Tech Cafe - Sharing professional knowledge and experience

Bottom-part of Capital Investment - What to optimise

2011-06-26T22:57:00.001+05:30

Companies are used to grow by their expanding sales turnover and new ventures. Its require to invest on capital equipments to achieve the higher sales goal but unfortunately, they have comparatively small capital budget with contrast of one year vision and have lack of vision in contrast of 5/7 years from now. This allows the organization not to rush research on what the best or most appropriate equipment they need.

So, most of the investments are not well optimized. The difference between well optimized investment and Bull purchase investment is proactive versus reactive capital investment plans.
Let me explain my words,

Suppose, I need to purchase a mobile phone. Now I can opt for two options,

1.    The shortest way is, I can carry a bucks of money and enter in to a mobile shop. Can ask for a mobile with in the budget I decided for and happily came out with one. What I would like to call BULL PURCHASING.
2.    Another option is little bit lengthy, where first I will -
a)    Define the area of uses .(example :mobile projector is require for me or not, document viewer is require or not etc.)
b)    Decide the require features suitable for my uses I am looking for right now
c)    Decide the life span I am looking for (To go for another mobile )
d)    Features I expect / require over the life span
e)    Easy scope of up gradation during the life span to meet my changing need.
f)    Select few models
g)    Information on Maintainability, and prone to fail (based upon past data / user feedback ) and prompt service
h)    Finalize the best value for money
AND Go to shop and purchase the decided one within the budget with affordable tolerance limit

I believe, most of us follow this proactive model when we have to purchase a mobile for own use BUT,

unfortunately when it comes to capital investment for a company, we follow the 1st model with miserably balance requirement with product quality and capacity. On a long run again we need to invest to increase the capacity.
And putting all together – it’s a big mess with untidy shop-floor with restricted Man- material flow, higher ownership cost for individual installation cost, individual maintenance cost, Total breakdown cost (TDC ) etc.

For solving the issue, How it will be if
- A proper future layout plan including equipment and Man- material flow will put on paper. It will show the constrains to achieve optimum balanced flow with reduced MUDA.
- Toss the plan on debate in a fear free environment ( Again, Dictatorship kills Idea and unfortunately, dictator thinks that “It’s the best option” ) and the best solution will come out
- Stick with the solution and optimise capital investment size in terms of quality and low ownership cost (Bottom of the ICEBERG ) but not only on visible part of investment cost (Tip of the ICEBERG
- Realise the investment as it require to meet corporate goal not only to meet current demand.
One difference between organizations that are leading and ones that are lagging in Lean improvement efforts is proactive versus reactive capital investment plans. Putting my above model into business model

(Source curtsy : savemoneywithgates.com )

When TPM has chance to meet TITANIC Fate

2011-02-15T22:32:00.003+05:30

Now a days, Every industry wants to implement TPM . BUT , if you believe on statistics, every second attempt of TPM implementation in Europe failed. I believe , not all the companies implement TPM as their survival needs but as an indirect obligation to satisfy their customer. AND so, they have a tendency to retain or go back to old stream to sustain customer's product demand. (As new shoes give trouble for few days before to get easy ! ) So, they are unable to rip the benefits of TPM in full moon as by superficial implementation and finish anywhere in between TPM and present culture.

There are so many contribution factors which lead to failure, The most important points are,
1. On which platform it is planted to grow : If it is on the environment of dictatorship and non-motivated team, then it surely to be collapsed. In demands a professionally transparent work culture, fairly good motivated team to take the torch and a fear free environment to propagate it.
(please read my earlier post Employee Involvement : What Really Motivates an Employee to perform and Employee Involvement : Long working hour gives poor environment for improvements . It is very common in many of present industrial environment that the defaulter is blamed beside to dig on the failure causes. Finally, man tries to hide the faults to come to the surface and so, potential improvements lies hidden. And a dictatorship leads a potential team to perform at lower level because of none to hear others voice.

2. Leadership and acceptance of leadership – Generally the key change element is installed in middle and so, acceptance level in upstream becomes low. To overcome this we need to hire a consultant who has acceptance level throughout the management tree. Injecting the change element in between the tree is a common fault. The element is generally unable to convince the upper level as the acceptance level is low.

3. Effective accountability and performance measuring system for process as well as individuals – Wrong way of measurement may show a rosy picture which is far from reality. So, the measuring system need to be well planned and well discussed before the implementation. Cause It have very high potential to create job dissatisfaction to data capture and analyzer.
A strong and effective appraisal makes the environment “ transparent and easy to perform” where everybody have honest chance to show their performance.

4. Wide scope and resources for Design of Experiment (DOE )

5. Inadequate and insufficient resources – Management should show their keen interest to change by extending their prompt support to the team with sufficient budget and manpower. It is quite normal that in initial days the cost goes up as basic restoration comes into picture. Manpower requirement also comes up to avoid messy responsibilities..

6. Detailed road-map with PDCA approach need to be worked out so that to take corrective action on plan as an when require basis. No exception of quick outcome so that people will not get demoralized and over strained, which further may lead to superficial implement. Though it is a cultural change, so it need to be rooted at the deep most level of the system (TPM to be incorporate in management system ) Work content, require time and expected outcome should be well illustrated.

7. No proper in-depth training on tools so that the require activities and expected outcome to be well demonstrated and well understood.

8. Data capture points and methods are not so reliable to analise. ( it's my personal observation that we put tremendous effort to capture the data but very less effort to analise it.)

9. Basic education level of grass root employee.

. Others are...

1) Less departmental integrity (Low functioning of CFT or no existing at all )
2) Non-effective reward system – Leads less no. of suggestion and demoralization
3) Failure to start with operator-involved maintenance:
4) Inspections get too technical and too complicated too fast:
.... And adding on......

“If you are not sure about the destination then no matter which path you opt for, All will lead you to NO-WHERE. “

Maintenance Process - Common Points For Improvement

2010-12-23T21:57:00.004+05:30

The methodology of TPM is all about eliminating machine related losses and to use the machine to produce good parts up to its possible design limit and to increase the limit through continuous improvements.
Maintenance is one of the most critical business function which plays a crucial role in plant output, product quality and product cost. But unfortunately, it is one of the most negligible functions in most of the small and mid-size companies.
Because of Lack of resources, “operate to breakdown” and fix it quickly attitude (Band-Aid maintenance) put the whole department in to reactive mode, which slowly becomes the part of organization culture. And due to lack of accountability and vision, it is hard to identify or address it.
Generally, in such companies, due to inadequate resources, non-reliable machines, gradually reduced maintenance technicians, quick fix maintenance is obvious and unavoidable(Which further becomes the mountainous work to restore it's basic condition). this is common practice to have the PM schedule in record and for record only.
Quick fix maintenance triggers frequent future breakdowns, which means, resources are more consumed by breakdowns, considering the budget, resources for PM shrinks, results more preventable failures.
And the whole team goes in to reactive mode.

