eMaint News

Outages - Why Teamwork is Key To Success

Concerned about preparing for an upcoming outage?  The factor that will most likely lead to a schedule overrun is the transition period along the critical path. During these hand offs communication is key. Each individual has a different perspective and making sure the team works together is vital to ensuring minimal time is lost during a shutdown and that everyone adheres to the schedule. Every minute of downtime during an outage is money lost. To ensure success every department should have these roles defined before going into an outage:

Operations & Maintenance Coordinator - Maintains outage leadership during transition periods.

Outage Plan Manager -  Sole responsibility is to manage the plan.

Reliability Supervisors - Functional coverage of reliability tasks.

Operations Supervisors - Geographic coverage of all tasks.

Task Leaders - Ensures the task is done professionally and on-time.

Planner

By defining key roles and responsibilities, maintenance departments will experience key benefits such as ensuring the plan is well-done and well-executed, improving timeliness of communication, engaging more people effectively, and keeping momentum high throughout the outage. 

You can view the entire recording of eMaint's Best Practices Webinar on Planning and Scheduling for Outages presented by Randy Pound here.

 

Maintenance Management Expo In Brazil

 

On Monday, September 19th, 2011 eMaint Enterprises will be represented at the 26th Brazilian Congress of Maintenance Expo by Sergio Plaut, eMaint Market Development Manager. The Expo will take place from September 19th -23rd and focus on maintenance and sustainability, with participants representing the top segments of the Brazilian economy.

 

Sergio Plaut, fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and English, has over 30 years experience working for multinational corporations. Plaut will be attending the conference in Curitiba, PR within the campus of Positivo University. Sergio will be there to connect with current eMaint clients such as Hospital das Clinicas as well as meeting potential clients. eMaint has been serving customers in Brazil since 2006.

 

 Visit the EXPOMAN 2011 event site for more information. 

How To Handle The Before, During and After of Any Maintenance Outage

This month Randy Pound, President and CEO of Solved Inc., hosted eMaint's monthly Best Practices Webinar on Planning, Scheduling and Executing Outages.

Outages or shutdowns are the most critical aspect of maintenance reliability. Through careful planning and standardization, any organization can excel at managing outages. Randy Pound  runs through some key steps to consider before, during and after an outage. 

First, the reliability and production team must work together not only during an outage but also through daily activities. Performing as one team at all times will lead any company to success. 

Each organization should consider the following:

Before an outage:

    - Make sure each individual has the applied skills to handle their aspect of the outage

    - Make sure that the available parts are fit for the service

    -Have each technician ready to jump in when equipment is shut down in order to reduce loss of profitability

During an outage:

    - Use available technicians that are skilled to handle each specific outage

    - Standardize work to increase efficiency with each shutdown 

    -Make sure to take down accurate measurements

After an outage:

    - Analyze measurements taken during outage

    -Write down best practices that you experienced during an outage

    -Work through team building activities

 

Watch the free video recording now for a more in depth view at planning, scheduling and executing outages.

Aroplax Reduces Downtime On Critical Production Equipment

Aroplax Corporation specializes in precision mold design/building and quality injection molding production. Based in Monticello, Minnesota, they service the automotive, medical, industrial, agricultural, and consumer products industries. Aroplax chose eMaint X3 CMMS to schedule their Preventive Maintenance tasks and continues to share success.

 

Challenge

The maintenance department at Aroplax was faced with the difficult, if not impossible task of handling its maintenance functions and responsibilities with no computerized or automated system in place. The inability to properly schedule and track preventive maintenance on their critical assets was creating serious issues with downtime, subsequently causing problems in production and having a significant financial impact on the company.

Implementation

Even before being selected as the vendor of choice, eMaint proved its ability to provide Aroplax with the solution it was seeking. Working in partnership with Aroplax maintenance manager, Ed Radeke, eMaint specialists configured Aroplax’s X3 account – including screen layouts, field lookups and system options – to meet his objectives. In addition, eMaint team members provided a series of targeted, hands-on learning sessions, known as the eMaint “Road To Success”, to ensure that Aroplax personnel could easily begin using their new CMMS solution.Within 3 weeks of being introduced to eMaint for the first time, Aroplax is now up and running with the maintenance management tool they needed. With eMaint X3 in place, they could now properly schedule and track their critical maintenance tasks and get accurate reports on their assets and workflow.

Benefits

• Web hosted solution, easy to get started, no IT requirements.
• Down time of critical production equipment improved dramatically.
• Increased the on time completion rate for scheduled work orders.
• Quickly achieved a substantial ROI by implementing X3 Online.

                                                     

Micro-Coax, LLC Uses eMaint X3 to Improve Work Order and PM Management

For more than three decades, Micro-Coax has been serving the defense, telecommunications, and test/measurement marketplace with their high-performance, cost-effective solutions to the most challenging microwave cable configuration problems. Facilities Manager, Brian O'Connell, discusses below the challenges, implementation, and benefits of using a CMMS in the Micro-Coax Maintenance Department.

