Automation Maintenance: Keeping Production Lines Humming While Preserving Assets Manufacturers are focusing on optimizing and streamlining processes in order to reduce the overall cost of production. At the same time, preservation of existing production equipment is essential. In an economic climate where capital equipment expenditures have been substantially curtailed, good maintenance practices are more important than ever. Companies across different industrial verticals have unique processes and subsequently unique issues with maintenance of factory systems. However, a set of common issues has emerged that are familiar to maintenance operations whether the product is automobiles, planes, consumer products, or food & beverage.

1. THOUGHT LEADERS FOR MANUFACTURING & SUPPLY CHAIN
ARC INSIGHTS
By Dick Slansky
INSIGHT# 2003-41M
OCTOBER 7, 2003
Today, manufacturers are becoming
very aware of the long-term benefits
of plant floor maintenance support
practices that preserve capital assets
while keeping the production lines
running smoothly and efficiently.
Automation Maintenance: Keeping Production
Lines Humming While Preserving Assets
Keywords
Preservation of Assets, Unscheduled Downtime, Best Practices, OEE
Summary
Manufacturers are focusing on optimizing and streamlining processes in
order to reduce the overall cost of production. At the same time, preserva-
tion of existing production equipment is essential. In an economic climate
where capital equipment expenditures have been substantially curtailed,
good maintenance practices are more important than
ever. Companies across different industrial verticals
have unique processes and subsequently unique is-
sues with maintenance of factory systems. However,
a set of common issues has emerged that are familiar
to maintenance operations whether the product is
automobiles, planes, consumer products, or food &
beverage.
Analysis
Maintenance and support practices are an integral component of optimized
production processes and lean manufacturing. The primary focus has been
to keep the assembly lines and processes running rather than the preserva-
tion of assets. To achieve these goals, maintenance methods and practices
have been developed specifically for each vertical industry. Today, manu-
facturers are becoming very aware of the long-term benefits of plant floor
maintenance support practices that preserve capital assets while keeping
the production lines running uninterrupted.
In order to keep the production lines running as efficiently and effectively
as possible operations managers want to minimize unscheduled downtime.
This translates into establishing levels of control over randomly occuring
un-scheduled events such as equipment downtime.

2. ARC Insights, Page 2
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Common Issues in Support of Plant Equipment
Many companies report common issues encountered in providing an ade-
quate level of support and maintenance from occasions of unscheduled
downtime. Inadequate staffing due to budget cuts, lack of trained staff due
to the introduction of new technologies, outdated equipment and outdated
technologies emerged as the primary impediments to maintenance support
activities.
Companies often identify the lack of trained personnel for the latest tech-
nologies as one their major problems. Factory automation systems
hardware and software is increasing in technical complexity much faster
than companies can train support personnel. This problem is compounded
by the latest downsizing trends to reduce operating expenses creating the
classic support dilemma of internal support versus external resource out-
sourcing.
Asset Management Enables Good Maintenance Practices
Determining if an organization has an Asset Management plan in place is
one criterion examined within the context of determining a Best Practice for
maintenance. Asset Management of an enterprise’s equipment and facili-
ties is becoming essential as an optimal Asset Management plan minimizes
the cost of support and maintenance while extending the life of capital
equipment. Moreover, effective use of the production equipment can sig-
nificantly increase product yield and quality. Depending on the scope of a
Adequate resources
(Support Staff)
Lack of trained personnel
due to new technologies
Outdated equipment
Lack of supplier support
Lack of supplier
furnished information
Outdated technologies
Other
47.8 %
41.8 %
25.4 %
23.9 %
22.4 %
19.4 %
6.0 %
Note: Percentages based on multiple choices
Adequate resources
(Support Staff)
Lack of trained personnel
due to new technologies
Outdated equipment
Lack of supplier support
Lack of supplier
furnished information
Outdated technologies
Other
47.8 %
41.8 %
25.4 %
23.9 %
22.4 %
19.4 %
6.0 %
Adequate resources
(Support Staff)
Lack of trained personnel
due to new technologies
Outdated equipment
Lack of supplier support
Lack of supplier
furnished information
Outdated technologies
Other
47.8 %
41.8 %41.8 %
25.4 %25.4 %
23.9 %23.9 %
22.4 %22.4 %
19.4 %19.4 %
6.0 %6.0 %
Note: Percentages based on multiple choices
Problems Encountered By Maintenance Operations

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©2004 • ARC • 3 Allied Drive • Dedham, MA 02026 USA • 781-471-1000 • ARCweb.com
given Asset Management plan, it would either
contain elements of maintenance methods and
procedures or be structured to interface with a
corporate level maintenance plan.
Today, Asset Management has evolved into En-
terprise Asset Management (EAM), which
integrates maintenance, procurement, inventory,
finance, and a host of other critical operations to
deliver real-time visibility into enterprise effec-
tiveness, capital optimization, and cost control.
The purpose of EAM is to preserve operational
assets while identifying and tracking revenue-
generating assets throughout the lifecycle of the
production equipment. Asset data including loca-
tion, work history, and cost history are tracked
over time, helping companies maximize produc-
tivity and extend asset life. A typical EAM application models relation-
ships between pieces of equipment, physical locations and the systems with
which they are associated. This enables Operations to compile maintenance
costs across systems, subsystems and locations.
Operator Involvement Enhances Maintenance Performance
One of the most effective methods of gaining control of unscheduled down-
time is to promote the involvement of the operators in continuous
maintenance activities. Operator ownership of the equipment directly
leads to asset preservation. Production workers must be encouraged to
“own” the process and the equipment that they use on the factory floor. By
offering incentives directly tied to the productivity gains made through
more efficiently maintained production assets, the production worker be-
comes a stakeholder in the operation. In this way they are empowered to
constantly monitor the process and look for ways to improve on the upkeep
and maintenance of the equipment that they use. Although the owners of
the production unit don’t perform any actual maintenance, they ensure that
their unit equipment receives support and maintenance in a timely manner,
and are aware of the improvements that need to be made.
Benchmarking of maintenance processes and
procedures
Best Practices used to support factory auto-
mation equipment
Skill levels required for current and future
automation technology
Training of maintenance support staff
Retention of skilled support staff
Problems companies encounter in
maintenance support
Maintenance outsourcing used for support
activities
Metrics employed to measure support
effectiveness
Maintenance Issues and Challenges
Facing Manufacturers

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Best Maintenance Practices Use Performance Metrics
Many companies lack adequate performance measures on related systems
support costs such as equipment reliability, lifecycle costs and workforce
efficiency to help determine what to support internally and what to out-
source. This is leading companies to cut back on internal training programs
and to experiment with outsourcing support in the more complex areas
such as network infrastructure and enterprise application systems. How-
ever, companies that capture adequate performance measures are able to
selectively outsource support.
An approach to tracking and measuring equipment performance is to iden-
tify Key Performance Indicators (KPI). Downtime, Lost Time, and Overall
Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) are all widely used KPIs. The utilization of
KPIs in a manufacturing operation has demonstrated that the working rela-
tionship between operations and maintenance is strengthened. In effect,
the use of KPIs provides a focus for both organizations to make continuous
improvements through shared maintenance responsibilities.
Recommendations
• Manufacturers should develop and implement an overall corporate
level maintenance plan that draws on both internal and external best
practices for maintenance, as well as common automation architectures.
• Establish methods for using metrics to measure maintenance perform-
ance and effectiveness. This will be necessary in order to determine
Return on Assets (ROA) and preserve investment in existing assets.
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