As in reactive mode, Employee morale dooms down, stops thinking of innovative ways to be pro-active and come up of backlogs. Finally, either quit or give them up to the situation and dis-engaged , don’t add any further value to improve the process.
Here are few points to reduce non-value adding activities from maintenance.

Common Ways to reduce MUDA from maintenance process:

     1. Operator reaction time, - Can reduce by Proper knowledge about abnormalities
     2. Maintenance technician's lead time – Need adequate manpower,
     3. Diagnostic time – Arrange training on machine knowledge
     4. Search for require tool time – Improve 5S, Try to keep require common tools near to machine and technician to come with special tools,
     5. Don't Leave breakdown solved but unattended – Every breakdown is a learning opportunity. Analyze it for root-cause and either eliminate it if possible or take action to detect it. Every diagnosis consist of other non-value added checking also. Eliminate it for future by making proper FTA .
   6. Off line maintenance – Wherever possible, try to replace the faulty unit rather than to repair it online.
     7. Generalize the spares - Same machine from different manufacturer means different spare for same functions. Go for modification to make common spare for all. It will reduce spare carry cost.

Operational Excellence - Go beyond the boundaries

1) TPM – Make production people responsible for first line maintenance for the machine they use. Educate them to break the barrier. Go for TPM
2) Fix maintenance strategy – submit the cost model for “operate to breakdown maintenance”, Time base maintenance and condition base maintenance and let all be commonly agreed on maintenance strategy and Then never let in down.
3) Periodical validation of PM points – I have seen few PM models which are static and have no change for a long time. Keep it dynamic. It need to be reviewed after every decided interval for its effectiveness.
4) Learn from breakdowns, Let other to learn – Lesson learning, fault tree analysis Make available. Initiate Kaizen. Make improvement ready for all new coming machines.
5) Alternate source of spare : Go for performance spare for imported or costly spares (In terms of money and lead time )

See you again..

As an individual, Do I need TPM ?

2010-11-08T23:22:00.001+05:30

I thought, I don't (except my KRA responsibilities). I was doing job not for my pleasure....I was doing it for my family sake. Whether company achieved TPM or not, I less bother. My individual priorities was only as follows
1) I need money to satisfy my dreams and…..
2) I am expecting company car this year
3) Last Year overall increment in company was not up to our expected level, so expecting a hefty hike this year.....And a LOT

Now lets see my company's priority (It is not a charitable organization after all).........

1. Products are getting common as everybody has the technology now a days.
So, day by day, competition are getting tough
2. Customers are having more choice, so they are more tough on quality cost and delivery.
3. Raw material and manpower costs are soaring up.
4. Loosing time in rework, breakdown and so running bellow the installed capacity.......

AND PROFITABILITY IS SHRINKING !!!
On other words.......Paying capacity is shrinking as it is going out of competition.

So, to fulfill my basic needs, I need my company to survive. And for my company to survive, it need to

1. Reduce processing cost and investment cost i.e. improve machine availability, (ZERO BREAKDOWN )

2. It need to improve quality i.e. improve machine reliability. (ZERO REJECTION )

3. A motivated team (ZERO ACCIDENT )
Bellow is the survival graph (Increase of profitability)

SO, As an individual too, I need TPM to get success. And so, I need to put all my possible efforts to make it SUCCESS.

Employee Involvement : What Really Motivates an Employee to perform

2010-09-27T22:22:00.002+05:30

I have experienced that the success of TPM and Lean establishment throughout the organisation, excels it's speed to go to the next possible level, is mainly depend upon the employee participation and so, their motivation level for willingly participate to be the change and to make the change.

In the beginning of my carrier, I have seen so many improvement process were lapsed with time after implementation and all people were happily living with the old. Those improvements were nothing but individual efforts and had no team support. After digging in deep for my personal interest I found few common reactions in ground level
- Does my wages will increase if I participate ?
- Nothing is going to improve...you can give a try
- I have given some improvement proposal but got no feedback
- SUGGESTION SCHEME !! It has started for several times in last year but stopped when it comes to recognize.

Low motivation...low morality..

“If an organization wants to thrive by continually improving and
evolving, then it needs systematic procedures and routines—methods—
that channel our human capabilities and achieve the potential.
Such routines would guide and support everyone in the organization by
giving them a specific pattern for how they should go about sensing,
adapting, and improving.” - Mike Roger in Toyota kata – Managing people for improvement, adoptiveness and Superior results.

And, after defining the systematic procedure and routines, success and speed to go to next desire level depends upon employee engagement. So, it require a highly motivated work force to sustain the improvements and move forward. But what to do to motivate people ? I went through several books and paper to find the answer and most of the answers I found in Dan Pinks book “Drive – what really motivates people “ Here is one good flowchart of motivation from that book.

of Here is his lacture on TED for you.

In short, as per my understanding, to establish a motivated team we need (In addition of good salary)

- A well illustrated initiative towards the step by step destination should sink up to the micro level about why we need so ,to make all agree on the time bounded GOAL.
- good accountable system where everybody will be correctly accounted for their contribution and expected contribution should be well illustrated.
- A good and efficient rewarding (Direct or indirect) / appreciation system.
- Freedom to team members to take calculated risk (Autonomy )
- Close loop communication in all level.
- Reaction method will be well defined with common way and time line to ensure the expected outcomes.
- Every suggestion will be honored irrespective of whether it is accepted or not. (It's a sensitive issue. Non-addressed participant got easily demotivated to come up with new ideas. )
- well establish communication towards down the level about companies goal and achievement.

"Toyota has long considered its ability to permanently resolve
problems and then improve stable processes as one of the company’s
competitive advantages. With an entire workforce charged
with solving their workplace problems the power of the intellectual
capital of the company is tremendous."
—Kathi Hanley, statement as a group leader at TMMK

5S - If you decide to do it then DO IT RIGHT to Achieve the BEST

2010-09-05T16:07:00.004+05:30

The whole shop floor has woke up on visit of top management person. Plant head is looking after each and every details of 5S. He is keen to meet all commitments what he made to HIM on HIS early visit. Extra manpower has employed to carry the extra effort of cleaning. Admin is just behind the housekeeping supervisor and taking him right and left for not meeting the company's expectation.

AND YES....FINALLY THE SHOP-FLOOR SHINES....AND ALL WILL KEEP THE SHINE TILL HIS VISIT !!! ALL WANTED AND UNWANTED MATERIALS WHAT WAS DUMPED ON SHOP-FLOOR HAVE BEEN DUMPED IN SOMEWHERE ELSE FOR THE TIME BEING!!

This is the most common picture in most of the small and middle size company, but Is it 5S ? They too know that it is not. Then why so ? On asks, answers are more like
1. no effort from upper management,
2. lower management strength are not sufficient to do the 5S job (They are not even enough to do regular job!!).
3. Production pressure is more and so have no time to do 5S.

