Computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) are important
contributors to asset, labour, supply chain and financial performance.
Various tools optimize the maintenance function, while strategy provides
the overall context and service level agreements define expectations.
David Berger, a CMMS expert and principal of Western Management
Consultants in Toronto, believes the road to total maintenance
performance starts with a well-defined strategy. “Performance
measurement ensures you know when you’re there, various tools help you
develop a trouble-free route, and service level agreements manage
expectations along the way.”
He offers the following four key measures for achieving total performance:
• Asset performance. Maximize machine availability, throughput,
reliability, equipment efficiency, utilization and quality of output. Go
for minimum waste and minimize equipment life cycle cost.
• Labour
performance. Measure use (productive versus non-value-added time and
wait time); actual performance (percentage of standard versus plan); and
effectiveness (percentage of contracted time, overtime and training).
• Supply chain performance. Check vendor performance, supplier
pricing, obsolescence and procurement costs (rush orders, blanket
purchase orders, e-procurement).
• Financial performance. Track cost
per unit produced, planned versus budget versus actual cost, performance
to schedule, cycle time, response time, backlog and compliance, service
levels and cash conversion cycle.
Planned maintenance
A starting point for these
measurements represents a balanced approach to planned maintenance that
takes into account failure-, user- and condition-based machine
maintenance and shop floor data collection. Through the integration of
data collection devices and CMMS, condition-based maintenance captures a
wealth of data, such as product (quality measures), process (feeds and
speeds), environment (temperatures, pressures) and asset status (wear
and downtime).
The purpose of service level agreements (SLAs) is to manage
expectations, which has to be a two-way street or it won’t work.
Operations has to define what it wants and maintenance has to deliver
what operations needs. Clear communication is essential. Both parties
must have the same interpretation and understanding of what an SLA means
and how to implement and measure it.
An SLA is defined as an agreement between parties for the provision
and receipt of service. It’s intended to offer a means of managing
expectations and dealing with conflicts, but it’s also a tool for
monitoring service effectiveness, a forum for building a good
relationship between maintenance and operations and a basis for
understanding the trade-off between service level and the cost of its
provision.
Each party must understand and manage expectations around quality and
performance standards, standard procedures, required skills and
training, risk and business impact. You get what you pay for, so
carefully measure the cost versus the level of service. Be realistic.
Never write an SLA that exceeds realistic expectations. There’s nothing
wrong with a “stretch goal” but Berger says major improvements are
controlled through projects and formal project management, not through
SLAs.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment