MRO Today - A monumental maintenance overhaul

A monumental maintenance overhaul

by Paul V. Arnold

Where were you when The Beatles broke up? Or when the Soviet Union was dissolved? You remember moments like that.

Clif Ritter remembers Jan. 2, 1990 like it was yesterday. That's the day the maintenance department died at the Tenneco Automotive plant in Paragould, Ark. It was the day plant management transferred nearly all maintenance functions to machine operators.

"The plant manager, production manager and process manager talked with everyone," recalls Ritter, who at the time was a manufacturing engineer. "At first, the maintenance guys felt threatened, and angry. They felt like they were trying to get rid of them. Outside of maintenance, there was uncertainty."

No one in the 75-member maintenance department was fired. However, 70 mechanics and repairmen became operators, troubleshooters or instructors that day.

Plant manager Paul Hill called the move a necessity, and the start of a new era in plant performance.

"It was a giant leap of faith," he says. "Traditionally, people are afraid to do something like this because they're afraid they'll lose control."

The Paragould plant took the leap because control was lacking.

In 1989, machine uptime was around 90 percent. Most, if not all, of maintenance's time was spent fighting fires. And the relationship between maintenance and production was "us against them."

"If a compressor went down, the maintenance manager was hunted," says Ritter. "They'd be like, 'It's your fault I missed production. You got a shop number I can charge my overtime to?' It wasn't good."

All that has changed.

Today, TA at Paragould may have the smallest and largest maintenance staff in the country for a plant its size. Five holdovers from the old maintenance crew remain, filling the few gaps left by more than 750 operators/maintenance workers.

The holdovers, with an average age of 54, maintain the boilers, compressors, lift trucks and mobile equipment. They also provide backup to the operators and troubleshooters. When they retire, those positions will not be filled.

Electricians, considered outside the maintenance department, were not affected by the change.

Ritter, in the role of facilities manager, oversees all maintenance efforts, goals and budget.

From 90 to 99.62
The first year and a half saw mixed results as the new system gained acceptance. Working side-by-side with former foes began to eliminate the "us against them" mentality.

"We knew that if we could hang together, we would make it work," says Hill.

Today, the group is a model of efficiency and maintenance might.

Machine uptime skyrocketed past the 95 percent barrier in 1992 and kept climbing, venturing into uncharted territory.

In 1995, it pierced 99 percent, a level most companies cannot comprehend let alone achieve.

In 1996, it hit 99.62 percent. Based on 891 production machines running a total of 3,464,208 hours that year, there were 13,254 breakdown hours.

The plant has stayed above 99.5 percent ever since. Today, 89 percent of maintenance work orders are for preventive or scheduled projects. Emergency work orders account for less than one-tenth of 1 percent.

How did they do that?
TA at Paragould's maintenance success is the result of experience, training and communication.

"It all starts with the operator," says Ritter. "Who else should be responsible for maintenance but the people who run the equipment? We don't have a high turnover rate (1 percent. Nobody wants to leave. So you have experience (an average of 15.5 years per plant employee).

"The person who runs this machinery has seen things break throughout the years. They pretty much know the temperament of the machine. They can hear, see or feel when something isn't quite right. They catch it before it breaks or leads to a shutdown. With their knowledge, it's almost to the point of total predictive maintenance."

On top of experience, computerized maintenance management software provides the basis for scheduling maintenance tasks. The plant has used JB Mainsaver since 1989.

To keep production humming, the operators make the required adjustments and fixes during changeovers and breaks.

To supplement the knowledge of veterans and educate new or less-mechanically-inclined employees, the plant provides an extensive amount of training.

Training goes from extremely simplistic (here is how you lubricate your machine) to fairly complex (here is how you change the belts on this machine) and beyond. Classes occur in-plant and on company time.

Operators can expand their horizons further and take classes in advanced mechanics and electrical engineering at the local technical college. Classes are not on company time, but the plant pays for all tuition and books.

What does the operator get for the added responsibility and work? Besides a wealth of knowledge and the chance to grow with the company, operators receive a 2 percent pay bonus for doing machine maintenance. Those certified to do minor electrical maintenance receive the bonus, plus an additional 1 to 2 percent.

The operator's maintenance skills are further developed by a job rotation system incorporated in several parts of the plant. Every two hours, operators on a given assembly line switch jobs. The plan exposes the operator to different machines and tasks. It also reduces boredom, fatigue and the chance of repetitive stress injuries.

A glance at workers compensation claims points to the plan's success. In 1979, workers comp claims exceeded $1 million. In 1998, that figure was less than $40,000.

Providing backup
A chain of command and plenty of communication support the operators' maintenance/repair efforts.

If a machine problem is beyond the scope of an operator or group of operators, a troubleshooter moves in. If more help is needed, a
supervisor or engineer is summoned. Besides providing backup, troubleshooters schedule preventive maintenance work, coordinate job rotation and provide training.

"It's OK to ask for help. That's what's really nice here," says Ritter. "If I need help, people help me. If they need help, I'm there for them."

Ritter fosters that philosophy, and checks maintenance quality, by randomly inspecting a half-dozen machines each morning.

"We not only see if they're doing their preventive maintenance correctly, but we ask if they understand everything about their job and their machine," he says. "We ask them if there is anything we can do to help. We talk and we listen."

Any volunteers?
You've noticed the training, the tasks and the teamwork. But you've also noticed that there are jobs that fall through the cracks.

Without a true maintenance staff, who handles housekeeping duties? Who changes that burned-out light? Who takes care of the plugged-up toilet? Who patches the cracks in the room and the sidewalk?

Ritter and the remaining members of the old maintenance department handle most repairs to the building and the grounds. For the other chores, it's mostly done on a departmental or volunteer basis.

"If something needs fixing, the supervisors in that area are responsible for either getting someone on it or asking for volunteers," says Ritter.

For regular housekeeping (sweeping, cleaning, mopping, dumping the trash), everyone chips in.

If a job is beyond the scope of someone in-house, they call an outside contractor. Outside contractors regularly handle major plumbing; patch cracks in the parking lot; clean, calibrate and test the gas trains; and take pictures throughout the plant with infrared thermography.

If an infrared camera is needed for an isolated problem, Ritter rents one from the City of Paragould.

"No one would go back to the old way," says Ritter. "Everyone believes in this, even those that used to work in maintenance. They realize it works better this way."

This article appeared in the April/May 1999 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright, 1999.