Low Wrench Time... just the tip of the iceberg
Maximizing the wrench time is considered the holy grail of operational efficiency in maintenance departments. But beneath the surface of this pressing challenge lies a web of interconnected issues that demand equal attention in maintenance management.
Context
In early 2021, when wood prices were skyrocketing, we were asked to help a pulp and paper mill with over 700 employees in Quebec to increase availability by 20%. The plant was struggling with 55% OEE, and maintenance appeared to be the primary culprit.
As part of our diagnosis phase, we started with a comprehensive gap analysis according to the benchmark.
In this article, we will cover the fundamentals of maintenance maturity assessment over a two-week period to develop a continuous improvement action plan.'
Approach
Using a systematic approach to assess the maintenance maturity of a company, we focus on three areas: systems, processes, and behaviors.
Maintenance scorecard
We’ve analyzed a variety of maintenance scorecards in the industry, and the most common problem was an all-consuming focus on the assessment process. This meant that the details of execution and specific how-to steps were often neglected.
To address these issues, we developed our proprietary maintenance scorecard model, focusing on quick diagnostic and incremental improvements.
To start the project, we asked the core maintenance team to complete a self-assessment. Initial analysis revealed that the assessments pointed to some clear trends.
Interviews with the team
We continued the assessment with structured interviews of the maintenance and operations teams. It is critical to listen to tradesmen to understand their perspectives. The most common complaint we hear is: “No one is listening.”
And from experience, the technicians have already resolved the puzzle. So we started listening to build the roadmap to improve the wrench time.
Based on the initial results from the scorecard, we customized our questions and discussions focused on specific points aimed at discovering the root cause:
· Safety issues
· Availability drivers
· Strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities
· Work management challenges
· Operating for reliability
· Leadership and communication issues
· Processes and reporting challenges
Backlog analysis
Data analysis in ERP provides more depth to the assessment. The expectation is to find similarities between what we hear during the interviews and what we discover in ERP.
Backlog analysis is a simple way to confirm our findings up to this point: constant firefighting due to poor planning and scheduling.
After a quick analysis, we found that the backlog was over 26 weeks – with over 9,000 unplanned work orders! With eight planners, this represents 1,125 work orders to be administered per planner. With parts, kitting, and contractor management requirements, this number represents a high risk.
What does this mean for the system?
The ERP needs to be cleaned to eliminate duplicates, wish-list items, and projects.
A SWAT team approach is needed to get ahead of the breakdown wave: “The work order is in the system, but before we get to it, the equipment breaks down.”
Corrective (emergency) work orders trump the planned work, which causes an increase in the backlog, and leads to a frustrated and disengaged maintenance crew; a breakdown crew can help the day shift trades to continue focusing on planned work orders and PMs.
DILO (Day In the Life Of)
Go & See is one of the building blocks of Lean philosophy and it is impossible to do a proper assessment of maintenance management without boots-on-the-ground.
We completed DILO assessments with maintenance supervisors to have a better understanding on:
· Frontline leadership strengths and weaknesses
· Engagement levels on the floor level
· Work execution rate and quality
Here is an example of one of the DILO results:
Summary of observations:
After more than 20 formal interviews with managers, supervisors, operators & trades, and over 120 hours in the processing plant with the employees to understand the current situation, we pinpointed the following root causes:
Systems: CMMS is not leveraged to the max and poor document management controls are causing major delays
Processes: Key work management processes are either missing or not reinforced (spare parts management, work management, reliability, shutdown management)
Behaviours: Inadequate amount of time spent by leadership in the field and lack of accountability by many stakeholders were observed
Actions in partnership:
Assessments, reviews, and audits are a standard process for maintenance teams. However, they may be more damaging than helpful when the assessments produce no tangible results.
Team members grow frustrated as auditors depart as quickly as they come in, leaving behind a long list of actions that need to be taken in their absence.
Wrench time is a powerful metric because it helps to expose many of the teams’ weaknesses: engagement, respect of processes, communication between departments, and use of systems.
After the assessment and analysis, we start to work on the 4 areas with the maintenance teams:
Results:
Our action plan is based on one fundamental mindset: the power of incremental improvements for lasting results!
With a SWAT team approach, we reduced the maintenance backlog by 20%, which allowed us to focus on high criticality assets.
In less than eight weeks, we started to see a reduction in major breakdowns of equipment. We started performing root cause analysis on each breakdown and defect elimination workshops to achieve better reliability.
By reducing waste related to maintenance activities in planning and execution, the team was able to devote more work hours to preventive tasks.
These actions led to improved plant availability and higher engagement from the maintenance team.
For more information, contact: alp@boraconsulting.ca