Questing for the reliability "silver bullet".Most pulp and paper mills understand the value and importance of reliability but struggle to ensure reliable systems and mills. This is the story of a company that recognized their reliability vulnerabilities and overcame the traditional business culture to achieve its reliability goals. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE RELIABILITY CHALLENGE Catalyst Paper Catalyst Paper is a Canadian paper manufacturer. Based in Richmond, British Columbia, the company produces paper and pulp for commercial printers, publishers and paper manufacturers in North America, Latin America, the Pacific Rim and Europe. owns four pulp and paper mills and an additional plant in western Canada
Western Canada, commonly referred to as the West . On the surface, their employees appeared to be further along in developing reliability than other companies. The company had tried several times to launch reliability initiatives using various tools but the overall goal of reliability was elusive. Each solution became short-lived because it did not deliver long-term value. Catalyst's executives were frustrated frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: . Their quest for Verb 1. quest for - go in search of or hunt for; "pursue a hobby" quest after, go after, pursue look for, search, seek - try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of; "The police are searching for clues"; "They are searching for the the reliability "silver bullet silver bullet - magic bullet " continued. Catalyst looked beyond its frustration and took a hard look at operations. Close examination revealed that its mill culture was reactive. Failures triggered equipment maintenance. The company rewarded tradespeople trades·peo·ple pl.n. 1. People engaged in retail trade. 2. Skilled workers. Noun 1. tradespeople - people engaged in trade for fixing machines and getting them up and running again as quickly as possible. Mills focused on failure, not reliability. While Catalyst employees were knowledgeable and had good skills, machines continued to fail. While pockets of excellence did exist within the mill system, no processes were in place to capture what made those areas excel. Between breakdowns, maintenance systems triggered work orders that kept maintainers busy, but Catalyst's machines remained unreliable. The company knew that buying new machines would offer only temporary relief. Catalyst executives began to ask the question: "Are we doing the 'right' maintenance work?" They concluded that the company's approach to maintaining equipment needed to change. QUEST FOR A RELIABILITY SOLUTION Catalyst knew that reliability was the right goal but did not know how to get there. Its various attempts to establish reliability had not linked well to the business aspects of equipment strategy and mill objectives. The company had no defined, repeatable, proactive processes to follow when maintaining equipment. In its ongoing quest for the reliability silver bullet, Catalyst engaged Ivara, a reliability vendor that offered software tools coupled with a method of achieving reliability. Ivara's approach pulled together Catalyst's existing reliability initiatives under one umbrella, established financial benefits, and developed a proactive equipment strategy focused on prevention. Ivara's method provided the framework for Catalyst's mills to improve their knowledge of mitigating equipment failure and managing failure when it happened. Catalyst established equipment health-based strategies that watched for signs of deterioration. It defined business rules to identify the right work to be done on the right piece of equipment at the right time, opening up a world aimed at prevention and reliability for Catalyst maintainers. Identifying the right work was the breakthrough the company needed. The implementation uncovered tradespeople's and operator's invaluable insights into how equipment failed, and more importantly into how to detect and prevent equipment failures--knowledge about equipment that had previously been kept private. Catalyst extracted this knowledge from their maintainers and operators--the people closest to the equipment--and captured it in the tool. This knowledge became accessible to other tradespeople for reuse. Catalyst's computerized maintenance management systems Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) is also known as Enterprise Asset Management. A CMMS software package maintains a computer database of information about an organization’s maintenance operations. (containing the mill's equipment bill of materials The list of components that make up a system. For example, a bill of materials for a house would include the cement block, lumber, shingles, doors, windows, plumbing, electric, heating and so on. and information about spare parts Spare parts, also referred to as Service Parts is a term used to indicate extra parts available and in proximity to the mechanical item, such as a automobile, boat, engine, for which they might be used. Spare parts are also called “spares. ) were reloaded with planned work orders designed to prevent failure and add value to the equipment. The company started small, converting one system at a time in one mill. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IT'S ALL ABOUT PEOPLE Catalyst owns an asset portfolio worth billions of dollars in replacement value. Like most paper companies, Catalyst measures return on investment (ROI (Return On Investment) The monetary benefits derived from having spent money on developing or revising a system. In the IT world, there are more ways to compute ROI than Carter has liver pills (and for those of you who never heard of that expression, it means a lot). ) through paper machine efficiency. To improve this metric, Catalyst had to find a new way to manage its equipment. Catalyst recognized that culture change was the biggest obstacle to reliability. From mill managers to operators and tradespeople, personnel were jaded jad·ed adj. 1. Worn out; wearied: "My father's words had left me jaded and depressed" William Styron. 