Managing: MANAGED MAINTENANCE; Maintenance workers must receive

The nature of our Canadian mining industry requires intensive capital investment in plant and equipment. The effectiveness of this captial investment in generating revenues and reducing costs is largely controlled by the maintenance function through its impact on availabilities, equipment life and maintenance costs. However, despite the important role is can play in improving efficiency, maintenance has generally received neither the attention nor the credit it deserves.

There are three basic approaches to maintenance management today. These involve:

* Letting equipment or component parts run to failure before replacement.

* Replacing equipment or component parts before their normal life expectancy is reached.

* Systematic, planned maintenance to optimize maintenance cost and service life.

The first two approaches can cost a company more than if systematic, planned maintenance is followed. Regardless of which approach is followed, unplanned or unscheduled repairs can cost a company a minimum of 15% more than planned or scheduled repairs. Some of the reasons for these extra costs are:

— Time is wasted in determining the cause of the equipment failure and in securing parts.

— Work is done in a quick-fix manner and must often be redone in the shop.

— Equipment that is down for emergency repairs often cannot be freed up to be properly prepared for systematic maintenance because of heavy production demands.

— Tradesmen must be taken off other planned jobs, thereby causing delays and interrupted schedules.

— Operating productivity is reduced because of unscheduled equipment downtime.

Systematic maintenance organizes maintenance activities for that work is performed when you want to do it, rather than when you have to do it.

Effective systematic maintenance requires attention to the following five key elements:

* Organization arrangements — The relationship between the production department and the maintenance department is essentially a bargaining process by which maximum production is achieved while equipment is maintained in a planned manner.

To ensure that equal weight is given to the often conflicting objectives of these two departments, the departments should both report at the same level in the organizational structure.

Also, a maintenance planning group, autonomous from those individuals supervising or performing the maintenance work, should carry out detailed and long-range planning as well as perform statistical analyses of cost and performance.

* Equipment and component records — Complete and accurate records reflect an operation’s unique experience with its equipment and components. Such records aare therefore invaluable as a reference source in equipment evaluation, maintenance planning and cost estimation for that particular operation.

Equipment and component records should be detailed, comprehensive and readily accessible for analysis.

Too often, valuable information is inaccessible or stored only in the memories of maintenance experts whose recollections may be inaccurate or prejudiced.

* Preventive maintenance — This is essentially an investment. Higher initial costs incurred in securing and maintaining equipment at acceptable levels are repaid by subsequent cost savings attributable to fewer breakdowns. A successful preventive maintenance program will result in a decrease in emergency repair time and a higher ratio of planned to unplanned equipment down-time, thereby increasing equipment availability.

* Work order system — A comprehensive work order system forms the basis of planning, scheduling, performing, monitoring and controlling maintenance. It provides for the best use available resources, allows work performance to be assessed and permits the upgrading of equipment records.

* Performance control — To effectively manage the maintenance function, targets or standards must be set and actual performance measured and compared to these objectives.

By monitoring and evaluating performance in terms of equipment, management can identify key problem areas and effect the changes that are needed.

In addition, maintenance management systems must be periodically evaluated to ensure they remain effective and utilize the latest information-processing technology.

As well as these five key elements, a systematic maintenance program requires other general conditions to be in place at the mine in order to be truly effective.

— Commitment to improvement — All supervisors and managers must be committed to and strive to improve both their management abilities and the performance of the maintenance department.

— Access to information — One sure test of good management is the ability to have access to pertinent information on a timely basis and in a meaningful format. The right level of detail must reach the right level of management.

With aid of computers, information systems can be tailor-made to specific user requirements.

— Training and motivation — Tradesmen must be properly trained in procedures specific to the equipment for which they are responsible. As well, supervisors must learn how to manage.

They must be taught company policy, rules governing management-union relations, and how to use maintenance systems effectively.

It is also important that the maintenance staff continue to be motivated. The setting of goals and objectives and a strong level of senior management support for efforts to achieve these targets is important in achieving a high level of motivation.

As well, communications channels with all departments should be kept open and maintenance supervisors should have input into budgets and planning.

— Discipline — It is Coopers & Lybrand’s experience that many mines have systematic maintenance systems in place, but lack the discipline to use these systems to their maximum advantage.

An effective way of ensuring ongoing commitment to systematic maintenance procedures is to delegate accountability and to monitor each accountable group’s performance.

Discipline is a key requirement. Even marginally effective maintenance systems used in a disciplined manner are better than systems that require volumes to describe but that no one follows.

There are many other issues of importance in maintenance management which have not been discussed here. For example, introducing a systematic maintenance management system into an organization involves many important issues in the areas of diagnosis, planning, implementation and follow-up.

Another important area of concern is the need for adequate support from other mine departments, such as accounting, materials management and data-processing. Such support plays an important role in ensuring an effective maintenance program.

Maintenance management is truly a complex and important subject. In most modern mining operations, maintenance has become recognized as a specialized and critical activity. Maintenance managers have made great strides in imporving the management of the maintenance function. These improvements must continue in order for Canada to remain internationally competitive in mineral production.

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