Page 28 - Machinery Component Maintenance

Maintenance Organization and Control for Multi-Plant Corporations 13

Through their own unique experiences of plant maintenance and engi-
neering problems and studying alternative approaches used by others, a
mature organization will have gradually formulated an operations control
system, including plant maintenance and engineering services, which
best serves its type of operation and is flexible for future needs.
This implies that large plants, which have the technical and mainte-
nance support resources to be totally self-sufficient, may opt to deviate
from the organizational and implementation-oriented setups we are about
to describe. However, for best results, the deviation should not be very
drastic because the basic principles of effective maintenance organization
and control hold true for any plant environment.
Before discussing plant maintenance specifics and engineering func-
tions, we will discuss why this multi-plant corporation went to the pres-
ent approach. Like many companies, the corporation started with an ap-
proach wherein the plant manager was autonomous in his responsibility
for production, maintenance, and most engineering services. He de-
pended largely on the equipment manufacturer to help solve problems.
As more plants were added to the network and more significant opera-
tional and mechanical problems were encountered, it was gradually rec-
ognized that the most economical solution to critical problems was to
quickly interject the best technical specialists within the company, re-
gardless of location. However, it was not possible or economical to have
these highly skilled specialists at each facility or to adequately train the
plant manager in all areas when the facility normally operated at an ex-
tremely high onstream factor. Again, as a higher degree of technical
knowledge was gained, equipment improvements made, and sophisti-
cated process and machinery monitoring devices introduced, it was found
that the periods between major equipment maintenance could be signifi-
cantly extended without risking costly equipment failures. The use of a
relatively small group of mobile, technical specialists from within the
company was the key to better plant performance and lower costs. Quip-
ment manufacturers and vendors’ representatives have neither the incen-
tive nor the responsibility to provide the prompt technical services re-
quired.

Manager’s Role

Yet, it was strongly desired to have these specialists report to and work
solely under the guidance of the individual plant manager in order not to
confuse the chain of command. Thus, a decentralized system of giving
the plant manager responsibility for general operations, cost perfor-
mance, and maintenance performance, but with a strong centralized ap-