BUT inner-lying of these superficial excuses are that ,
1. The leaders does not have idea about 5S benefits, Why it is and how to achieve it. If so,
2. They are not serious enough to achieve it.
AND whole the activity got less priority !! than other
As a result, 5S !!! means Swiping out irrespective of requirement to look shop-floor beautiful and is TOP driven !! heart less activity....nothing but a SHOW game.

Basics of 5S (Not require Still details are bellow to ref. )

1S - Sorting (Seiri)
Eliminate all unnecessary tools, parts, instructions. Go through all tools, materials, etc., in the plant and work area. Keep only essential items. Everything else is stored or discarded.
2S - Straightening or Setting in Order / stabilize (Seiton)
There should be a place for everything and everything should be in its place.
3S - Sweeping or Shining or Cleanliness / Systematic Cleaning (Seiso)
Keep the workplace tidy and organized. At the end of each shift, clean the work area and be sure everything is restored to its place.
4S - Standardizing (Seiketsu)
Work practices should be consistent and standardized. Everyone should know exactly what his or her responsibilities are for adhering to the first 3 S's.
5S - Sustaining the discipline Or Self Discipline (Shitsuke)
Maintain and review standards. Once the previous 4 S's have been established, they become the new way to operate. Maintain focus on this new way and do not allow a gradual decline back to the old ways.

To achieve the 5S goal,
1. We need to organise in team and small zone. A clear road-map need to be establish by clear mentioning that where we are , where we need to go and what Resources and help will be require from higher management
2. All steps should be clear with deliverable and time line.
3. Sorting of require and non-require item is a big task in initial days. it is better to learn with time and "if in doubt, through it out" attitude.
4. Periodic audit with and without notice by higher management and 5s driving team. It will help to sustain the standards and improve the standard.
5. All non-conformity will be tagged with responsible for tag removal and date. (Red tag and white tag activity)
6.Tag removal date to be realistic and non compromisable.
7. All points what are not meeting standard should be discussed in common forum and require aid to be supplied in minimum time.
8. Motivation is very important. Be innovative to motivate the work force
9. Start 5S from toilet and canteen, both the place have indirect or no control of shop-floor persons. So,it shows management's own interest on change.
10. combat with causes of dust and dirt with 1st priority
11. Treat defects, leakage and breakage
12. Policy of “One-is-best”
- one set of tools/stationery
- one page form/memo
- one day processing
- one stop service for customer
- one location file

BUT the most important is, Upper management wants 5S and grass-root level follow the orders. Main obstacle is middle management. they are the main responsible for success and failure of TPM. They should come in common platform and be agreed that they need 5S and vision is require to achieve the same. It can be done by training, visit to better 5S achieving companies.

But why it is first priority for TPM and LEAN!

1. A MESSY SHOP-FLOOR HIDES THE PROBLEMS, TO MAKE IT VISIBLE FIRST ORGANISE IT.
2. IT REDUCES SEARCH TIME.
3. IT CREATES BETTER WORKING ENVIRONMENT AND THUS BETTER PRODUCTIVITY.
4. TO FREE UP WORK PLACE.
5. IT REDUCES COST.
6. IT AVOIDS ACCIDENT.
7. IT SHOWS THE ATTENTION POINTS (WEEK POINTS FOR IMPROVEMENTS).

Bellow Pic :All is Well !! Don't replace or repair, until unless you take actions on the CAUSE.

- Transparency ( e.g. glass covers for see-through)

Visual Controls
Inspection “OK” marks or labels
Danger zones marked on meters and switches
‘Danger’ warning signs and marks
Fire extinguisher and ‘Exit’ signs
Directional markings on pipes, gangways etc
Open and shut directional labels on switches etc
Co lour-coded pipes

The Pic: It's an classy example of messy control panel. there is no limit of what the best you can achieve but whatever you will achieve will be momentary until unless you provide proper documentation available in panel, training and DON'T ACCEPT ANYTHING BELLOW THE STANDARD.

************************************

If you decide to do it then DO IT RIGHT

Anything bellow standard is SCOPE OF IMPROVEMENT.

Employee Involvement : Long working hour gives poor environment for improvements

2010-07-27T20:15:00.003+05:30

I believe long working hour makes a poor environment for improvement. Employees are exhausted and prefer to flow in old lane rather than to think in a new way. Personal - professional life collide each other which creates a lot of stress which further lower down the morale of employees. As a final result he/she got de-attached with organization and improvement slowed down.

Reflections are easily visible in low rate of kaizen per employee, poor kaizen suggested Vs. implemented ratio, frequent breakdown due to overlooking the simple daily checkpoints, accident due to fatigue, customer concern missing in inspection and overall decrement in quality system due to poor employee-organization engagement.

In my past and present professional life, I am observing a category who love to stick to their workplace for extra hour (beyond working hours) and express their contribution not in terms of the value addition they did to the organization but in terms of time they spent in company. Unfortunately, they got success to fetch the attention and sympathy from upper management and BOSS starts to expect that other too should follow the same path. I felt by myself that how much stress it creates to their subordinates if they asked to walk in the same lane.

Yes, time to time there are some work surges which demand extra hours from team to meet business deadlines (New project or sudden surge in in-house or customer end) but it should be well explained to the team about requirement and expectation and should not be a regular work culture. I believe, people works to satisfy their family and social needs and need time too to do so. If it is being disturbed continuously, they try their best to find an alternate way inside or outside the organization. Both the ways, it is loss to the company. They did unnecessary waste of company resources like overtime benefits/ allowance, food, convenience and loose productivity of him and others too.

It is a common sense that when people work more, they become tired and give less output. Many companies realized the same and giving extra efforts to encourage better work-personal life balance to make them much more productive.

In search of the work time and productivity relation, I found several well researched paper on net and this post is highly influenced by “Why Crunch Mode Doesn't Work: 6 Lessons” By Evan Robinson and “HENRY FORD: Why I Favor Five Days' Work With Six Days' Pay” by SAMUEL CROWTHER .

“ When Henry Ford famously adopted a 40-hour workweek in 1926, he was bitterly criticized by members of the National Association of Manufacturers. But his experiments, which he'd been conducting for at least 12 years, showed him clearly that cutting the workday from ten hours to eight hours — and the workweek from six days to five days — increased total worker output and reduced production cost. Ford spoke glowingly of the social benefits of a shorter workweek, couched firmly in terms of how increased time for consumption was good for everyone. But the core of his argument was that reduced shift length meant more output “
“More than a century of studies show that long-term useful worker output is maximized near a five-day, 40-hour workweek. Productivity drops immediately upon starting overtime and continues to drop until, at approximately eight 60-hour weeks, the total work done is the same as what would have been done in eight 40-hour weeks.
In the short term, working over 21 hours continuously is equivalent to being legally drunk. Longer periods of continuous work drastically reduce cognitive function and increase the chance of catastrophic error. In both the short- and long-term, reducing sleep hours as little as one hour nightly can result in a severe decrease in cognitive ability, sometimes without workers perceiving the decrease. “

For several times I was compiled to stick to work to meet the dead lines but have experienced that at late working hours, people like to rush or jump into a conclusion which has a greater chance to be WRONG because the capability of judgment is decrease or even after a hard try they finished it incomplete. But on next day, with a fresh mind it completes faster than yesterdays try .

