Hey there everyone,
Long time no post.
I’m working for a commercial woodworking company, called AFWoods. We do a lot of interior store fixtures and high end woodwork, architectural details etc… I’m doing design (AutoCAd) and project management.
Anyway we have a lot of money (about a mill.) tied into equipment in our shop and the president of the company wants us to have a better handle on the equipment. Right now we have a cnc router, cnc saw,cnc edge bander, three compressors, fork truck, box truck, etc..
The boss wants us to put together some type of book, log, program, or folder, giving us all the service, maintenance, costs, part numbers, estimated costs and service schedules, etc…..
Basically, though we do a good job all around the powers that be want a better feel for what’s going on with a million dollars of their money, and simultaneously getting us to be more efficient in maintaining and scheduling downtime on the major machines.
I’m thinking there is no reason to reinvent the wheel and there has to be plenty of programs “out there” that can be a big help. Also figured some break time folks may have “been there done that” and be able to lead me in the right direction.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Cork in Chicago
Replies
Greetings Cork,
This post, in response to your question, will bump the thread through the 'recent discussion' listing again.
Perhaps it will catch someone's attention that can help you with advice.
Cheers
half of good living is staying out of bad situations
It would be easy enough in Excel, especially if you already have MS Office. Very expandable but it will obviously take some time to input all of the info to date. Once input, you can add service dates, cost and description of what was done pretty easily. Learning some other program would probably take as long as inputting the data and setting up the spreadsheet and your company probably has Office already.
Hey highfigh,
Thanks for the reply.
Yeah, you are right about putting together the info. I'm still in the stage of just getting my hands on all the basic equipment info and collecting it on just one file. Next comes the part of trying to get it into excel or another program.
When the pres. of the company assigned me this task he also asked the IT guys (who are in the TWO year process of overhauling our server and computer systems) why don't we have asset management on the computer? They now say we do and they will activate it May 1st. Then I'll see just what I have to enter, and also cobble together software wise.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Thanks,
Cork in Chicago.
I know there are a number of software packages out there for this purpose, but unfortunately I have no experience so can't make any recommendations. If you do a google search on "maintenance software" you'll get a bunch of hits.
It sounds like you have decent manual processes in place for each item, now it's trying to get to the wholistic view. Do you do your own maintenance and maintain parts inventory? Is assets aging handled separately or do they want that to be part of the program?
Yea, you could cobble up a spreadsheet, but creating, debugging and maintaining anything with reasonable capabilities (costing, scheduling (people & machines), parts inventory, etc.) is a lot of work. I'm assuming your project management duties do not extend to IT.
One approach is hosted solutions (also known as ISP's). They offer sophisticated tools on serious servers plus all kinds of support, for a monthly fee (typically a set-up then some kind of usage or data storage based pricing model). There are standalone systems as well, with a whole range of capabilities, costs and support requirements. I'd start Googling Plant Maintenance or CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management Systems).
I can't help you with the vendors in this space. We use SAP, at about a jillion bucks, to run the whole enterprise, including plant maintenance. What we saw was that the cultural change to move to a disciplined, process-based approach to maintenance was a far bigger challenge than getting the software up and running.
Good luck!
Sounds like your boss is trying to get ISO certified.
If you do all the maintenance internally, you will need to go through all your owners manuals, and create checklists for each piece of equipment based on the manufacturers recommended frequency for each item.
Your checklist can include daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual columns, or you can create different checklists based on frequency. Each checklist should include an area at the bottom to write up observations, or pending issues. Have your techs manually check off the items as they are completed, do not let them wait until the end, then just check everything off on the list. Have then sign and date the completed checklist
Start a Historical file for each individual piece of equipment, and keep the manuals, checklists, photocopies of replacement parts purchased in the file, this will help you to identify trends, such as this machine goes through 3 flux capacitors every year, and the identical machine beside it goes through 1 every other year.
You could also enter this into a computer if necessary, but unless there is an added agenda, it may just be added work.
Don't forget to include your doors and dock equipment, and drop tests for your fire doors, and maintenance of your first aid kits, eyewash stations, inventories for safety items, extinguishers, emergency lighting.
Sounds like you've been there! Good points - these are definately necessary for anyone trying to establish a formal maintenance process.
I don't think that we're interested in any certifications, just making the best possible product at the lowest possible price with the highest possible safety. We make consumer products - I'm sure you have some in your house or garage - so we have a different focus than a woodworking shop, though the underlying principles remain the same.
