Process of Change

Process of Change

Are you continuously improving your maintenance function?

Are you constantly moving forward with new innovations and procedures?

Many organizations appear to think that by implementing a CMMS, they can relax and let the system sort everything out. Simply implementing a CMMS does not necessarily enable us to move forward towards achieving our goals. Implementing a CMMS is only the start of the real project. The real project could be appropriately called a process of continual improvement and to enable this to be an ongoing process, we need to embrace the subject of change.

An old friend used to tell me that the biggest room in the world is called ‘room for change’. Well, let’s move on and see if he was right.

Change

It is often said that there are only two things that we cannot change:

• One is the tax man
• And the other is Change

Well, good luck with the tax man but if we desire success in our facility, then we need to implement change and the process is known as Continual Maintenance Improvement. Implementing a CMMS is not the total final solution. It is a vital first step that literally becomes the foundation stone on which we can start to build a platform for continual improvement.

Maintenance management is all about continually improving the maintenance function. It is a project that never ends.

Continual Maintenance Improvement (CIP)

The objective of Continual Maintenance Improvement is to progress the facility towards a World Class Maintenance Status, over a period of time and by introducing new innovations and initiatives.

There are three aspects:

Parts           People      Processes

  Which effectively translate to

Machines   Man          Methods

These are what make our products and services great.

CIP Parts and Machines

We talk about breakdowns and machines breaking down but machines can only fail if their individual parts fail. Machines are made up of parts and if a part fails, then nothing else matters. Parts fail first and then the machine stops. We refer to this as machine breakdown, which I suppose it is but actually, it’s the part or parts inside the machine that has failed or broken down.

When we understand this, we can then see how imperative and important it is for the health of the individual parts to be maintained correctly in order to ensure the good healthy performance of the machine. If a part fails it fatally impacts the machine reliability

The simple principle is ‘take care of the parts and the machine will be exceptionally reliable’.

This is the key to production and maintenance success

CIP People and Man

As we well know, people operate the plant and equipment. Unfortunately, people introduce ‘the human error’. The reliability of the machine can be impacted by human error issues such as:

• Their skill or lack of skill and degree of competence
  • Wrong lubrication, incorrect settings, incompatible part etc
• Their interest in doing better. This should always be an objective of a conscientious worker but sadly many simply do the basics and the minimum
• Their curiosity
• Their level of dedication
• Numerous other aspects and factors

Upskill and develop the human resources to achieve success and minimize failure

CIP Processes and Methods

When it comes to processes, we are talking about working to build a world-class system. We need a business that is built with reliable processes that produce desired results that stakeholders and customers will be delighted to have. Poor plant and machine reliability is a business process failure that prevents business success.

The more precisely that plant and machines are used and maintained.

• The less is the risk of failure
• The higher is the quality
• The lower is the product price
• The shorter is the delivery time

Happy customer = Successful business

Summary

If you want to succeed and move forward then perhaps you should take these two questions seriously.

Are you continuously improving your maintenance function?

Are you constantly moving forward with new innovations and procedures?

The key answer to these questions is to implement a program of continual improvement in your facility. Full steam ahead, there is always plenty of room for change.

For more information email us at info@strobe-al.co.za or visit www.strobe-al.co.za