There is no wrong that ‘management wants to achieve maximal output from employees — they want to produce a (good) product as cheaply as possible. They also want to avoid hiring extra resources that increase the cost of the finished goods unless absolutely necessary” but the wrong is that they think people are very much consistent in their output through out the time they spent in workplace. Even a machine goes under breakdown if it uses more than it’s design cycle duration without any interval or require maintenance.
“Laboratory studies show that mental work declines by 25% during each successive 24 hours of continuous wakefulness. Sleep-deprived individuals are able to maintain accuracy on cognitive tasks, but speed declines as wakefulness is extended.”
Sidney J. Chapman's Hours of Labour (1909), included (roughly) the following diagram:

“At first the declines in output per hour simply reflect the effects of fatigue on both quantity and quality of work performed toward the end of a given day. But eventually daily fatigue is compounded by cumulative fatigue. That is, any additional output produced during extended hours today will be more than offset by a decline in hourly productivity tomorrow and subsequent days.
Even during a single “day” of extreme duration, output may come to a standstill as an exhausted employee becomes unable to function. Or output can turn negative as stupefied employees commit catastrophic errors that destroy previously completed work or capital.
In factory terms, a worker's production rate decreases over time. A worker who is creating 10 widgets/hour at the beginning of a shift may be producing only 6/hour at the end of the shift, having peaked at 12/hour a couple of hours in. Over time, the worker works more slowly, and makes more mistakes. This combination of slowdown and errors eventually reaches a point of zero productivity, where it takes a very long time to produce each widget, and every last one is somehow spoiled. Assembly-line managers figured out long ago that when this level of fatigue is reached, the stage is set for spectacular failure-events leading to large and costly losses – an expensive machine is damaged, inventory is destroyed, or a worker is seriously injured. “

At last, I believe from the bottom of my heart that a person has a lot to do in his life beside to earn. And a complete man, an efficient employee, a father, a husband and a social friend. He has to contribute effectively in each part which gives him / her the pleasure of being complete.
If any of the strings got out of tune, then the balance between work and social life got imbalance and he/ she becomes less productive.
So, “ the limitation of the working day is a preliminary condition without which all further attempts at improvement and emancipation must prove abortive.”

Shortfalls in Spare Management and cost saving

2010-04-25T23:08:00.000+05:30

Spare part management is one of the most crucial but neglected side in most of the organization. It directly contributes to cost . For establishing a good spare part management systems it is require to establish a good and effective maintenance management throughout the plant. Beside this, it is not possible to establish a cost effective, optimum spare management system.

I have a big spare room with a huge inventory cost. Some of the materials are not using for last one year. I don’t know when it will fail. I spend a lot of time to search the correct spare. I have material inward and outward register but hardly we are following it (I too know that it is a Herculean task and so I left it on GOD….and so on……..

Generally a spare management in most of the middle and small companies runs with following defects.
1.    Force deterioration of the machine spares in exists which means MTBF data is not reliable for the spares.
          If you go through net, you will find individual MTBF data for most of the items like PLC components, sensor etc. Those data are based on product reliability (multiplication of individual component reliability to determine product reliability) which is lucrative and far from our reality, almost like mileage declaration of a car by manufacturing companies. You will get a idea but it will not exactly match with your individual data because your driving condition is not known by manufacturer. So, you can get close to the manufacturer claim if you go close to their considered ideal situation i.e. force deterioration should be removed.

2.    Lack of predictive observation to plan for the spares
         Just a week ago one operator told me about some flaws. I adjusted it temporarily and forget to take action to eliminate the causes of the flaws. It will repeat again with a bang and then I have no spare…just can curse myself for not taking action on that time. So, it is require to noting down the flaws before to forget and it need to be available to general so that they can give a maintenance request to do the opportunity maintenance

3.    Maintain the spare level comes under regular maintenance persons who are running to do their breakdown or PM jobs. For them they really don’t have time to think ‘bout spare level, reorder level (and due to verities of spares it is not possible to implement 100 % visual control).

So, instead of appoint one dedicated spare control person I prefer to hand it over to store for good accountability. they can issue it on request , maintain the track and intimate when it reaches to predefined re-order level very easily because it is none but their daily business (matching to their regular job profile).

For optimization of spare management, following tools are used (This is just a list for information and you can find a lot of topics on individual items if you are really interested on it)

Approach                                                 Basic of classification             Major application
ABC analysis --------------------------- Annual sales volume-------------- Stock control
HML (High, medium, low value) ---------Spare unit price--------------- Delegation of purchase power
VED (Vital, essential, desirable) approach---Part criticality --------------- Storage point
XYZ analysis -------------------------------inventory value-------------- Obsolescence control
VEIN (Vital, essential, important, normal)---Equipment criticality------------Standby decision
FAN (Failure analysis)---------------------Design of spare ---------------Reliability engineering
GOLF (Govt. controlled, ordinary and
locally available, Foreign procurement) ---- Source of spare ------------- Purchase strategy (Lead-time and                                                                                                               reorder point)
3-D ------------------------------------ Cost, criticality and availability ----All of the above uses

AND here is a tinny and easy calculator to decide for high value spares whether it require in spare or not.

<p>&amp;lt;a href="http://wcm.nu" &amp;gt;World Class Manufacturing&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;</p>

Spare Parts Management Calculator by World Class Manufacturing

And last here is formula to define economic order quantity (EOQ)

Where,
D: The demand for widgets in quantity per unit time. Demand can be thought of as a rate.
Q: The order quantity. This is the variable we want to optimize. All the other variables are fixed quantities.
C: The order cost. This is the flat fee charged for making any order and is independent of Q.
h: Holding costs per widget per unit time. If we store x widgets for one unit of time, it costs us x.h.
A good CMMS will be time and cost saving approach…Isn’t it ? :)

Motor Failures and its prevention

2010-03-14T19:48:00.003+05:30

Not a single machine goes under sudden breakdown. Before to collapse it shows symptoms ( MOAN…GROAN…SQUEAK…SQUEAL….COLLAPSE!) but it is our experience, knowledge and monitoring efficiency to recognize and track the record of deterioration.

If we collect all data, we can see that 70% of the time motor fails due to mechanical reason and 30% for electrical reason. Bearing failure contributes 35% of mechanical reason. See bellow pie-chart for easy understand.

Why Bearing fails:
1.    Inadequate lubrication – Most of the cases, bearing fails due to lack of lubrication (Even greasing nipples are found blocked due to no use!) See bearing lubrication method video.

