Structural approach to maintenance
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“For years our Technical Services department was mainly focused on corrective maintenance, There was too little attention for results, and hardly any communication with production. All of which had an adverse effect on equipment availability and the ability to deliver the products. That meant we needed to take a structural approach to the maintenance process.” These are the findings of Mr. Th.A.J. Koot, Plant Manager of the sugar manufacturer Suiker Unie in Puttershoek. Suiker Unie is part of Royal Cosun, an international group that develops, produces and markets natural foods and ingredients. Suiker Unie has six production locations, including one specialities site in Puttershoek. This plant has production lines on which standard sugar is processed and packaged into kilogram bags, sugar cubes, icing sugar, soft sugar and other products. |
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“It’s a good thing that someone from outside is working together with you and taking a close look at what you’re doing.”
Mr. A.J.C. van der Borst was appointed from within the Suiker Unie organisation as Team Leader of the Technical Services department. With its extensive knowledge and expertise, Stork Maintenance Management was called upon to broaden the available knowledge in the specific field of maintenance for the food industry.
Maintenance tasks
Mr. M. van Aert, Maintenance Manager, was asked to provide operational support to Van der Borst, jointly defining the required maintenance schedule and ensuring that the maintenance tasks would be optimally structured, organised and managed in the future.
Van der Borst: “It’s a good thing that someone from outside is working together with you and taking a close look at what you’re doing. That makes sure we stay on top of the job and don’t lose sight of our targets.”
SAP PM was successfully implemented
More transparency in the technical organisation. First of all Van Aert carried out an audit of the technical services organisation, and together with Van der Borst drew up a working approach comprising five improvement action plans. The workflow process was analysed, and SAP PM was successfully implemented within a three-month timeframe.
After that, three production lines were completely overhauled and the maintenance concepts and the corresponding tasks were documented in detail.
The finalised maintenance concepts are currently being implemented, and the process is being monitored and directed remotely by Van Aert.
Improved equipment availability
The results are clearly visible. Fewer people are handling a bigger maintenance workload. This is a sign that working efficiency has been increased and technical services is focusing more strongly on preventive maintenance.
An owner has been assigned to each production line. These ‘line owners’ are responsible not only for correct operation of their respective lines, but also for the development of an improvement plan.
Monthly reporting makes line availability, maintenance costs and the performance of technical services much more transparent.
Koot: “The aim is to increase working efficiency and to gain a higher degree of security about the availability of our production lines and equipment. If we continue the current trend, I’m sure we will achieve our ambitious target (-20%) in 2006.”