The more reactive you are, the more you have to depend on a good storeroom.

The word “reaction” means “a response, as to a stimulus or influence.”  Reactive maintenance organisations frequently have to “respond” to the “stimulus” of an equipment breakdown.  When this happens, they rarely know what damage they are going to find – or what parts will be needed to return the equipment to service.  Therefore, the storeroom must have a wide selection of parts to meet any conceivable circumstance.

On the other hand, organizations that follow a proactive maintenance philosophy place a high degree of emphasis on knowing the condition of their equipment.  The definition of proactive is “controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than waiting to respond after it happens.”  Proactive organisations “control” a potential breakdown situation by “causing” an equipment inspection to happen, with the purpose of understanding the equipment’s condition.  When the scope of the corrective action is small and predictable, this enables them to detect a deteriorating condition before failure occurs.  Usually, there is sufficient advance warning that parts can be ordered from the vendors on a “just-in-time” basis and be on site well in advance of the potential failure.  There is little need to stock the parts “just in case”.

Think about it – if you were guaranteed that you would never have another unanticipated breakdown, would you need to have a storeroom at all?  Obviously, this is an ideal and unrealistic scenario because there are no guarantees.  However, with a proactive philosophy, fewer parts need to be stocked, and lower inventories are needed for those that should be stocked due to long lead times.  This can have a significant financial benefit because inventory carrying costs are influenced, to a large degree, by inventory value.  If you’re proactive, you can reduce inventory without assuming additional risk.

Tip provided by MRG
Telephone: 203.264.0500
http://www.mrginc.net

PM Work Sheets

Excerpt from John W. Rushton’s book:
Effective Maintenance Management Using Planned and Preventive Maintenance.

PM work sheets are a vital part of any effective planned maintenance program, and they must be functional. The following tips can help you create more effective sheets:

• Before starting the preparation of the PM sheets, become as familiar as possible with the equipment and its systems. Each system should be estimated as to the percentage of emergency or expensive repairs that the system is responsible for. If the percentage is low, give that system a low priority.
• All items on the PM sheets must be completed every time. If the PM line people consistently fail to complete every item on the sheets, it is likely that the sheets need modification. The sheets must be dynamic, and changes should be made as necessary to encourage strict compliance.
• Each sheet should have space for the planner or foreman to enter minor repairs, and space for the craftsman to list needed repairs for backlog.
• PM sheets should be comprised of ITEMS (jobs) and SYSTEMS (closely related groups of jobs).
• Items should meet the following criteria:
  • Must eliminate a significant source of downtime or expense.
  • Can be reasonably completed during the normal PM time frame.
  • Can be checked for compliance.
• Systems should meet the following criteria:
  • Must eliminate a significant source of downtime or expense.
  • Responsibility for the entire system can easily be assigned to a craftsman or group of craftsmen.
• When grouping items from a system on a PM sheet, each item should be listed in a logical order of completion.
• When designing system PM activities, always take into account the other PM or operating activities that may be taking place at the same time.

Tip provided by Rushton International
801-281-4466
http://www.rushtonintl.com

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Last modified: 01/15/11