2.    Heat As it is the main cause of winding failure, discussed commonly in bellow.
3.    Faster Worn out due to wrong selection of lining in case of sleeve bearing
4.    Shaft induced current – Motor frequently feeds by PWM drive with IGBT inverters. It’s frequent switching causes parasitic capacitance between stator and rotor. This induced a low frequency current in shaft which finds its path through bearing to ground. They have two types.
Conductive current: Conduction current may flow through the motor bearing if the shaft happens to be shorted to the frame by means of bearing ball contact. It’s low in amplitude and flows continuously. It increases bearing temperature and eats life of lubrication.
Discharge current: may flow through the bearings when the voltage across the bearing lubricant film exceeds its film breakdown voltage. A voltage buildup occurs as the capacitive coupled currents act to charge up the rotor. It is high in amplitude, can causes brittle in bearing material which causes material chip off in load zone if bearing races are altered through re-hardening (Re use of bearing which is available with low cost non authentic merchants )
It is considerable for frame size more that NEMA 400

5.    Vibration – Loose foundation, aging of structure, Wrong alignment of coupling, bent shaft and Lack of periodic maintenance.

Over heat Contributes in both bearing and Winding Failure.
1.    WRONG MOTOR: It may be too small or have the wrong starting torque characteristics for the load. This may be the result of poor initial selection or changes in the load requirements.
2.    POOR COOLING: Accumulated dirt or poor motor location may prevent the free flow of cooling air around the motor. In other cases, the motor may draw heated air from another source. Internal dirt or damage can prevent proper air flow through all sections of the motor. Dirt on the frame may prevent transfer of internal heat to the cooler ambient air.
3.    OVERLOADED DRIVEN MACHINE: Excess loads or jams in the driven machine force the motor to supply higher torque, draw more current and overheat.

4.    Over lubrication – It is more dangerous. When heated, grease changes it forms and deposited on stator winding. It further welcomes dust and dart and catches heat and reducing insulation level.

Protection:

1.    Use correct grade of grease for specified application.
2.    Wherever possible, remove old grease before lubricate
3.    Use proper method and quantity of greasing.
4.    Keep motor clean from dust and dirt
5.    Monitor heat and current (it gives excellent picture of gradual deterioration )
6.    If unable to afford the failure than afford thermal imager (Cost aprox. 2 Lakhs INR at entry level ). Clue : Calculate TDC (Total downtime cost includes spare cost + product loss cost + maintenance crew cost engaged in breakdown) to find ROI……...you will find that we can’t afford the failure
7.    Over load relay (Monitor specifically. It is general practice to set it at higher value at the time of machine setup and standard is 120 % of full load current. But though in many assembly application motors are operating with very less load (Over sizing of motor at design) I think it is preferable to set the value at 90% of full load. It will give time to arrest other faults to catch earlier.
8.    Single phase preventer – Overload relay is a bi-metallic strip and need some time to actuate. (Consider a motor is running 25% of it’s rated load. Then for single phasing condition there is chance that the current of other phase will not exceed overload current setting.) it gives extra measures of protection to winding.

ABB Products Updates - Softstarter and Others

2010-03-03T22:55:00.001+05:30

Starters Reduce Motor Stress, Increase OEM Equipment Reliability

The PRS soft starter, with internal bypass, reduces motor and drive train stress and associated maintenance costs while increasing OEM equipment reliability. The PSR line of smaller, cost-effective, 3 to 105A, OEM softstarters can be close-coupled with an MS manual motor starter to create a superior OEM starting solution. The PSR soft-starts and soft-stops the motor, and the manual motor starter provides a disconnect switch and branch circuit protection. If your starter does not provide these benefits, it is time to upgrade. Select the PSR family of softstarters for your next motor starting application to increase equipment reliability and save maintenance $$$. Read More...

PSR Brochure
PSR Catalog Request SoftStarter Catalog
Request a Demo or a Quote

AF Contactor Systems Save Space, Lower Maintenance Cost

ABB's AF contactors use 30% less panel space because of their ability to close couple with overloads, disconnects and breakers. Their magnet on top design allows contact inspection and maintenance without removing the power cables. This makes periodic maintenance as much as 50% faster, lowering operating costs. Wide AC/DC coil operating voltage reduces inventory and eliminates contact chatter caused by brown-outs. Optimizing the mechanical & electrical design plus lowering the maintenance cost, created a new generation of coordinated, close-coupled low voltage control products: the A-line system. Read More...
View AF Contactors
View Catalog Pages Request AF Catalog (LV104)
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Universal 3 Phase Line Monitor, Replaces 100 competitive P/Ns

New universal design allows one part number to protect 1 to 1200 Hp, 200 to 480 VAC, 3 phase motors, compressors, and pumps against: phase loss & reversal, over, under & unbalanced voltages. Every shop responsible for maintenance of 3 phase equipment should have this product on the shelf. One part number replaces all the popular competitive plug-in 3 phase line monitors and improves the protection provided. In Stock, fast positive setup, reduces motor maintenance cost. Read More...
View Catalog Pages
View Cross Reference List
View Application Flyer

Request Express Catalog
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Pilot Device IP69K rating, making a splash

ABB’s Compact range of panel switches, lamps, pushbuttons, E-stops and enclosures are now approved for the IP69K high-pressure, high-temperature washdowns. This rating provides waterproofing protection that exceeds NEMA 4X rating. Superior IP69K protection provides all the benefits of high pressure, high temperature washing: faster more complete sanitary cleaning with reduced waste. Required in many sanitary process markets including food, beverage, dairy, pharmaceutical, and petrochemical, ABB is your source for IP69K rated Compact pilot devices: panel lamps, selector switches, pushbuttons and emergency stop switches. Read More...

View Fast Facts
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Ultra Thin Timers Offer Industry Leading 5A DPDT Contacts

ABB leaps into the market leadership position by releasing its redesigned CT-D range of 35mm DIN rail mounting time delay relays. Using recently added manufacturing technology, it is now possible to offer 5 A DPDT output relay contacts in an ultra slim 17.5mm wide package. The multifunction, multirange, universal voltage CT-MFD, can replace a full shelf of individual function timers. Let the ABB application engineers apply LEAN Control Engineering to your next control panel design; reducing panel size, component inventory, and saving $$$. Read More...

CT-D Range Timers
Request an EPR2009 Timers Catalog
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ADO makes Faster, Simpler, more Secure Wire Connections

ADO terminal blocks from ABB deliver cost cutting, 80% faster, more secure wire terminations with a unique screw-less connection system. Two complementary pieces are required: An ADO (IDC) terminal block, and a tool that cuts, strips, and inserts the wire into the connector; providing 100% reliable connections. This systems provides 80% faster, vibration & corrosion proof, & stronger connections than the traditional approach. All the popular terminal block functions are available, plus ADO to screw blocks. Reduce cost, inventory, and increase the reliability of your next control system using ADO (IDC) blocks & ABB's Easy Rail Design program. Read More...

ADO Fast Facts
View Catalog
Download Easy Rail Software Request Catalog/Brochure
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Mounting of bearing

2010-02-24T23:02:00.002+05:30

In order to Yield full life of the bearing, It is require to Honor it's basic requirement like
1.Basic Mounting procedure and Alignment
2. Dis-mounting procedure
3.Probable clean environment
4. Vibration up to the designed limit ETC.