Challenges

Micro-Coax began searching for a CMMS about 2 years ago. We explored our present CMMS system supplier, trying to get it to communicate with our ERP system, but were dissatisfied with the results. I once found myself in a hour-long conference call with our I.T. director, our ERP in-house person, myself, and our Maintenance Supervisor, speaking to our ERP Consultant, to go over the email I sent previously with a detailed list of questions. At the end of the meeting, it dawned upon me we had spent $250.00 in direct costs to our ERP consultant and wasted several hours of time for each of the individuals listed above in order to get some questions defined that I had already submitted. This was looking like a long and painful road.

Implementation

I began looking around at other systems from other companies, with the idea of using Excel to import into our ERP. The entire concept of SaaS was new to me, and instantly I saw the benefits as if it were made just for us: low initial cost, no server space to hold the program, ease of use on-site and off and limited involvement by our overstressed I.T. department. We won management approval, and eMaint X3 was turned on in August 2010.

Our past system was a home-grown version of Excel, and while it was a first step, its difficulty made it a roadblock to quantify each and every job performed. The implementation of eMaint was easy. It involved getting the assets entered correctly as documentation revolves around the asset numbers. Once we knew what we wanted to see, we customized the reports desired from the list of available reports and we were on our way. Daily reports of previous day's activity enables us to see what my direct employees and contractors accomplished.

Benefits

In the year since, we have completed and documented a staggering number of jobs. Our craftsman and contractors use the system basically to justify the hours they have on their timecards or invoices. When a request is submitted, and approved, it is assigned and from there our craftsman self manage their work.

Once we got over the hump regarding the task of documenting each job, the craftsman were on board. Then when we showed them the job count, and how many jobs each one was doing each month, the increase in self pride was obvious. Now the craftsman ask for work orders for each job they run across, and instead of viewing it as an roadblock, they understand this is a visible validation of their hard work. In addition, having a system as easy to use, and easy to view past history as eMaint is, allows us to look for past clues on how a problem was solved. Additionally, we have a much better PM management system in place, allowing us to do things the same way each time we perform a PM evolution.

If I ran into program problems with eMaint, I kept a logbook with issues to discuss with eMaint and we emailed, or called, to resolve. Response has been good, and most of our issues are resolved quickly, and if not we keep discussing until we come to a resolution. We have not needed enough support to generate an invoice as of yet. My maintenance team is computer savvy, but we still needed to go over some items from time to time.

Results

The past year was exciting, interesting, and revealed a lot about this company's maintenance department. We always thought we did a good job, but there is a big difference in our upper management's eyes when we now tell them 'Let me show you' instead of 'I feel'. Now we have documentation showing our strengths and our weaknesses. Using eMaint has brought pride to the department, allowed continuity in job plans and PM performance, and allowed us to work on our areas of concern. These were not goals when I began the search for a CMMS system, but since have eclipsed the system itself and really have made us a more efficient department. We are now exploring how to use eMaint in our engineering department and our tool and die department.

Brian O’Connell

Facilities Manager

Micro-Coax, LLC

New Customer Spotlights

eMaint Enterprises is pleased to welcome the following companies to it's user community. 

 

Brownlee Lumber Company, Inc.: Today, BLC is a family-owned and -operated modern complex of sawmills, dry kilns and planer mill in the heart of the most beautiful hardwoods in the world. A second generation of the Brownlee family has joined in the management and operation of the company, and we are proud to provide our customers with hardwood products of exceptional value.

CormeTech: State-of-the art SCR catalyst manufacturing facilities are located in Durham, North Carolina and Cleveland, Tennessee. Our high-tech and flexible manufacturing processes are among the best in the world and is ISO 9002 certified. With superior engineering, experience and innovation, we provide customers with proven catalyst solutions for NO_x emission control.

Medifast: Medifast is an effective weight less meal replacement program. With Medifast, you can lose up to 2-5 lbs per week safely and quickly without feeling hungry

South Louisiana Community College: You will find that SLCC is a college where innovation is an expectation and care is commonplace. SLCC remains true to our mission as we seek to improve the quality of life for residents of South Louisiana. SLCC serves students throughout eight parishes   

GE Railcar Services: GE Capital, Rail Services has roots in the railroad and intermodal sectors that span nearly a century. We offer a combination of industry experience, leadership, innovation, and financial strength. Whether you seek solutions for optimizing your fleet operations, simplifying logistics, streamlining maintenance, or improving your balance sheet, GE provides focused solutions through dedicated account managers.

Welcome aboard. eMaint looks forward to a long-lasting partnership. Check out additional customer spotlights here. 

 

Rapid City Regional Airport Uses eMaint X3 To Consistently Meet FAA Audits

Background

Rapid City Regional Airport located in Rapid City, South Dakota provides hundreds of commercial flights to seven major U.S. destinations through four major airlines. The 15-person maintenance department is responsible for maintaining the runways and five facilities spanning over 2,000 acres of land, including removal of over 3 feet of annual snowfall. Doug Curry, Deputy Airport Director for Facilities and Maintenance, joined the Rapid City team in November 2009 after going on terminal leave from the Air Force.

