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You are receiving this newsletter and email because at some point in time you opted to be included in our Monthly Reliability Newsletter mailing list from our site.
Our newsletter will be sent out ones a month and provide you with quality issues and resources on our most common link which is all about reliability and maintenance, as well as regular updates on our articles. I would like to personally invite you to regularly visit our website and check out updates on our articles and training courses. |
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Issue No. 26 - June 2009 |
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Since establishing this website last May of 2007, I have made many efforts to improve this site and provide some useful insights about our common link which is all about improving our equipment reliability and the way we do maintenance.
Finally should you be interested to contribute to our articles section or share any feedback, I encourage you to email me at Click here to email me. If for any reason you wish to unsubscribe from our newsletter, kindly send my a blank email with unsubscribe as the heading and we shall remove you from our mailing lists. Once again welcome to our June 2009 edition of our Monthly Reliability Newsletter for this year 2009 and I hope that you enjoy reading and sharing with your people.
My Warm Regards,
Website : www.rsareliaiblity.com Inspired by Change . . . |
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Why Operators are Important in any Reliability Strategy By Rolly Angeles
If there is one thing that TPM and RCM both agree, it is the importance of involving operators in the reliability strategy of improving the equipment. As I keep on saying, the equipment is always a shared responsibility for both operations and maintenance. Maintenance can only overcome the viscous cycle of reactive maintenance if operators join them together in improving their equipment. TPM have a thorough and detailed plan for operators. The journey on empowering operators is done through the Seven Steps of Autonomous Maintenance, while on the other hand, operators are strongly recommended to be part of the team covering the RCM Analysis because both strategies believe in the importance of operators.
IN TPM, OPERATORS LEARN FROM MAINTENANCE :
From the traditional mindset of “I operate (which is the operator), you fix (which is the maintenance) to a paradigm that the equipment is a shared responsibility for both operations and maintenance. They both must take care of the equipment. Operators must understand their role on the equipment by helping the maintenance establish basic equipment condition on the asset. But in order to make this happen, maintenance must take the time to teach operators about their equipment from time to time. Here are some of the things that maintenance must teach their operators :
• Basic Machine Function • Safety on the Equipment • Importance of Establishing the Basic Equipment Condition • Preparing Inspection Standards • Basic Lubrication Standards and Techniques • Correct Tightening of Bolts • Minor Repairs and Troubleshooting • How to Use their Senses to Detect Machine Problems • Importance of Addressing Sources of Contamination
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ANNOUNCEMENT :
World Class Maintenance Management—The 12 Disciplines book will be out by mid of November this 2009. Limited copies will only be printed as this will be a print on demand basis only. If you are interested to buy a copy of this book, kindly make a reservation and email me and we shall update you with the details.
This is not only a technical book about reliability and maintenance, it is a book that makes every single maintenance proud that they belong to the maintenance function. This is your story.
Author, Rolly Angeles
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There is a tremendous amount of information that can be learn from the operator themselves because when the equipment fails, it is the operator that first encountered the problem in the first place and not the maintenance. Maintenance will just come to their equipment when operator calls them. |
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RELIABILITY & MAINTENANCE CONSULTANCY FIRM
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Where the learning just never stops . . .
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RSA
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Autonomous Maintenance is a slow process, do not expect results in a day or a weeks time. It takes years to transcend and empower operator in this journey, but it will be very much worth the time. Autonomous Maintenance is not just a mere transfer of maintenance responsibilities to the operators. It is changing the mindset of operators that they too had a role to spare by helping maintenance establish basic equipment condition in their machines by keeping the equipment clean, having the correct amount of lubrication and completing all the bolts and nuts in their assets as these small things are often the cause of sporadic and catastrophic problems in their equipment. The problem with most industries is that they do not allow their operator to think but often times tell them to focus on one thing and that is “OUTPUT”. Those industries who are now making their journey to World Class Maintenance Management are finally learning that maintenance cannot do this alone, they need to be partners with their operators if they want to move forward. This is the missing link in any reliability improvement strategy. It is like having your own car, if you care for your car, you just don’t drive your car to wherever you want to go but there are some basic things that you do in your car such as opening the hood and checking the radiator if it still has water, checking your tires if they are inflated, cleaning your car, checking the dipstick of the oil and so on. These small things lengthen the life of your car. Take note that it is not the mechanic or technician that will tell you that your car is starting to overheat, the temperature in the car will indicate that and it is the driver of the car who should be the one monitoring this symptom. Once operator change, expect that they will do the same to their equipment and that is one of the benefits of having Autonomous Maintenance in place in the plant.
