Gary Wolfe, Maintenance Manager gave EMC members, Community Partners and guests a very comprehensive presentation regarding the current progress that they have made on their journey to implement a "World Class Maintenance" system in their plant.  The presentation, discussion, round table and plant tour demonstrated that there are many factors and conditions that affect the implementation success of a preventative/predictive system.

A condensed copy of Gary's presentation can be found on the Brockville member website. It highlights general information about the plant and maintenance team as well as a description of the reliability tools that the plant uses to help support their program.

Notes of interest:

•  his plant is three years old - built from scratch & new work force hired
• The plant runs 24/7 with two planned shutdowns (spring & fall)
• Maintenance department works as a team & consists of four millwrights, two electricians, one planner, one purchaser, one manager.
• Maintenance team work very closely with operators
• Keep a spare parts inventory ($2.1 million ) - very reasonable for the industry & process
• YTD downtime is 2.1% (planned + unplanned)

Reliability Tools

• Each maintenance person has responsibility for using certain tools & ensuring that the testing is completed on a regular basis.  He tests, make call on results & ensures repairs are completed.
• All tests/repairs are recorded ; the data helps build baseline information for future maintenance decisions
• Decisions are made with the goal of providing controlled repairs for the shutdown period.
• Operators are trained to notice and report challenges to maintenance staff - their actions support the maintenance team and help save them time
• All equipment uses very strict guarding
•  Case study tool used to compare cost of planned maintenance vs. machine break-down (cost analysis)
•  Every member of the staff (operators included) is responsible for bring one improvement idea forward per year.  One example was to clone a computer that holds a great deal of important data.  When lightning struck and the main computer went down, the clone was all ready to go.
• Greenfield also uses local contractors for certain work.  Contractors are brought in during normal repairs to learn how to use and repair the machinery.  They are then trained to be able to help during shutdowns or when extra help is needed.
• Pre-stage spare parts & tools for shut-down or for possible repair of stations - helps to decrease shutdown period.
• Get involved with capital projects during planning stages
• Use a time chart for shutdown planning & keep all records in a binder to make it easier the next time

Challenges/strategies being worked on currently include:

• Decreasing "off inventory"
• Still building information baseline - this will become more reliable as time goes on
• Introducing TPM
• Need to spend more time on measurables
• Working on improving their documentation

General Information re: Greenfield Ethanol

• Four plants + one R&D facility
• Johnstown plant produces .5 million litres corn ethanol yearly
• There is no waste to the process - everything is used.
• Solids left after the ethanol is removed is sold back to farmers as a high protein feed
• Plant participants remarked on how clean the plant is kept.
• Strong emphasis on EH&S programs.
• All waste water is recycled back through the system.
• Management recognizes that culture is key to teamwork.  Therefore a great deal of emphasis on communication, safety focus, training & development, and best practice sharing.

The Round Table discussion continued around the following maintenance related topics:

• Attempts to implement preventive/predictive maintenance
• Planned shutdowns
• Software systems
• Challenges with metrics
• Fire fighting
• Old equipment vs. new
• Maintenance budgets
• How to get employees engaged and working together.

Those present indicated that they felt that getting together again in 2012 would be valuable.  The topic chosen was maintenance metrics.  Members also asked to be kept informed about SIGs that discussed culture and employee engagement. 

Planned Fall Strategic Interest Group Events - Eastern Ontario

October 6	Arnprior	Developing a Collaborative Workplace Environment
October 20	Brockville	Lean/CI SIG - Employee Engagement
Nov 2	Campbellford	Employee Engagement & Accountability

 Training Events in Eastern Ontario

Tuesday, December 6, 2011	Arnprior	Engaging Employees in Continuous Improvement
Thursday, December 8, 2011	Belleville	Engaging Employees in Continuous Improvement
Wednesday, December 7, 2011	Cornwall	Engaging Employees in Continuous Improvement

 Thank you so much to Gary Wolfe for the terrific presentation, and to Plant Manager Darrell Veres and Gary Wolfe for organizing the refreshments and plant tour.  If you have time to post a comment for Gary and his team, it would be appreciated.  Just write your comment in the box below and click submit.  It is that easy!

Gay Henniger

EMC Eastern Ontario Field Service Advsior