Challenge

Doug Curry instantly realized the need for a formal CMMS system, as the airport currently was relying on memory and hand-written binders to handle all maintenance activities. Having utilized a CMMS in the Air Force, he knew he needed a system that was fully-featured yet easy to use to ensure adoption by his staff, none of whom had used a system previously. Faced with an annual FAA inspection, Doug needed a simpler and more reliable way to track historical data on compliance with FAA regulations in order to retain status as a commercial airport. The maintenance department also needed a system that could manage work requests from airport tenants including rental car agencies, gift shops, restaurants and the four airlines.

Implementation

eMaint X3 Online was chosen by Doug in May, 2009 based on its flexibility, customizable fields, and ease of use. The system also allowed Doug to introduce new features gradually so that training could be done at a manageable pace. Currently, the eMaint system helps generate, assign and close out scheduled and corrective work as well as managing work requests. Rapid City implemented the work request “weblink” which allows tenants and employees to submit a request by clicking a link on their website. Curry was able to readily enter PM procedures into the system by copying and pasting from the FAA website. PMs are now generated automatically and Shift Chiefs can effortlessly assign open work orders at the start of their shift. Work orders are prioritized by type, allowing safety issues to be addressed first.

Benefits

● With historical data on PMs, work orders, and work requests, Rapid City has the ability to readily provide FAA regulators with documented proof of compliance with PAR 139 standards.

● Maintenance department has ability to more readily capture and troubleshoot corrective maintenance and ability to auto-generate PMs.

● Stored procedures for recurring activities ensure work is performed consistently and shortens the learning curve for new technicians.

● eMaint X3 reduced time wasted on redundant activities by providing information indicating which jobs were already completed.

● In the next phase of his X3 implementation, Doug plans to track labor hours, parts and associated costs for better tracking of maintenance spend.

7 Critical Success Factors for Storeroom Organization - Free Best Practice Webinar

This month eMaint was pleased to welcome Doug Wallace,  Materials Management Expert for Life Cycle Engineering, for their Best Practices webinar series. During this webinar Doug discussed the mission of materials management as well as the 7 critical factors for successful storeroom organization. 

The mission of Materials Management is to provide the right parts at the right time at the least possible total cost to the company. With poor storeroom organization companies face various pitfalls such as:

• Providing the wrong quantity of parts
• Holding parts with unacceptable quality
• Providing the wrong parts
• Increased costs due to unnecessary delays

However, by following the 7 critical success factors, Maintenance Departments can house materials in a safe, clean, secure and organized environment. The seven critical success factors include:

1. Infrastructure
2. Location
3. Accessibility
4. Physical Layout
5. Logical Layout
6. Visual Management
7. Space Utilization 

Missed the webinar? No worries,  learn more and check out the whole presentation here.

These CMMS Best Practices webinars are a value-added service presented by eMaint Enterprises.

Learn How To Organize Your Storeroom For Success With a Free Best Practices Webinar

Join eMaint TOMORROW in welcoming Doug Wallace, Materials Management Expert for Life Cycle Engineering, as he delivers this month’s Best Practice webinar “Organize Your Storeroom For Success.”

Does your storeroom contribute to the success of your Materials Management personnel?

Successful Materials Management is achieved by providing the right parts at the right time at the least possible total cost to the company. Personnel must rely on storeroom organization to achieve key objectives such as efficient procurement and storeroom processes, warehouse practices, and inventory controls.

Tune into this webinar to find out exactly where your storeroom challenges lie, and hear some of the suggestions designed to fix or even prevent them. 

Learn how the storeroom contributes to the success (or failure) of Materials Management personnel in

meeting the expectations of your customers in Maintenance and Operations.

Examine potential pitfalls such as:

The infrastructure of the storeroom itself

• The infrastructure of the storeroom itself
• Location of the storeroom
• Accessibility to the storeroom
• Physical Layout within the storeroom

See how Bin Identification schemes, Visual Management Techniques, Space Utilization, and Handling Equipment can aid in avoiding or correcting area issues.

Register now or click here to watch additional free best practice webinars. 

Norgren, Inc. Decides on eMaint X3 To Meet Its Maintenance Management Needs

Norgren, Inc. is dedicated to creating competitive advantage for its customers by exploiting the potential of motion and fluid control technologies. With a global presence in multiple industries ranging from packaging, rail transportation, and automotive manufacturing to medical care and on-board commercial vehicles, Norgren is able to provide reliable support in 75 countries. After completing a 30 day free trial of eMaint X3, Norgren decided to implement the system.  

 

Due to a recent remodel Rick Sewczak, Facilities Manager, was searching for a good CMMS system that was easy to use. Sewczak chose eMaint X3 online based on its ability to handle PMs for four users as well as ten requestors. Also selected was the eMaint University with Rapid Start Subscription.  eMaint welcomes the Norgren, Inc. team and looks forward to a long-lasting partnership.