Plant Reliability: 5 Signs You're on Track
When you walk into a manufacturing facility, you can immediately sense its pulse and productivity by observing several key indicators. Here are five critical signs that indicate a plant is operating reliably:
- Cleanliness is a priority: A standout trait of top-performing plants is their cleanliness. In such facilities, cleanliness is not a chore but a continuous practice integrated into daily routines. If you can conduct an impromptu tour without noticing piles of clutter or debris, it reflects a culture of discipline and pride in maintaining a tidy workspace. Regularly inspecting waste disposal areas like dumpsters can also reveal whether recent 'cleanup acts' are just for show or part of routine practice.
- Effective management of change (MOC): Reliable plants excel in documentation and change adherence. They maintain up-to-date equipment drawings and OEM manuals, which are crucial for correct operations, maintenance, and troubleshooting. In contrast, plants struggling with reliability often have outdated or inaccurate documentation, reflecting a gap between policy and practice. A robust MOC process is foundational to preventing errors and ensuring consistency across operations.
- Reliability is quantitatively measured: High-reliability plants understand the importance of metrics like Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) or Total Effective Equipment Performance (TEEP). These plants measure these metrics and use them to drive decisions and improvements. Conversely, plants that overlook reliability measurement often react to problems rather than proactively manage their assets.
- Adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs): In reliable plants, SOPs are not just documented but are integral to everyday operations. These facilities recognize that consistent performance is key to protecting their investments in machinery and technology. Just as pilots follow strict protocols to ensure safety, your manufacturing processes require similar adherence to procedures to ensure efficiency and safety.
- Proactive and planned maintenance: The most reliable plants understand that proactive maintenance prevents disruptions. They achieve high rates of scheduled maintenance completion and keep unplanned outages to a minimum. Furthermore, these plants embrace predictive and condition-based maintenance approaches, which comprise a sizable portion of their maintenance activities, allowing them to anticipate and mitigate potential failures before they escalate.
In conclusion, the common denominator among all high-performing plants is strong leadership. Leaders in these environments set clear goals, provide direction, and foster a culture where continuous improvement is embraced.
At Allied Reliability, we understand these dynamics deeply. Our reliability services are designed to enhance your maintenance programs and drive sustainable performance. Whether it is implementing robust change management systems, enhancing your measurement of reliability, or refining maintenance strategies, we can help you achieve and maintain operational excellence in your facility.
ABOUT ALLIED RELIABILITY
Allied Reliability provides asset management consulting and predictive maintenance solutions across the lifecycle of your production assets to deliver required throughput at lowest operating cost while managing asset risk. We do this by partnering with our clients, applying our proven asset management methodology, and leveraging decades of practitioner experience across more verticals than any other provider. Our asset management solutions include Consulting & Training, Condition-based Maintenance, Industrial Staffing, Electrical Services, and Machine Reliability.
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