Click here to read Full Article on Mounting of Rolling Bearings

Click here to read Article on Help your bearing achieve its maximum service lifetime From SKF

CAUTION: Whenever mounting or dismounting bearing always use safety glasses.

Success of JH depends upon success of smooth responsibility handover

2010-01-31T22:44:00.002+05:30

As we know, to establish a new system or a new mindset, is easy with new plant but much more difficult with an old running industry. It is because of mindset of peoples are adjusted with old one and it is general human instinct that they reject the new because they feel insecure in new circumstances. It needs a strong leader with strong support to say good bye to old and welcome the new.

Autonomous maintenance which plays the key role in TPM success, shakes the OLD - "I operate you fix" culture. When participants are welcoming new, contributing effectively for it, then the process of responsibility changeover between maintenance and operator need to be smooth. Any overwhelm or any sort of discourage will affect negatively. So proper encourage, sincere support among all shop floor personnel, talking and reviewing JH activities to make it success.

Hurdles on field :

Operator’s view –

1. I don’t know – I don’t know ‘bout the machine function. I trained to operate it and can do that much only. Even I don’t have in depth technical knowledge also. (Knowledge problem)

2. Extra job – OK! I can help maintenance personnel but doing daily is an extra responsibility. I am not paying for that OR We have no time for that (Attitude problem )

3. Another Ticking job : Oh! Another ticking job. Ok! Will do it (poor Morality)

Minus of Maintenance:

1. Cleaning, lubricating, re-tightening, Inspection, (CLRI) chart are not well described. ( Doubt about outcome )

2. Charts are in English and so may not be understandable by operators. So simply ticking. ( Half hearted job)

3. Don’t have time to re-check JH check sheets. Again go back to old . (No importance and honor to the new. Feels good to stuck with old)

4. JH check sheet was born in the Eve of JH initiation. No modification or review there after (OLD IS GOLD !!!!!)

5. No time to support Fuguai removals. Red Tags are there for log time and once removed with out removing the fuguai.(Customer visit ???) (No honor / attitude)

6. I did CLRIT chart for them. Rest is production job. (Jumping to step 4 ?!)
7. This fixing / tightening will be done by maintenance crew, coz it is critical.( Less level of confidence showing to operators and obviously this stand has taken without giving a try to train them to do so)

To over come all this the sharing of responsibility need to be understands.

1. In a continuous process floor, It is not possible to do PM always on time.

2. PM gap can be increased if and only if natural deterioration is there in machine. So, support to be provided at desired extend.

3. Machine vibrates. It causes loose bolts and nuts, small leakages…which can easily detects by operator if they get proper knowledge and guidance and stitch in time saves nine.

4. JH and PM are the two wheels of a cart. One can not be promoted with out another.

Supports require to extend at the period of handover:

Initial cleaning: Dirty machine, unable to understand the problem area, no chance of visual control, So, TPM starts from Cleaning. (“Cleaning is inspection and inspection is detection of troubles”)

Require Support: Initially it leaves a bad test to operators…a under rated job. So maintenance has to take active part to share their pain and sufferings. Some Kaizens are expected for easy cleaning. Encourage them to find fuguai and give the pride of normality restoration.

Counter measures against source of contamination : Focused on CLRI and reducing time taken for this activity

Require Support : Quick Red Tag removal. Kaizens on easy access, easy inspection. Skill enhancement trainings on identifying abnormalities and fixing of those abnormalities. Provide require tools and tackles require to carry those activities independently

(Example of Visual inspection made easy Pics : Curtsy: A lot, in short google picture search)

Tentative cleaning standard for CLRI: tentative and feasible standards to do it regularly and independently

Support require: support that does not damage operator’s self identity. Maintenance dept. should not be instructive though need to be careful to make CLRI standards.

General Inspection: improve inspection standards by including interior of machine. Require high level skill to detect and remove abnormalities.

Support Require: Skill education to JH leaders and down the lane deployment.

Autonomous Inspection: Independent inspection as per tentative check sheets.

Support require: a) Clear allotment of task between production and maintenance

b) System building and support for quality maintenance

Standardization : Develop Standard for production control items

Support require: Strong and effective PM

Autonomous management : Perform improvement activity and reliability study

Support require: General support to sustain the developed system and Strive for excellence.

Jishu Hozen (JH) / Autonomous Maintenance (AM) plays key role in success of TPM

2010-01-22T12:38:00.004+05:30

TPM Focused on Equipment and to stop equipment related Losses. It believes every breakdown and defect is due to a deviation from the required Basic Machine Conditions. (Some good presentations and books are available for MAIOSK members. Pls login to Group site)

Jishu Hozen – One of the Most powerful part of TPM (Other is KK I believe ) which if correctly and fully implemented can deliver a very good result in terms of time, money saving and boost morality of shop floor team member and helps to implement other pliers.:

Why JH?

Maintenance manager with his team can’t plan his day. Breakdowns are sporadic and maintenance teams are too busy to tackle them. It may be drive belt torn up, may be line choke up and hundreds of different small causes which takes unnecessary long time in reporting, searching, manpower deploying. On the other hand production team is fighting hard to meet target deadline. Loosing of man hour, loosing of machine hours are obvious, unaffordable but unavoidable.

Breakdown is the tip of the iceberg. It often shows symptoms before to breakdown like, ware, looseness, abnormal heat, leakage, surface damage, vibration, noise etc. most of the time only operator knows these abnormalities but due to poor mindset or poor knowledge they are not being in position to acknowledge it or if acknowledged then unable to make this small repair.

Productions are unable to plan to hand it over to maintenance for PM due to lagging production pressure and blaming to maintenance team for breakdowns and poor reliability. On the other hand maintenance team is blaming operator..

Whoever to be blame the final out come is a Huge loss to company. So, both need to come together to address the issue for coming out of that un healthy situation.

Sources of most major losses are equipment related and operators are very near to source. If they are taught, they can treat most of them fast and effectively. It’s the mass cultural change what is the main break of ice, making new mind sets and so, it’s the most challengeable and holds the key of TPM success.

Measuring TPM JH

P (Productivity improvement) 1.5 to 2 times increase by near bout 1.5 times

Reduction of B/D 1/10 to 1/250 reduced by 60 %

Q Reduction of production defect 1/10 Significant reduction

Reduction of customer claim 1/4

C Reduction of maintenance cost 30 % Cost of breakdown reduced

D Reduction of product inventories

S Reduction of accident

M increase in no. of suggestions 10% increase by 10 %

Goals of JH

Autonomous maintenance is answer of that. It’s a first level of maintenance like nursing of patient and PM is second level action like doctor to take special actions to improve the machine strength over the stress. Both are equally important to restore normal deterioration and once we restore it we can predict the life.

