Page 15 - Improving Machinery Reliability

downsizing, eliminating proven programs such as condition-directed
maintenance to end the ongoing operating cost may well have the oppo-
site effect-reduced availability, reduced efficiency, and increased main-
tenance costs.
The answers are in three areas: value, organization, and information.
These issues are addressed in the text.

Reliability improvement and maintenance activities must be reoriented
from a cost-centered to a value- or profit-centered mentality. Within a
cost-centered framework there are no incentives for improvement. In fact,
there are disincentives for improvement! Everyone knows what happens if
a maintenance budget is underspent and how those responsible for the
achievement are rewarded. “Spend it or lose it” is known to all. As a
result, many expenditures occur at year end-some unwise-to make cer-
tain budgeted funds are all spent. It would be far better to shift to a value
orientation that encourages continuous improvement and rewards
increased effectiveness.
Many leading enterprises are shifting to multi-functional team-based
organizations. Benefits include single-person accountability for a readily
identifiable process or area, pride of ownership, and elimination of coun-
terproductive trade mindsets.
Success with the necessary changes requires enabling technology.
Technology includes designing in reliability, designing out maintenance,
and implementation of productivity-improving information systems that
make the remaining maintenance tasks easier and more efficient. Plan-
ning, scheduling, tracking workflow, and providing time, materials, and
cost information are vital functions of computerized management and
information systems. Technology is indispensable for condition assess-
ment and for clearly conveying equipment status to operators, mainte-
nance, and production planners. Technology also plays a vital role in
assembling and communicating planning and performance information,
value and benefits to senior executives and financial managers.
There must be an overall vision or concept that unifies individual
changes into an optimized whole fabric. Profit-centered maintenance, the
first stage in the unification process, establishes value as the prime objec-
tive. Value is achieved by maximizing quality, efficiency, and commer-
cial availability while permanently reducing the need for maintenance.
Add an optimized organization and crucial information made available at
every level of the organization and the result is value-driven asset man-

xii