2. by their inability to solve reliability problems. However, Ivara's approach to change and implementation had proven successful in other industries, and became a critical factor for Catalyst. Starting with one mill, Catalyst ranked its assets in terms of risk to the business. The analysis revealed that most high-expense, repeat problems occurred in just a few areas of the mill. Ivara took these "hot" problem areas and trained Catalyst's tradespeople and operators on how to define the right work. Ivara ramped up performance on one asset/system, and then went to the next one. "If it takes two to three guys on the wet end of a paper machine to maintain that asset, we change their behavior by showing them a different way to do maintenance. They see the improvement in uptime. It converts maintainers to believers," says Brian Maguire, vice president of marketing for Ivara. That is the intent at Catalyst. This year, Catalyst's Port Alberni Port Alberni (ălbûr`nē), city (1991 pop. 18,403), SW British Columbia, Canada, on Vancouver Island, at the head of Alberni Canal and Barkley sound. It is a fishing port with one of the largest forestry complexes in the world. mill has changed its approach to maintenance on four major systems that matter most to the mill. While the overall level of reactive maintenance across the mill has not changed dramatically, Catalyst has implemented a proactive approach on these first four systems. Catalyst's executives now know they have a solution for equipment reliability that is working and meeting their goals. Tradespeople have validated the solution. Because Catalyst is new to the process, its success has yet to be fully reflected in its culture. People closest to the equipment have not yet linked their new equipment strategies to increased uptime. Catalyst knows this step is needed for long-term success. By implementing Ivara's solution and performing the necessary analysis, Catalyst became closer to its machines. The company leveraged the know-how of tradespeople and operators and learned how to efficiently maintain its machines. "Catalyst's Port Alberni mill has increased capacity and estimates cost savings will reach C$1.5 million in the first year of implementation. Port Alberni has targeted C$ 7.1 million per year in benefits after the three-year ramp up Ramp Up To increase a company's operations in anticipation of increased demand. Notes: A company might 'ramp up' operations if they just signed a contract creating substantially more demand for their product. See also: Demand, Economies of Scale ," says Maguire. The North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. pulp and paper industry The global pulp and paper industry is dominated by North American (United States, Canada), northern European (Finland, Sweden) and East Asian countries (such as Japan). Australasia and Latin America also have significant pulp and paper industries. is downsizing (1) Converting mainframe and mini-based systems to client/server LANs. (2) To reduce equipment and associated costs by switching to a less-expensive system. (jargon) downsizing . Few if any new machines will be installed in the near future. Owners are faced with the challenge of getting the most out of their assets. Traditionally, maintenance has been viewed as a cost of doing business. Reliability has turned this view around by providing a strategic lever to optimize return on assets Return on assets (ROA) Indicator of profitability. Determined by dividing net income for the past 12 months by total average assets. Result is shown as a percentage. ROA can be decomposed into return on sales (net income/sales) multiplied by asset utilization (sales/assets). . The business case for reliability is easy to understand in industries that sell everything they produce. Hidden plant capacity--unleashed through reliability--justifies the change. Catalyst found that reliability is not about new technology, but about changing the way people think about maintenance, what they do, and how they do it. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , the reliability challenge depends on changing the culture. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Gail Petersen is asset management consultant for Datamasters, Vancouver, British Columbia British Columbia, province (2001 pop. 3,907,738), 366,255 sq mi (948,600 sq km), including 6,976 sq mi (18,068 sq km) of water surface, W Canada. Geography , Canada. She is a member of the PIMA Manufacturing Reliability Committee. Contact her by email at Petersen@pro.net, or by phone at +1 604 228-0915. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] GAIL PETERSEN, DATAMASTERS INC inc - /ink/ increment, i.e. increase by one. Especially used by assembly programmers, as many assembly languages have an "inc" mnemonic. Antonym: dec. . WHAT YOU WILL LEARN * How previous Catalyst attempts to implement reliability had failed * Why Catalyst engaged a reliability vendor that offered software tools coupled with a method of achieving reliability * How Catalyst leveraged the know-how of tradespeople and operators and learned how to maintain its machines in a world class manner ADDITIONAL RESOURCES * "Manufacturing reliability: The Dofasco story," by John Yolton, Solutions!, December 2002. To access this article, type the following product code in the search field on www.tappi.org: 02DECSO35. Or call TAPPI Member Connection at 1 800 332-8686 (US); 1 800 446-9431 (Canada); +1 770 446 1400 (International). * "Developing a reliability centered process maturity model," by Gail Petersen, Solutions!, April 2003. Product Code: 03APRSO37 * "Reliability & maintenance management," Christer Idhammar, Solutions!, January 2005. Product Code: 05JANSO05 RELATED ARTICLE: 10 STEPS TOWARDS RELIABILITY Define the problem and the need Create the vision 1. engage the executives 2. set the strategy Find the solution 3. construct maintenance processes around reliability 4. rank equipment in terms of risk to your business, your ability to produce, and your customer needs and demands 5. choose the right tools for the culture--tools mean technology 6. engage shop floor personnel--extract, store and reuse their knowledge 7. capture knowledge to leverage knowledge--we have the know-how; we need to share it Implement and improve 8. hit your problem "hot spots hot spots acute moist dermatitis. " one at a time, keep a "stiff upper lip stiff upper lip n. An attitude of determined endurance or restraint in the face of adversity. Noun 1. stiff upper lip ," and maintain constant commitment and belief that what you are doing is right 9. communicate, be visible, demonstrate results, convert maintainers to believers, share knowledge, and develop skills 10. build on success: keep going and establish sustainability |
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