“Stitch in time saves nine.” Goals are –

1) Honor basic condition ( Step 1 – initial cleaning and Step 2 –Counter measure against contamination source, Thorough elimination of FUGUAI (Red tag / White Tag, Step -3 – Tentative Standards of cleaning)

2) Sustain Machine’s basic condition by improving operators’ skill (Step4- General inspection and Step 5 – Autonomous inspection

3) Book Excellency and strive for higher – (Step 5 Standardization and Step 7 – Autonomous management )

How it plays key role in success of TPM

1) It’s success depends upon involvement of Mass in shop floor

2) It is cultural change (breaking of main attitude hurdle “I use you Fix” to I operate I fix”) which means all thinking process are in line with TPM Goal.

3) Outcomes are easily visible which motivates other pillar implementation.

4) Though Success of JH depends upon Education and training, but if JH attitude is strong, other pillars (PM, QM, SHE) find their base issues to address.

Next Post ::Success of JH depends upon Support of JH and successful task sharing between PM and JH

Expected date of posting : 31^st jan, 10

Privacy policy

2010-01-17T00:23:00.000+05:30

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Implementation and deployment of TPM

2010-01-11T23:01:00.004+05:30

Start for TPM Excellency:

1. Decide to do it

2. Call a consultant

3. Decide a coordinator

4. Wait for result for few times

5. Sitting out from shop floor, in air cooled room, discuss over “Feel happy “rosy rosy graphs.

FORGET IT! Almost 80% of industries lost themselves somewhere in between TPM. If we don’t have proper dedication and cash flow support from top most management then all above are adding LOSS to company i.e. MUDA.

Those who played symphony of success preferred this Way:

Motivation, commitment No Show business, No shortcuts. We need it for our survivals and we need it truly,madly,deeply.

NO TPM : There should be no separation in management group as TPM. It will be the most integrated part of industries culture Leader will lead it too along with regular job. (Success of TPM is responsibilities of all not for a group) Update :(after got some comments , I would like to clear it) I Have seen every dept has dedicate one junior to do documentation of TPM which make it one man force...others like to stick on old AND SO NO TPM (as a team its every man's job and it is not additional, it's part of every days job)

Ready to afford the pain of new - old goes hard and new is not convenient. Sudden drop in productivity is expected and to be accepted with open heart.
Feasibility study – There is no hard and fast method. It is the result of trial and error method in Toyota. Just follow the guidelines and change to make it feasible.
No over simplicity or over complicity – Easy Understandable to all but eyes to yields corporate define goals.
Roadmap depends upon feasibility study with clear indication with where to go and how to go and how to flag out achievement.
Before to start, key driving committee should standardize indicating parameters – tracking method and achievable limits. It will help management to bring all in common platform.
Self audit, group audit. Cross audit to achieve and sustain the goal
Regular follow-up by committee and top leaders
Model line with experimental liberty to the group who is responsible for revolution. (it’s a team work. No individual experiment pls)
Horizontal deployment and timely review for probable updating of deployed system

Pic curtsy : www.globalsolutionsindia.in

Prerequisites (Ground Work):

1. Don’t start TPM from Shop floor. Starts from Kitchen and toilet .It gives moral motivation boost to shop floor employees. (I learnt it from an article by SAN Yamaguchi on TPM CLUB and experimented. It proven true)

2. Basic 5S with basic honor to product need to be achieved before to start TPM

3. Commonly and openly excepting the truth that we need to change ourselves to survive.

4. Complete corrective action on all probable loop falls before to start deployment (Before it catches momentum).

5. REAL Attitude to solve problems –REAL DATA, REAL PLACE, REALITY.

6. Easy one way communication method will help to highlight the problems.

7. Integration of TPM with system so that it should not come as extra responsibility

8. motivation of people to get kaizen ideas

9. Intensive HR activities to motivate and retain employees (Getting good is not a problem retaining them is the challenge)

10. Education and training to all key people before deployment.

11. If you like something in others, don’t copy it, adopt it, surface copy may irrelevant in other system.

At the end of this post, I am just sharing a mail, a cry of a failure TPM responsible person’s honest attempt which shows lack of commitment, poor authority-responsibility balance (Scapegoat position), and so, Different priority in Management. (This is a mail came to me as a part of one of online TPM groups, just sharing with you with the hope that, before to test success, we need to know the cause of failure). Just compare with your situation.

Dear Friends,

There may be several reasons why it fails.

But what I have observed is,

Not only, the top management support is required, both the middle level/bottom line support is required in the implementation program.

In my case, the top person gives the work to implement it. But he doesn’t give any time for that work. Yes. i know that there is some priority is there for the management

First is the production, rest of all next.

But even for putting the Five S & TPM sign boards, the top person says yes, do it. if he is not there, may be out of station, then hr manger/next person restricts the work. no don't do it. when the boss comes, then do it.

for just getting the approval it takes three days, then it will be send to purchase department for further process. I have waited one and half months to put a sign board.

My reporting officer is having some priority, for him this Implementation is the last priority. he also doesn’t care about me. Leaves it freely.

Again after a long stretch, i have started implementing the five S, taken all the photographs of the improvement required areas and send all the photo's to the department HOD's and made a copy to the top person.

ten days gone, still nobody has touched it so far. they are telling we don’t have time to do it.

top person also is not having time to listen me.

Like this it is running here. but still I am continue to push the people. (push system will not work)

I have also requested the top person to be with me for initial pick-up, for quick progress. I don’t know he tells ok, a after that he Leaves it.

I don’t know what to do next?

but I am initiating some of the visual improvements what i can do i am

doing...

If anybody is facing such a typical type, please inform me.

Regards

LNG

Future Topic: Success of TPM depends on success of JH.

Probable posting date : Next Sunday

"Your Comments, My inspiration"

Some definition and Confusions:

2010-01-11T22:48:00.000+05:30

There are few terms which create unnecessary confusion and debates which should not be. Here are logics

Debates: Root cause analysis= Outcome is One and only actionable cause. Pic is self explanatory (Hats off to copy write owner, I am just sharing it)

OEE = Over all Equipment efficiency. This indicator is multiplication of productivity (man-machine), equipment quality rate, equipment reliability (Availability) rate.

For a given time, in gives the projection of use of man machine potential and the scope of improvement.

Debates: What to consider, shift time or 24 Hrs (Machine potential is 24 Hrs.). of time ?

ð It is management to decide how many Hrs. it need to run the shift. We just calculate what is the potential of “ready to dispatch” production for that given time.

ð So, OEE will be calculated depends upon a particular facility operating time.

Debates: For a assembly line with different product rate of individual machine, what will be total available time?

=> Consider Whole line as a single machine and calculate the rest. If one machine affects the product output rate then aggregate OEE of individual machines will give wrong picture.

MTBF = Mean time between failure = total machining time / no. of stops

Debates : how to calculate plant MTBF ?

