Background
The client manufactures chemical, plastic and rubber-based products worldwide. One of the French sites makes general purpose rubber on two lines. A project was initiated to improve the maintenance/ production interface, improve the procurement efficiency and lift production. Despite strong competition including that from locally-based consultants, T.A. Cook was again asked to lead the project.
Project objectives
The single biggest opportunity to save money and make a difference was within the maintenance department. In order to lift productivity in a truly sustainable manner, T.A. Cook analysed the processes, interactions and prioritisation thinking behind the major internal and contractor-driven maintenance activities. Given the nature of French labour laws, strong works council representation and age profile of the workforce, it was felt that the immediate cost reduction objectives could only be met by identifying and “liberating” internal capacity such that contractor numbers and hence costs could be reduced.
The second phase of work, implementation, required the creation and implementation of a comprehensive maintenance management system which would optimise available resource deployment and allow a 20:80 planned versus reactive ratio to be turned on its head.
The solution
Initial efforts focused on determining the ratio of productive to non-productive time spent on internal processes as well as highlighting tasks such as first line maintenance jobs which were not needed, poorly carried out or could be transferred to, for example, production operators. Activities which had historically been given to contractors were also analysed for skill requirements, complexity and times so that these too could be categorized for potential integration, transferral or avoidance,
As part of the maintenance management and control system, T.A. Cook introduced clear work standards linked to a comprehensive set of weekly, daily and shift plans. The creation of a site-wide capacity planning model allowed assessment of work completion and quality using the minimum number of appropriate KPIs and for this to be linked for the first time to a rolling annual maintenance budget.
Within procurement, analysis suggested that aside from some improvements to the administrative processes and work-load allocation the focus lay on establishing true need and establishing a clear and demonstrable specification. Cost and lead time objectives were met by allocating clear roles and responsibilities to certain engineers and ensuring their early involvement in key procurement decisions.
The combination of a common understanding of production process, asset criticality and therefore need for and prioritisation of effort ensured that a basis existed for training and support of production operators. The T.A. Cook team led exercises to establish best practice and ensure uptake across all shifts.
As in the two other areas, procurement and maintenance, the production project was completed in eight months on time and on budget.
Client benefits
The fundamental shift from a reactive maintenance culture to one in which production and maintenance staff interacted, planned and worked together in a preventive, planned and predictable fashion ensured fewer machine breakdowns, more consistent production rates and a significant increase in production capacity. The improved co-ordination, and ability to distinguish between critical and non-critical tasks further facilitated a 30% reduction in contractor numbers and associated maintenance costs.
In production, staff were able to plan and run their assets with greater consistency achieving an overall 7% uplift in OEE and up to 20% improvements in output for certain higher margin products.
For more information contact:
Rupert Clark
Marketing Manager
Direct: +44 (0) 1183 260 229
Mobile: +44 (0) 7792 926 696
r.clark@tacook.com |
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