Critical Prerequisites for Asset Reliability Program Implementation

Reactive asset management strategies simply do not work in the modern marketplace. Industrial organizations must maintain flexible operations to keep pace with customer demands and ultimately achieve and preserve financial security. Traditional strategies that emphasize repair as opposed to consistent upkeep lay the groundwork for costly periods of production downtime. For example, the average automotive manufacturer loses $22,000 per minute of stoppage, Business Insider reported. With no finished product rolling off the lines, customers leave for more reliable competitors and overhead goes unsubsidized.

Businesses can prevent this situation from unfolding by developing and deploying asset reliability programs that reduce the likelihood of catastrophic mechanical breakdowns and the operational aftershocks that normally follow. But before rolling out such strategies, organizations should map out the critical prerequisites that must be in place for an asset reliability plan to snap into action and make a sustainable impact.

"The average vehicle manufacturer loses $22,000 per minute of stoppage."

Here are some of the prerequisites that facilitate smooth asset reliability program implementation:

Clean Facilities

Plant cleanliness is an important factor in the production equation, as clutter on the shop floor can inhibit operations and lead to downtime. That is why established experts are reluctant to deem unclean facilities truly reliable, no matter what kinds of advanced back-end maintenance processes they might have in place. With this in mind, industrial firms gearing up for the implementation of new-and-improved asset reliability controls should take time to assess the cleaning efforts in their respective plants and consider new methods for keeping production floors clear and mission-critical equipment spotless.

Firms with sparkling shops often employ industrial-grade spray washers and immersion cleaners to keep their machinery buildup free. When it comes to cleaning physical spaces, nailing down an ironclad schedule for facility hygiene is the most effective solution.

Properly Trained Employees

Companies that succeed in implementing asset reliability programs cultivate internal cultures centered on this idea and the operational precepts that define it, most notably consistent data collection, predictive service and effective change management. This effort starts with the everyday employees who execute on the shop floor. Industrial organizations must equip their workers with the knowledge and skills needed to leverage preventive approaches to get real results, beginning with maintenance teams. 

The stakeholders leading these groups should start by assessing the skill levels of their technicians and looking for room for improvement. Additionally, any sort of reliability based training must touch on interpersonal communication, as maintenance crews are required to collaborate with colleagues inside and outside their departments to ensure the equipment they oversee functions as necessary.

Robust Production Processes

A majority of manufacturers most likely assume that employees follow established standard operating procedures (SOPs) or, at the very least, have a handle on efficient shop floor workflows. Unfortunately, this expectation is not always the case. Many organizational leaders looking to implement asset reliability programs find that the SOPs that they thought were in place actually go unfollowed or do not exist in a documented form. This revelation is, of course, a major roadblock to implementation. Asset reliability is impossible to achieve without a thorough understanding of how and when equipment is used and serviced.

Therefore, it is critical for businesses embarking on the reliability journey to develop and document SOPs for both the production and maintenance teams. These procedures constitute the baseline for asset reliability program implementation and are essential.

Innovative Maintenance Tools

Data reigns supreme in Industry 4.0. Industrial enterprises of all sizes are using next-generation information technology solutions to monitor and propel their operations. From wireless sensors and connected personal devices to large-scale predictive analytics engines, modern production facilities are filled to the brim with cutting-edge digital assets. These tools often serve as the basis for highly effective asset reliability programs, gathering the real-time shop floor insights maintenance teams need to verify mission-critical machinery is meeting its full potential and on track to make production targets.

In a recent industrial case study, one manufacturer leveraging a machine learning platform for its predictive algorithms reduced its downtime by 50 percent and increased performance by 25 percent in as little as one month's time. Businesses that attempt to embrace data-driven reliability without at least some IT support solutions, however, are likely to fail, as such resources are critical.

Production and maintenance stakeholders tasked with implementing asset reliability programs must work with external software vendors to pinpoint the back-end solutions needed to buttress their strategies and facilitate sustained success. Enterprise asset management (EAM) software allows organizations to track all of the equipment on their shop floors and understand how their productivity affects all areas of their businesses, from payroll to procurement. With this kind of tool available, operational and maintenance teams can put into place the data-gathering workflows needed to underpin modern asset reliability programs.

Is your industrial firm interested in implementing EAM software in an effort to prepare for asset reliability program implementation? Connect with GenesisSolutions today and learn more about how our industry-leading software platforms can help your business embrace reliability and ensure operational flexibility now and into the future.