cently, we had the opportunity to evaluate the matntenance effective ness ofa company that manufactures roduets for the telecommuntes ‘dustry. This company was commtted to achieving world-lags performance from sts maintenance organization and had ‘made great progress in that disection, During our evaluation of the organization, we discovered that the aver- age equipment utilization in the plant was Jes than one-third ($298) ofthe plant's ‘nstalled capacity. None ofthe reasons for ‘this poor utilization were related, Instead, the reasons for poor ‘utization were (1) function to provide sufficient volume and (2) the falure of production planning to achieve effective scheduling for the produc ‘ton process This raises an important question Does it do any good to have a world-class ‘maintenance organization without a ‘comparable production department? In he failure ofthe sales production or manufacturing plant, capacity i of predominant importance Wsthout acceptable capacity levels, none ofthe other indices of performance ean, be achieved. This is especialy true of capacity must be the primary fous, Wethout world-class production. simply does not mat how well how poorly ‘the maintenance organization performs. World-class performance from production, or manufacturing, i ertial to both short long-term aurvival ofall corporations, Production must effectively utilize the snstalled capacity or else the plant cannot achieve acceptable performance levels. Who has the primary sesponstbility for fective equipment utilization? Obviously, the production function is charged with ‘he responsibilty of planning and schedul- sng the processing of incoming orders in covder to achieve plant's snstalled eapacty. However, production cannot schedule orders that do not exit best use of ‘Therefore, the primary responsibility must reside with the sales and marketing function, Ifwe assume that ales volume, delivery schedules and adequate lot sizes are provided by the sales function. then, the responsibility shifts to prodution, Pro duction must then convert these orders i the most effective and efficient manne: ‘Aas the cage in other functional groups, there are specific erteria that must be followed to achieve world-class production performance. These baste requirements snelude Planning acems tobe a forgotten att in ‘many corporations, but its absolutely essential, There are two types of planning that are required for world-class produe- tuon performance: (l) business and (2) production, Successful companies are in fn almost constant business planning process. They matntatn a rlling fve-year strategie plan and a detailed one-year plan, 5‘The strategie or five-year plan provides ‘the long-term vision ofthe corporation and establishes the foundation fora viable continuous improvement program. It also ‘provides a long-term view of the anticipated production requirement, both in standard and new products. In addition, the long term plan projects the need for process ‘upgrades, modifications and/or additional systems. All ofthis formation Is needed by production for effective planning. 1m the case of production planning. the process must balance the flow of incoming orders and backlog to assure maximus utilization of resources. This includes both ‘the installed eystems and the manpower ‘that is vequired to operate them. Few plants have an effective planning aud scheduling function. In part, this is caused by the inability ofthe ales function to pro- vide accurate projections of forecasts that ‘would permit production to plan ahead. Instead. many plane operate ina purely reactive mode. However, the falure cannot bbe totally blamed on sales. ‘Most production planning functions simply schedule production without any consideration of equipment utiliza- ‘ton or even incurred production costs, ‘Many funitions ate staffed by data entry cleris who simply login orders as they are received and add then to the backlog schedule Operating Procedures and Practices When isthe last tae your plant reviewed ce updated ita standard apeating proce lures? As part of ur normal evaluation proces, we validate the procedures that plant personnel should use to operste and thalotan plant aystema, tn most eases tte procedures ate out dated or obsolete Generally this resulta from modifeations to the systems over tume, bu in some cases fa simply caused by the company face to develop valid procedures. Valid operating proceduses ate an bsotute requirement of wold -las perfor tance. Bvery machine, system, and plece of equipment in your pant was dsigued perform a apecide task, or ange of tase, “Thus operat envelope a the specie take that ae required fr proper epers- ton sas be universally followed. Let me sve you a simple example ‘Even in those planta where proce: dues are vald and current the operators rarely fllow them. The actual operating practices that are used in moet plants have absolutely no relationship to the operat- sng envelope or best practices. instead, they ace the result of bad habits that have evolved over yeas of operation. n part thei caused bythe rating methods that many plants ue, Instead of providing formal trang for new operators, these plane amply team anew operator with coe who haa been around fora while. The incumbent operator shows the trainee how he or she rune the process the incu bent operator had ben propery tained this approach might wor, but wnforts nately he was trae