|
|
|
|
Volume 13:
Welcome:
Please select "subscribe to newsletter" on our contact form. Topic: Electric PowerWelcome to the 13th issue of our Feed Forward Newsletter; "The Maintenance War Newsletter". This first area of the newsletter is for introductions and commentary. Remember, the website has many new items added each month. So please browse around and find yourself a gold nugget.Online version at www.feedforward.com.au
Since our last issue we have started to deliver Palm / PDA software products and power point presentation products. We started out with one new product for each new media type. We are actively working on developing and finding you more of those type products. Be sure to download the free trial Electronic and Electrical Calculator Palm Software. Our first power point to offer is titled "Maintenance Management Guide". Our newest Ebook title is by Larry Bush. Be sure to browse the free samples of his Ebook, "How to Purchase, Setup and Maintain Emergency Diesel Electric Generators"
We have also added a couple new Computer Based Training (CBT) CDs. If you have experienced our award winning PLC Training CBT, you will want to see our new Control Logix CBT. We have also recently added a Measurement Methods CBT. Also the very detailed M2M Device Networking article by Marty Huff is new on the site.
The article is about how the ability to extract raw data from a device, machine, or appliance, and convert that data into useful information, transforms the decision-making from an art to a science.
In the last issue of "The Maintenance War Newsletter", we started an initiative dubbed "Change the world". One submitted article stands out as being in line with the initiative's goals.
Frank Lincoln donated the white paper "Electronic Electricity Repository (EER)", about a new approach to storing electricity. While we are not validating his theories by publishing them, our hat is off to Frank for his thought provoking article and his intentions to make the world we live in a better place to live.
You never know, Frank's article may spawn the next invention to make our appliances even smaller and consume less energy. :>)
Management Help: Indirect labor hoursOne reader asks: "What's the best possible way to reduce cost when direct labor hours utilized are far less then the indirect labor hours"? From the limited information I would speculate your area of greatest cost savings would be to focus on reduction of the support personnel’s hours. This would consist of incorporating many lean methodologies to the areas of their responsibility. An example would be the task of changing light bulbs in the facility. Typically, a light bulb burns out, someone is called to change it. A lean analysis of the task at hand goes something like this...
The above seven items equals the man-hours to change a light bulb. The larger the facility, the more a scenario occurs where the maintenance person returns to the same general area again in that week to replace another light bulb. It has been proven in large office buildings that a huge savings in man hours can be seen by changing all light bulbs in a given area at one time whether they are burnt out or not. (You save the time it takes for 6 of the 7 steps above, multiplied by the amount of light bulbs in that room. Then multiply that savings multiplied by the amount of rooms responsible for maintaining to see an annual savings.) Basically light bulbs of the same model number will all last the same amount of hours. Therefore if you change them all in a room at the same time, when one burns out the next time, it will be time to change them all out as the others are soon to burn out. This is just one of thousands of lean ideas that can be applied to reduce support man hours. If you are using a work order/CMMS system, you may be able to identify the areas of greatest cost and focus on them first with lean ideas. Hope this helps Human Resource:Let's Talk Human ResourceBelow are some great resources to exchange ideas with your fellow maintenance managers. Swap ideas with others, now that is a human resource that isn't used enough. (Sites that were email only have been excluded.) Also we would be grateful to hear your ideas on how the maintenance manager can better utilize their company's human resource department. Email us your thoughts and we may use it for the next newsletter. The Toast Forum at Idcon - over 100 topics, over 300 registered members. On the Maintenance and Reliability Discussion Forum, the general maintenance management section topic and the Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) topic are the most popular. Reliability Magazine® Message Boards - over 5000 topics, over 60,000 posts, leans more towards the mechanics of managing a maintenance department with the hot topic being the Alignment/Balancing/Vibration Forum MaintenanceForums.com - almost a 100 topics, over 700 registered members. Their most popular topic is the Machinery Condition Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance topic. Even industry specific forums can surprise you with a wealth of information and peers to network with. Take Saferpak Discussion Forums for example, over 3000 posts, and 541 registered members. Their focus is the Food [Packaging] Safety, Quality Management & Business Improvement topic discussions. Yahoo groups. Science > Engineering > Industrial Google news groups. sci.engr.manufacturingsci.engr
The World Wide Web: Below are some websites I recommend you see ... Mega-zine - active ezines accessible via the WEB and E-mail. Aerostrip Australia - national distributor for a range of environmentally friendly products. Insider Secrets to Hydraulics - trouble shooting on hydraulic pumps Best regards and thanks for being a subscriber to this newsletter, Don Fitchett www.feedforward.com.au teaches your maintenance crew engineering and asset care knowledge so that they can solve more problems, become more knowledgeable, make better decisions and your plant runs more reliably! Please select "subscribe to newsletter" on our contact form.
|
|
