Johan Peterson has been working at MaintMaster (former Aretics) since 2006. During his years at the company, he has had the opportunity to meet many customers. It’s from the experience of those meetings he has gathered inspiration for his lectures.
Continuous improvements require continuous changes
The reason for why a company is working with maintenance is that it wants to create a safe and sustainable production environment which, in the long run, means an economic gain. The amount of hours spent on maintenance decreases when you do the right things in a correct manner.
Johan Peterson explains why continuous improvements require continuous changes:
– If you don’t dare to break the pattern, and try new ways to go, your result will never change.
This is supported by the term “Total Productive Maintenance” (TPM), which is a collective name for different working methods aimed at creating continuous improvements in small steps.
– Within TPM you talk about the brain, heart, and muscle. Where the muscles consist of operator maintenance, says Johan. Changing your way of work will not be possible if it’s only operators (the muscles) performing certain parts of maintenance.
It’s very important that everyone helps within the company by reporting what’s not working. To report faults and failures is the start point for improvement work.
Johan also emphasizes that it’s important to distinguish between maintenance, modifications and improvements:
– When we work with improvements, we add something to the company. Either in terms of increased availability, which in turn results in being able to produce more, or by becoming more efficient, and produce the same amount/number in a shorter period.
There is a treasure chest in your plant
To work with maintenance adds an increasing control over costs, and consequently, reduced costs in the long run.
– Many companies have a treasure chest of potential improvements in their plant waiting to be implemented. The extent of these improvements varies, but together they form a valuable and precious treasure.
It can be expensive to not open the treasure chest or to not work with improvements:
– If you do not grab your potential for improvements, there is a high risk to be overtaken by your competitors. So, get started right now.
Create understanding of your processes
A company consisting of several different processes such as the purchase process, the production process, the sales process, etc. In some way they all contribute to an increased value of our products.
So, when implementing a change, that will lead to an improved process, it’s extremely important that everyone involved in the company are aware of why you make the change, and the expected outcome.
The risk is otherwise that you encounter unnecessary resistance within your organization. Participation is the key to a smooth change process!
– If you both understand the value of your own daily work, and have insight into the company’s long-term plans, then the change work will be received positively by the staff and thus becomes an improvement concludes Johan.
Are you ready to start improving? Or do you want to learn more about the basics of a CMMS?