the same way Most operators training consi of showing a trainee which buttons to push and perhaps a sequence of ‘when to push them. Asa tee the operator has absokstely no understanding of the cause-effect telatlonap of iso her setions Operators must understand the dynataic of the machine o process thst they contra. Without leas, complete underttanding of process djynarales and the designed operating cvelope ofthe aystes, the potential of sehleing and sustaining wold-lass per formance i altod Several years ago, we were asked to resolve a chron bolle tube leakage problem in a 1,000-megawatt, supercritical power plant. During a bref meeting with the tity general manager, he started Dragging about how the plant could go from cold shut-down to full on-line three ‘umes faster than the bolle’ design spect: Actions recommended. tn other words, the operators ramped the temperatuye in the boiler three times faster that the recot mended heat-up eyele. Why do you think ‘the boiler tubes suptured? You are correct, “The thermal shock caused by the acceler ated ramp rate was the root cause Operating procedures are written for reason. They provide the only method ‘that will provide optimum performance, ‘maximum yield, highest product quality, and best fe eycle cost from the production system, Any deviation from best operating practices has a dicect cause-effect relation- ship with performance and cost Symbiotic Relationships ‘World-class production onganiz not forget thelr symbiotic relationship wth other esta! plant functions, such as sales, marketing, procurement and tmalntenance. Without abslitecom- ns do ‘munication and coordination with these plant functions, production cannot achieve ‘world-class performance Autonomous maintenance haa evalved Into a negative connotation over the past few years. Many view tas an attempt to replace ‘the traditional maintenance organization or ‘a an infringement on the operator role Nelther is true. tn wotld-lass organiza ‘tons, operators actively participate in requited maintenance activities, such as Inspections, routine adjustments and minor ‘maintenance oftheir production systems, ‘They share ownership with maintenance personnel who repair and rebuild pro- duction equipment. Working as a team, operators and maintenance personnel can sasgure almost continuous reliability of ert cal plant systems Coordination with procurement is also fan essential requisement of world-class production performance. Production is dependent on the purchasing fanetion to provide the raw materials, consumables and operating spares that are essential ‘to thet operation. In typical plants there ls almost no coordination between these ‘wo functional groups. There s comms pleation, but its generally adversarialand totally non- productive. Management ofthese two eritical funetions must work closely together to assure that produetion requirements are met and at the same thme costs are controlled. “The most dificult and most important telationship is between sales and produe- tion, Traditionally, these two functions rarely communicate directly. Instead sales projections are passed through the corporate planning function. The sales pro: Jections maybe modified or even distorted before reaching production, Produetion schedules, on-hand stock and available production hours, are rarely paased by to the sales department. This information would be invaluable to the ste force. IF they knew that excess stock was avail- ble, or thatthe schedule would permit ‘additional orders, the sales force could take advantage ofthese opportunities to irene velo Direct communication avd coomdiaa: Who says INFRARED WINDOW: ‘tom between the sales and produetion, functions Is essential, These two groups ‘must closely coordinate thelr activities toassure maximum resource ulilization ‘One area where this is espectaly citeal Is deviations from standard products By nature, sales personnel tend to accept new orders no matter their impact fon plant performance. Asa result the produetion group is constantly breaking {ts schedule in an attempt to satisfy these ‘unusual requirements. Rush deliveries, short production runs, special products fand a myriad of other requirements that are forced on the production function pre clude effetive performance Almost every company’ has a star dard produetseatalog that by business plan make up the majority af ts planned business. The business plan should also fnclude normal delivery, pricing and other criteria that define acceptable business practices Salea must adhere to these stan Production Excellence dard products and severely limit deviations {rom business plan. The reason is simple production cannot convert a constant stream of special requests from sales and sill provide reasonable response or profi ability ‘We come back to our oniginal question, Does it do any good to have world-class ‘maintenance without world-class produc- ‘Hon? No it does not, but you eannot have World-class production without world-class sales and procurement. Itis truly a ayn >iote relationship. Bach of the fanetional {Groups that make up a plant is dependent fon others and others are dependent on ‘them. Until all ofthe functional groups are ‘world-class and consistently adhere to best practices, none ean. BL Kelth Mobley is a Principal wth Life le Engineering and member of SME. have se ROUND? ss IRISS, Inc. 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