Page 340 - Intro Predictive Maintenance

Establishing a Predictive Maintenance Program 331

reports, and material control in yet another. To get a true picture of downtime, you
must consolidate all nonproduction time into one report. The same is true of yield or
product quality. At one client’s facility, we found 57 different yield reports, none of
which agreed. As you can imagine, developing a true picture of the yield for this plant
was extremely difficult.

Do not use artificial limits; normalize data to the physical limits that bound plant per-
formance. For example, a plant that operates continuously has a physical limit of 8,760
production hours in a calendar year. Capacity, availability, and all other performance
indices should be based on this physical limit, not an arbitrary number of hours that
are the common industry practice. Data should also be normalized to remove other
variables, such as selling price and sales volume.

Self-evaluation is extremely difficult. Each of us has built-in perceptions that influ-
ence how we interpret data. These perceptions are deep-rooted and may prevent you
from developing an honest evaluation of plant effectiveness. One of my favorite exam-
ples is maintenance planning. Most of my clients state absolutely that they plan at
least 80 percent of their maintenance activities. Few, if any, actually plan 10 percent.
At best, 80 percent of their maintenance tasks may be listed on a written schedule,
but few are effectively planned.

How do you get around these perceptions? There is no easy answer. You must either
make a commitment to honestly evaluate the effectiveness of each function and area
within your plant or hire a qualified consultant to conduct the evaluation for you.

Accurate Cost Estimates. Many programs fail simply because costs, such as training,
infrastructure, and required staffing, are underestimated. Make every effort to identify
and quantify these costs as part of your justification.

Realistic Return-on-Investment Milestones. A clear set of project milestones will help
ensure continuation of your program. If corporate executives can see measurable
improvements, the probability of continuation and long-term success is greatly
improved.

Tracking and Evaluation Plan. Selling the program is not finished when the justifi-
cation package is approved. You must continue to sell the program for its entire life.
A well-defined tracking and evaluation plan, coupled with clearly defined milestones,
will greatly improve your chance of success. Remember: Never stop selling the
program. Newsletters, video presentations, periodic reports, and personal contacts
are essential to the continuation and success of your program.

Knowing Your Audience
There are at least five levels of selling that must be accomplished for a successful
program: (1) corporate management, (2) plant management, (3) division management,
(4) line supervision, and (5) the hourly workforce. Your justification package must