Accounting for External Influences in Improvement Programs with Fred Schenkelberg
Do you plan for every factor that can influence the performance of your systems? Are the environmental conditions too much of a problem for you? There are several external factors that influence a reliability improvement program. You can never get the desired output if you don’t try different inputs and see the varied results for yourself and then test and analyze each favorable result until you are satisfied with them. But there is not always enough budget lying around for you to do experimentation just like that. Some companies have a limited budget and tight deadlines and you have to plan for those external factors according to the environmental conditions that your equipment has to face.
But how do you know if you are getting that improvement you want or not? There are different testing and measurement techniques that you can before you give any input to your machines. You can make sure that some things are in place—such as alignment is right and there is no overload on the machines or they aren’t too worked up to try something new—and after that, you can start with the next layer of inputs. You can also inspect, during the processes to see if everything is going alright and according to your expectations or not.
You have to make sure to try variable inputs keeping various factors in mind that you have to account for if something goes wrong. You need to get your experienced operators, to see what conditions the machines are in and how you can make improvements if any. They are the ones who actually know the equipment because they are paid to do so every day in that organization. You need to take notes of each output and document everything that works for you. It is very important to take inputs from your technicians and operations department. Then you need to make sure, they are taken care of while aligning, designing, and installation.
Most of the organizations don’t plan for extrinsic factors because they think they can’t do much about the weather and such likely situations. But that approach is for ancient wisdom believers and such persons who are too lazy to do what is necessary to get what they want. There are predictive maintenance tools now that can help you pan depending on the temperature conditions around your factory areas. When you are working on-site, there should be some sort of measures in place if the weather conditions go worse or equipment gets rusty or too hot to operate on.
Whatever the external conditions are, make sure to experiment and see the results for yourself before you go on making the far-fetched assumptions. You need to record the results and analyze those outputs. It is very important to record data rather than just making opinionated estimates. You can always work with data and find different solutions for even the most severe of conditions.
Eruditio Links:
- Eruditio, LLC
- A Smarter Way of Preventative Maintenance – Free eBook
- Maintenance Planning & Scheduling: Planning for Profitability Video Course
Fred Schenkelberg Links:
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