Maintenenance Management Advocates

As Maintenance Management Advocates, TRO will establish a Preventive Maintenance Program which is of prime importance to the smooth performance of all manufacturing equipment, in every application.

A preventative maintenance program is management’s opportunity to control the outage of an asset. Controlling the outage allows for proper planning and scheduling. This planned maintenance activity must be designed with the intent to avoid breakdowns and keep the asset functioning in its intended use. The key to success is management support.

An effective preventative maintenance program lays the foundation for all other maintenance management components. For example, knowing ahead of time what parts are required for the PM routine due next month, assists the stores people in preparing for that requirement.

TRO, as Maintenance Management Advocates, possess the expertise to establish a reliable preventive maintenance schedule and routine ensuring jurisdictional and regulatory compliance.

Asset collection must be performed for every piece of equipment in the manufacturing process and facilities maintenance. This requires professional personnel who are trained in safe lock-down procedures prior to data collection, followed by safe start-up procedures when the data collection for that asset is completed. It is no job for a summer student. As the data collection on each asset is completed, which includes component parts, these parts can then be catalogued and inventoried by Stores for future reference, either as a stores item or as non-stores items. Should there be a breakdown, the needed part(s) can then be readily accessed.

When these steps are carefully followed, any Department of Labor official will be much more willing to take the signature of a licensed journeyman as the authority for the safety of the equipment in its day-to-day function.

TRO has the expertise to supply to your Organization the professionals needed for a safe, complete asset/data collection program.

Stores Management can make the difference between continual on-time production and failure to produce on time… there is nothing more frustrating when a piece of equipment fails and the needed part cannot be found. Control of spare parts is critical to the overall function of the maintenance management program.

Organization of the storeroom is paramount. This includes deciding where the stores should be located – ideally, it should be centralized with satellites close to where the equipment is, in order to assure prompt retrieval of needed parts and to maintain the productivity of maintenance personnel.

Using a Computerized Maintenance Management System to track and log parts complements the maintenance effort and in the long run proves itself to be cost effective as well as an asset to the overall operation.

TRO has established many successful Stores, by using the latest in best practices for stores, which has proven itself to be of great value in every instance.

Often organizations will implement a work order (CMMS) system with no clear vision in mind. The goals and objectives are not well understood and the ability to measure is compromised. To effectively guide clients in maintenance management, TRO assists in establishing a vision and clear measures and targets.

This vision then forms the basis for work order systems and the data it needs to collect to monitor performance against targets. Not achieving target is not a bad thing. Understanding why target has not been met is critical to making the necessary adjustments to allow for targets to be met.

TRO understands the protocols necessary to implement a successful maintenance strategy and to train key personnel so that performance and reports are accurate and reliable.

The work order system is like the central nervous system of the human body. All maintenance activities are tracked, recorded and reported through the work order system. Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) are simply designed to make the speed of data collection, tracking and recording more efficient. All CMMS packages have the basics covered; it is simply a matter of determining a vision as discussed above and based on the requirements resulting from the vision, looking for the right package that fits within a certain budget.

TRO will work with you to reach your goals for your CMMS. TRO has worked with a variety of software including Datastream 7i, Maximo, MP2 and AMMS. Experience with these and other software has shown us; there are pitfalls that can be avoided by having the expertise of professionals to guide and coach you, to find the right fit for your requirements.

Reliability Centered Maintenance can be basically described as a methodology used to determine the appropriate maintenance level required to allow the equipment to continue to perform reliably under its present operating requirements. It does this by answering these seven basic questions in this order

1. What is its current function and performance standards
2. How does it fail to fulfill these functions and standards
3. What are the causes of each functional failure
4. What happens when each failure occurs
5. How does each failure matter
6. How do you predict or prevent each failure
7. What if you can’t predict or prevent a failure

Reliability Centered Maintenance requires the accumulation of data that is used to answer the above questions, so in effect it takes time to see any results. This need for time causes management to lose interest and look for short cuts, both of which will defeat the program. Also, it requires a considerable investment of time and money to train staff to use the methodology. Once these hurdles are eliminated, results can be significant. One plant was on the cusp of replacing 1000hp chemical pumps because of unacceptable failure rates. The requisition had even been approved. The plant decided to put it through the rigor of RCM, and found that the problem was how they were maintaining it. After the modified maintenance procedures were acted on, the problem cleared itself.

RCM takes input from all interested parties, does a formal analysis that leads to courses of action that modify the existing planned, predictive, breakdown and jurisdictional maintenance programs so that overall, the plant’s maintenance performance improves.

TRO has RCM Certified maintenance management advocates who are fully versed in the procedures required to achieve the maximum performance your equipment assets are able to reach.

For those who have taken the time to implement TPM strategies, their efforts have been well rewarded.

TPM focuses on equipment and involves everyone in the organization, from top management to the operators on the shop floor. It is an ongoing co-operative effort in which everyone wins.

TPM is an educational program that teaches everyone an ongoing standard that makes continual improvement in every area of the organization. It results in a safe work place in which staff members can enthusiastically take personal pride. The objective is to eliminate waste such as: employee time, employee injury and illness, material waste and loss, delayed production schedules, and poor quality control. Unhappy clients, become a thing of the past.

You may be convinced that you have already achieved an acceptable standard. Have you ever stood back and taken a critical view of your shop floor or your offices, visualizing them through another person’s eyes? The chances are you know there are trouble spots. How to deal with them may be perceived to be a challenge.

Our TPM Certified Experts will visit you on-site. They will show you where and how you can proceed to improve performance and productivity in an organized manner. As TPM is an ongoing process, it is a well-placed, value-added program with large rewards for your organization.

The training and education of today’s workforce is essential to ensure the safety and skills required to operate and maintain the high tech equipment now being installed in plants and facilities.

At the present rate of technology change, it is critical that the technical skills of the workforce be kept current. Consider your automobile. Would you want a technician who has not been trained on your latest model to work on your car?

Employee Training involves ensuring that the individual understands and can apply the concepts learned. Our training philosophy is that as Maintenance Management Advocates, training does not stop after the session is complete. It takes time for individuals to digest and apply the things learned. As such, TRO recognizes the need to be available for any follow up that is required. Our “after training protocol” includes telephone support and periodic site visits to assure training is on track.

TRO has certified instructors available for training on the use of Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS); 5S Strategies, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM); Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) and Business Process Re-Engineering (BPR).