IN RCM, MAINTENANCE LEARN FROM OPERATORS :
Reliability-Centred Maintenance strongly recommends that an operator should be part of the team to compose the RCM analysis. When an equipment fails, the first line of defense will always be the operator. Kindly take note that when something fails on the equipment, it is not the maintenance who are in direct contact with the failure rather it is the operators. Therefore, operators must have experience something on the equipment before it fails. This information is vital and critical in the RCM Analysis. By allowing operators to relay their experiences when encountering the failure, maintenance learn a great deal about the failure itself. Remember that the operators will always be your first line of defense in any breakdowns or failures that will be encountered on the equipment. It is usually the operators which will first sense the symptoms of the failure and not the maintenance. Maintenance usually go to the equipment after the failure has happened because the operator called them in the first place. But if there is a sound, a change in vibration, some changes in the gauges reading, it is the operators who will experience this and not the maintenance. One problem with most industries is that there is little or no communication between operators and maintenance. When the equipment fails, and the maintenance is around, the operators take a break and leave the maintenance alone to fix the equipment. The operator only comes back to the equipment when maintenance calls her/him to tell them that their equipment is ok. When both operators and maintenance communicate, maintenance can have a deeper understanding about the failure that took place. Operators might not be technical people like the maintenance but they know something for sure about the failure that happened in the first place. RCM believes that the best source of failure modes are the operator themselves.
TIPS ON HOW TO INVOLVE YOUR OPERATORS IN MAINTENANCE :
Involving operators in maintenance is not an easy tasks most especially if operations management is not committed to the process. I recall a dear friend of mine who once told me that in one of their operations meeting, he strongly recommended to build an operator-maintenance relationship in the line. As he was midway in his talk, a higher operations manager shut him down right on his face and told him “Boy, you watch too many movies”. So how in the heck can you start a relationship with operations, you can’t. You simply can’t. Perhaps this is where we 3rd party consultant would fit in. They cannot talk to us in that fashion simply because we are not employees from your plant.
Hence, for those industries without a clear and detailed Autonomous Maintenance in their plant, you may start with these basic simple tips.
First, when the equipment fails, ask the operator to stay while you are working with the equipment. When you have experience the failure before, tell the operator stories about your experience with that failure. Create a bonding with the operator. I recall in our previous Planned Maintenance Journey, I asked the members, what support have we given to our operators and one maintenance told me. That when the equipment fail, I ask the operator to stay and tell her my experiences about the part that failed. I said, that’s good. He told me that during lunch break, they eat together and tell him more stories and things she should know in her equipment. As I was about to speak, he said that he was not finished yet, since, after ending their shift, sometimes I invited her to have a couple of drinks and as we drink, I told her stories about my experiences in the line and in the equipment which she greatly appreciate. Today they are married and have 3 kids. This person took my advise literally.
Second, always keep the part that fail. Make it a habit to teach operator one part a day for 10 to 15 minutes during her shift. Discuss the function of the part and why this part is important. By doing this, operator can learn a great deal about the part that failed unless your operators are engineers themselves. Most of the time, operators are non-technical people. They find it difficult to tell the maintenance what went wrong, because they do not even know the name of the part that failed. They can only describe it to some extend. By teaching operator just one part a day, it can facilitate better communication between operators and maintenance. During my time, we mount these failed parts on a 4 x 8 whiteboard and discuss one part/spare a day to the operator. It create better communication with operators. |
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Third, most people complain to me that maintenance prepare some checklist for operators to check on the equipment yet operators do not actually perform the checking themselves. Remember that operators will perform the checking religiously if they are the once who made the checklists themselves. Maintenance must understand that operators are capable of thinking also and that the role of maintenance is to coach and guide operators in allowing them to make decisions on what are the critical things to inspect in their equipment. If you do this, then there is a greater chance that operators will perform the inspection themselves since they were the once who made the checklists in the first place.
To conclude, whether operators learn from maintenance or the maintenance itself learning from operators, the involvement of operators will play a vital and important role in any reliability improvement strategy. The equipment is always a shared responsibility for both operators and maintenance. Maintenance can only advance to other relevant tasks on maintenance if operators participate themselves in this initiative, I believe that this is the missing link in any reliability and maintenance strategy. It is difficult to be successful in any Vibration Analysis initiative if the equipment lack bolts in the first place. Operators will play a major role in establishing basic equipment condition on their asset.. Always remember that when a failure strikes, it is the operator that encounter the failure first and not the maintenance, therefore your operators are your first line of defense on equipment failures. |
RELIABILITY NEWSLETTER |
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RSA |
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Inspired by change |
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• Gallery: New pictures for 2011 added from the gallery portion. • Newsletter: Aug. 2011 Edition finally released to our subscribers. Email me if you want to subscribe to our Newsletter. • 2012 Training Schedule: If you are interested to attend in any of our public workshop and master class for 2012. Send us an email or register online. • WCM Book: If you’re interested in buying the book on World Class Maintenance, The 12 Disciplines. Send me an email to reserve. WCM Book is now available. Get your copy now. • In-house Training :Should your industry be interested for in-house trainings we are now accepting regular schedules for in-house training for both local and international countries on courses that we currently offered. Contact us |
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World Class Maintenance Management - The Twelve Disciplines Book is now available here. This is not only about the technical jargon on reliability and maintenance, it is a book that makes every single maintenance proud that they belong to the maintenance function. If you have been living through the day to day pressures of doing maintenance then this is your story. If you are interested in this book, send me an email. Click Here ! |
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Our Reliability Newsletter will be provided once a month to our valued subscribers. It provides highlights as well as issues and lessons regarding our most common link which is all about improving the reliability of equipment. |
