA Issued a Citation Mean
That You Are Guilty? ............................................................2704..............5
Is Discharge Appropriate? ....................................................2705..............5
Workplace Violence vs. Pettiness..........................................2706..............5
Making Your Termination Decision Stick May
Be a Challenge ......................................................................2707..............5
Temporary Assignment or Disciplinary Action? ..................2708..............2
Employee Disability: Using the Most Recent
Medical Information ..............................................................2708..............5
Profanity in the Workplace ....................................................2710..............5
Bad Feelings Result in Bad Language; Is
Termination Justified?............................................................2711..............5
Management Decides to Enforce a Long-Ignored Rule;
Should This Employee Be Terminated?................................2712..............5
SICK BUILDING SYNDROME
TRAINING
Monitoring Your Building Systems: The Basis for
Energy Savings ......................................................................2706..............4
Sick Buildings: Simple Cures Let People Breathe
More Easily ............................................................................2707..............9
Job Training: If People Get Hurt, Who Is Liable?................2701..............7
Training Materials Without the Liability ..............................2703..............3
Training Assessment: Are You Getting Maximum
Bang for Your Buck?..............................................................2705..............1
STAFFING
VIOLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE
Staff Retention: How to Hold on to Your Skilled Workers ..2702..............9
Use Employment Screening to Ensure Hiring the
Right People ..........................................................................2705............10
Maintenance Outsourcing: A Fact of Life for Many,
but Is It Right for You? ..........................................................2704..............8
Workplace Violence: What Can We Do to Stop It? ..............2704..............7
How to Address Violence Concerns in Your Workplace ......2705............11
SEASONAL
Winter Without Worry: It Pays to Pay Attention to Details..2702..............4
Cloaking Personnel in Safety and Winter Warmth ..............2702..............6
Protecting Workers From Heat Stress –
Not Just Another Summer Job! ............................................2708............11
Winter Roof Hazards: Snow, Ice – And Water......................2712..............8
SECURITY
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
Misclassification May Bring Higher Workers’
Comp Costs ............................................................................2708..............8
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