Maintenance Management at DAI
Saving hundreds of thousands on yearly maintenance costs (30% and more)
| “We’ve been able to save thirty per cent on our yearly mainte-nance costs in partnership with Stork and Controlec by making in-depth investments in a new maintenance information system and far reaching changes in our maintenance organisation,” says Jan Anne Schelling, Plant Manager at DSM Anti-Infectives in Delft.* One of the ways in which these savings have been achieved is by breaking out of the traditio-nal customer–supplier roles and making far reaching changes in our own organisation. We had to increase awareness that mainte-nance is not just a cost item. Maintenance is also closely linked to the safety of equip-ment and the overall working processes, which means it is surrounded by a wide range of risks. |
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“An optimally structured maintenance system
offers the right added value.”
Mathon Erps, Maintenance Manager and Project Leader on detachment from Stork
Maintenance
To take care of maintenance, DSM entered into a partnership with Stork and Controlec called Vof DSC (DSM Stork Controlec), linked to a partnership based contract, in July 2001. Under this agreement, each of the partners would be jointly responsible for the availability of the process plant. The agreement was not only that the direct maintenance costs had to be reduced, but so did the consequential losses caused by technical problems. A special feature of the new maintenance organisation is that Mathon Erps of Stork Maintenance Management is the responsible maintenance manager for DSC. This means that DSM has great confidence in its alliance partners. “Because that’s the only way we can optimally structure the maintenance system, and set up the organisation in the right way to deliver the results we need.”
Complete turnaround in thinking
Schelling: “The project has resulted in a complete turnaround in our thinking. In all the expert recommendations that we have heard over the last 15 years, none of them told us that we as the customer have to make an investment in our own organisation. To create the right conditions for that, maintenance has to be taken seriously at every level – right up to the boardroom.”
A big step has to be taken in the initial phase of this change process, as Contract Manager Michel Meertens of DSM Delft explains: “We first had to invest in the new maintenance organisation and systems. This initially meant an increase in the costs. In this phase it is difficult to convince people of the benefits. Confidence only increases when the costs are reduced towards the desired trend of sustainable savings.”
* The Delft site has been in operation since 1869, when the Nederlandsche Gist- en Spiritusfabriek (NG&SF) was established for the production of baker’ yeast. The company became Gist-brocades in 1968, and was acquired by DSM in 1998. DSF Anti Infectives is one of the three business groups based in Delft. This business group mainly produces beta lactam antibiotics such as penicillin and cephalosporin.