MRO Today - Into the great unknown

Into the great unknown
Optimize mysterious tool and storage areas with
organizing systems and better management

by Paul V. Arnold

If Bob Susaeta converted the things he has seen and heard on the job into a mathematical equation, it might go something like this:

A x B = C
A = Age, as in the age of a factory.
B = Been there, as in how long a maintenance manager has worked at said factory.
C = The amount of . . . stuff that has accumulated in the maintenance manager’s tool room, storage area and portable work station.

“The older the plant and the longer the maintenance guy has been around, the less organized and more unnecessarily massive that storage area tends to be,” says Susaeta, national sales manager and storage systems specialist at Kennedy Manufacturing, Van Wert, Ohio.

“Those guys have had the area their way for a long, long time and the setup has worked for them, so they say, ‘Why should I clean everything up and throw stuff out?’ ”

So tools, parts and paper pile up. Items are stored on wooden shelves or in cardboard boxes. They are toted to sites in a variety of contraptions.

“We’ve seen everything,” says John Iliff, national sales manager, Waterloo Industries, Waterloo, Iowa. “There was one place that literally used modified wheel barrows to take tools to repair sites. They welded a drop cover on top of the wheel barrow and on top of that they put small compartments to store tools. You had to wedge a broomstick under the lid to hold it up so you could reach in and get a drill or another large tool. It was the most unusual thing I’ve ever seen.”

While such a contraption might find its way into the next
X Games on ESPN2, it is neither efficient nor stylish in an industrial environment.

“The storage area is organized and efficient to the maintenance foreman, but what is organized for him may not necessarily be organized for anyone else,” says Susaeta. “Someone else coming in would have to spend 20 percent of their time trying to find a tool. The mechanic or electrician or plumber, whoever’s room it is, is the only one who knows what’s in there.”

And sometimes, even that person can’t find it.

“I still see an awful lot of people who will take a wrench drawer or screwdriver drawer and just throw those items in there. Then later, they have to hunt around to find the item they are looking for,” says Iliff. “It would be great to do a study and see how much downtime there is because of tool loss or tool hunting.”

The company time capsule
Tool rooms or storage areas are like home closets. Hidden in the mishmash of sporting goods, clothing and hip-waders at home are items that haven’t been used in decades and stuff the owner forgot.

While you won’t find moose antlers or squash balls in the tool room at work, you may find obsolete parts and useless inventory.

Stories abound of mysterious parts and tools that surface when these areas are finally cleaned. Like the plant where 40-year-old radio tubes were discovered after the electricians’ room was cleaned.

“Or they find tools for machinery that hasn’t been in the plant for 10 or 20 years,” says Susaeta.

Iliff recalls visiting a turbine facility in Albany, New York, and seeing a tool room stocked with ancient electric motors.

Changing times
While overloaded tool rooms and company time capsules still exist, Susaeta says the sheer numbers are dwindling. Thank management and manufacturers of storage systems for the change.

“Changes start when somebody comes in and looks at the space requirements,” says Susaeta. “If a maintenance area has been left unchecked, outsiders find that it keeps taking up more and more space. So they start looking at consolidating that space and making it more effective and efficient. By using a modular cabinet system, they can get rid of a bunch of filing cabinets or shelving units. They can consolidate the tools into a much smaller area.”

Every necessary tool, part or accessory has a place in a modular unit. Specially made drawers and compartments hold tools, parts, drill bits, nuts and bolts, clamps, pipes and abrasives. Labels offer easy identification by the maintenance manager, or by someone needing to check inventory.

Units can be custom-made or are available in a variety of widths, depths and drawer sizes, says Susaeta. The result is a system that meets space and job requirements.

While storage units have been on the market for a long time, they have become more specialized, compartmentalized and, in some cases, more mobile to meet the needs of today’s mechanics.

“In the past, plywood shelves were considered storage units,” says Susaeta. “Ten years ago, Kennedy sold only tool boxes. We have expanded into a total storage company.”

Waterloo concentrates on tool boxes, but its line spans from the basic model that workers keep their dozen or so tools in to massive mobile storage units that wheel from job site to job site.

Accept the facts
What is the maintenance manager’s reaction after his dusty, rusty yet oh-so trusty storage area has been dismantled and these new units are ordered?

Both Iliff and Susaeta agree that after a feeling-out period, the new products are accepted and embraced.

“Mechanics get tremendously attached to their tool boxes and storage units,” says Iliff. “If they’ve had a box for years and rigged it to hold a bunch of their things, it’s hard to give that up. Those modifications are like a stamp of ownership. When they get a new box, sometimes they miss the old one, but it’s not for long. They modify the new and improved one before long anyway.”

Susaeta says acceptance can lead to cooperation with the cabinet and storage system manufacturer.

“They grow to really like it,” says Susaeta. “Our sales representatives get asked a lot for advice on how to best lay out their rooms.”

Know your inventory
Controlling what goes in and out of maintenance cabinets is another key to developing an efficient work area. If you don’t control your inventory, you’ll spend half your time looking for tools or parts.

Bar coding could be an answer.

Why do you need to order six wire brushes when you already have six of the same brushes sitting in a drawer? And if you don’t know you have six in that drawer, how well do you really know your area?

Bar coding eliminates unnecessary orders and excess inventory by allowing the company, and maintenance managers, to know what is in stock, where it is and how much is present. When properly used, the information stored in a computer always reflects true numbers.

Incorporating a check-in/ check-out program for power tools also eliminates hunting for products and stockpiling borrowed tools.

Tools are housed in a cabinet. When you take a tool, you sign it out. That way if a tool is missing, you know who has it. If you try to check in a drill that is not on your list, or if it’s already checked in, you know to put it into the rightful owner’s cabinet.

(Also view "Take the test.")

This article appeared in the August/September 1998 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright, 1998.