I'm in IT so my knowledge is more around spec'ing, buying, implementing than in using this stuff.
Good points about the safety components. For example, we regularly test our car barn and safety valve to make sure that if there's a chlorine leak we don't have a 90 ton tank car load taking out the neighborhood.
Oh yea, have you BBQ'd today?
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Edited 4/29/2006 12:51 pm by wrudiger
Hey wrudiger,
Great ideas.
I'm going to do them. Thanks for the great info.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Cork in
Chicago
With the 8-10 machines that you mentioned, from a practical standpoint this is easy to manage without any "system" in place. Sure, it's a lot of money involved, but with a few good guys working on these machines, they can easily be maintained without a major system in place.
That being said, what you're looking for, like someone else mentioned, is Maintenance Software. They're packages readily available by many companies. I would check with you're machine suppliers first, I bet one of them could recommend (or even provide) a good program.
Honestly, it sounds like you're in need of a dog and pony show for the higher-ups. Find out how much money you can spend, go get a system for just under that amount. Then check your manuals and determine all of your recommended PM dates. Plug them in the system and enter all the work done, scheduled or emergency, and hand the reports to the bosses once month, quarter, year, etc.
Another option is to check with your machine suppliers and see if they offer a "service plan". I worked in a warehouse with 25 forklifts, we rarely touched them ourselves. The vendor set us up with a schedule and an emergency number, easiest (but not always cheapest) option.
Joe
“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” – Albert Einstein
Hey there JMadson
Good ideas about doing it yourself, and also the dog and pony show.
I think in the mind of the big bosses this is about "attention to detail".
The pres. of the company is very good at what he does and surrounds himself with "talent". He has been successful in business by doing this. And while lots of other companies have gone under ours is flourishing. He'll often just give people a direction to head and then sit back, hands off, and let people run with it. But then every once in a while he will get into the "hands on" mode and demand excellence in every aspect down to the smallest detail (most of the time he achieves a big chunk of what he's after) and I think this is one of those "hands on" times when the "Big Kahunna" had better be seeing some fundamental changes being rapidly made in a professional and decisive manner.
After reading these posts (thanks for all the great responses folks) I'm thinking a multi pronged attack would work best. First I'll set up a program for our own people to do as much of the service and maintenance as is feasible. Second I'll identify all the vendors we use and set up maintenance schedules for all equipment. Last I'll get a program from the vendors, or ISP, or a stand alone system and get it fired up to keep track of all this and print out hard copies of all schedules, vendors, historical costs, etc. This should make a good dog and pony show.
Great idea about finding out up front what size budget numbers my boss can throw my way. Simple, effective, and cut's straight to the chase. Thanks.
Thanks for all the great advice,
Sincerely,
Cork in Chicago
What does the machine's manufacturer recommend?
These things usually come with some form of owners manual, training manual, some thing, that has a recommended maintenance schedule.
Hey Peteshlagor,
Just getting the info from the manufacturers seems like half the battle. The wood working shop has been very successful in the 10 years since we bought it, but now we are getting to the size and volume where we have to get real serious about planning and budgeting.
In the last three days, besides doing just a few hours work on designing some podiums do go in some high end spas to serve as hostess areas I have spent probably 20 hours just finding the very basics on the equipment in the shop. It felt like I was back out in the field doing commercial construction work. I've been crawling through small openings, squeezing my body between very dusty and seriously loud machines, and paying real close attention to not getting killed or maimed by the machines.
After doing this I came away with all the make, model # and serial # for the machinery but one, (in the main air compressor room there is a Curtis air dryer that the info had been just to faded by oil to be able to read), and I'll get that info from Ingersall Rand (who's vender sticker was legible). It turns out we have 27 major pieces of equipment, a box truck and 2 forklifts. Plus furnaces, office, and staffing equipment, safety supplies, and hundreds of clamps, hand tools, power tools etc... still to be listed.
It turns out that NO ONE had kept track of all the equipment. The files had info going back to 1985 for all sorts of machinery that had been sold off or traded in many years ago. I had to search the entire shop, all the work stations, 3 separate buildings, 6 offices, and probably 10 file cabinets , and last but not least hit a "mother load" of info and manuals in of all places the shop's break room.
Only came up with about a third of the manuals and I'll go online and to venders to get the rest. Hope the rest of this little project goes better. :-)
Have a good weekend,
Cork in Chicago