=> Don’t calculate available time as no. of machine X available time. Again it will give wrong projection. Idea behind plant MTBF is to know rete of breakdowns of plant. So, available time will be as same as available time of a line.(MAX 24 Hrs)

A few more on PdM ...in continuation of earlier post

2010-01-11T22:44:00.000+05:30

It’s a new wing of preventive maintenance, a new dimension. It will need time to the industries to opt for these technologies.

if you are curios , like to play advantage then here are two sites which are offering free basic courses( you will get outline details).

www.vaibrationschools.com/land - It offers free basic interactive course on vibration analysis. Require free registration and then show their mails a junk folded..
http://www.energyauditclass.com - Offers free courses on thermal imaging and energy auditor course too..

Predictive maintenance An Over View

2010-01-03T10:14:00.000+05:30

Predictive maintenance (PdM) or condition based maintenance (CBM) is to monitor predefine parameters over the time and predict it’s failure time to make corrective repair to restore its normality.

This is the last and final stage of preventive maintenance which aims to optimize maintenance period and costs by monitoring the trends of equipment deterioration trends.

It is possible to sustain zero breakdowns through TBM itself but there may chance to replace some spares before their life ends which means over and costly maintenance. So, By increasing scope of CBM we can optimize maintenance cost and time.
It targeted at parts that have had serious breakdown in pasts and or parts that cause costly damage (Total downtime costs) when they fails and due to high costs of spares it is not economical to consider it under TBM.

Pre-requisites for PdM : rushing to PdM diagnostic tools or service yields no results

a) Identify accelerated deterioration factors and implement thorough restoration and improvement through JH
b) Un expected failures can be reduced. Consider in-depth Time Base Maintenance (PM / TBM) in order to find the deterioration pattern
c) Sufficient data to compare with ideal.
d) Failures patterns are not frequent and a costly affair for both to afford reactive maintenance and keeping spare.
e) Decide control value for each deterioration pattern

Prediction Methods

1. Measuring electrical motor currents, temperature, Insulation level: Monitoring electrical motors current and temperature trends tell you about Mechanical side problems, aging of motors.

2. Thermal imaging - It is a non-contact temperature capturing device which collects temperature data from multiple points and store in a 2D profile. Some thermal imagers can compare present profile with base profile and help to detect the problem area. Excellent and versatile method of predicting problems. Commonly use for .

i) Measuring bearing temp. of large motors
ii) Identify leaks
iii) Loose connection in electrical circuits.
iv) Hot-spots in electronics circuits

3. Motor currents wave form – these spectra will tell us bout jerk loads. As example, If we want to check belt conveyor motor then we have to monitor coefficient of friction between belt and pully which is decreasing with time. If slippage is occurring then produced torque also decreasing which in proportion with load current. So, We can detect slippage by analyzing wave form of load current).

4. Vibration Analysis : Vibration data. gives performance evaluation for Rotating machinery (identifying potential defects such as bearing failure, gearing faults, drive belt problems, bent or misaligned shafts, coupling faults and driven element faults. Structural failures such as poor mounting, resonances, and feedback from other machines
Popular method is shock pulse method (SPM). It measures two value. One is carpet value and another is Maximum value..
5. Engine oil analysis (Used oil analysis and ware particle analysis). Used oil analysis determines the condition of the lubricant itself, determines the quality of the lubricant, and checks its suitability for continued use. Wear particle analysis determines the mechanical condition of machine components that are lubricated. Through wear particle analysis, you can identify the composition of the solid material present and evaluate particle type, size, concentration, distribution, and morphology.

But again, reliable predictive maintenance equipments are precise but costly too. So, it need to be use cautiously to determine diagnostic process and frequency to optimize maintenance time and cost. (One of the powerful PdM paradigms is not to repair equipment too early or too late
Another difficulty is to gather data for perfect ideal one to compare. So, prerequisites must be fulfilled.

Scope of PdM in Indian scenario:

In Indian scenario, PM (TBM) is still a popular method over PdM which is not so popular because

1. Less knowledge on technical know how on PdM analysis methods and so, less confidence on these technologies.

2. For in-house PdM it needs a big investment for purchasing hardware which in not feasible in most of the cases.

3. For operating and analyzing it needs a specifically trained and experienced personnel which is not available.

4. In European country, there are many private agencies who offer predictive maintenance services with up to date equipments. But here due to less requirement and awareness there is no such strong customer base and so, no such frequent services available. (Shock Pulse Method Services available for compressor and generators but other sources of services still I don’t know )

5. Less awareness on energy audits and survey in general industries

Standards
Reference these standards(curtsy :Fluke website) when creating safe standard work procedures for PdM program.
International Electrical and Electronic Engineers standard IEEE-90 describes the elements of an EPM program, including safety, while 1584â„¢-2002 provides a guide for arc flash hazard calculations and ANSI/IEE C2-81 National Electrical Safety Code governs heavy industrial installations.

MTS-2001 Maintenance Testing Specifications for Electrical Power Distribution Equipment and Systems from the International Electrical Testing Association (NETA), www.netaworld.org, contains set of step-by-step standard procedures for inspecting, testing and evaluating system components and appendices that recommends maintenance intervals for various components.

Standard NFPA 70B Recommended Practice for Electrical Equipment Maintenance from The National Fire Protection Association provides a PdM program overview, as well as an appendix with sample tests and record forms. For each component of the electrical system, it describes how you should inspect and test each sub-element. For example, in the section on rotating machinery it covers stator and rotor windings, then goes into brushes, collector rings, commutators, and then bearings and lubrication.
• NFPA 70B also includes a section on test methods, including insulation testing, transformer turns-ratio testing, circuit breaker testing and ground impedance testing, and power quality issues such as harmonics, transients, unbalance, sags and swells.
• Also refer to NFPA 70E Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace for safety training, procedures, personal protective gear (PPE) requirements, and lockout/tagout procedures.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA 29 CFR, 1910 Subpart S Electrical and Subpart I Personal Protective Equipment Safety standards for electrical systems, safe work practices, maintenance requirements.
ISO 6781 International Standards Organization (ISO) (American National Standards Institute) discusses thermal insulation, qualitative detection of thermal irregularities in building envelopes, and infrared methodology.
ASTM International http://www.astm.org ASTM E 1934, 1213, 1311, 1316, and 1256 Standard guide for examining electrical and mechanical equipment with infrared thermography, plus additional thermography references in ASTM 1060 and 1153.

Hot Water from Heat recovered from Air conditioner and chiller

2009-12-08T11:41:00.001+05:30

Saving energy is on air. Awareness is increasing on global warming. Every body, as individual or as corporate are trying to contribute to save energy to stop global warming.

Saves 1 KWH in consumer end is equal to saves 2 KWH in generating end. So, if you save 1 KWH at your home or industry, you are contributing to save natural resource depletion and stopping generating of green house gases by saving Coal or gas which require to produce 2 KWH (Including line loss).

Here is an idea to recover heat from split unit ACs compressor , compressors of chillers. By which

1. @ 4 Liter per minute flow, water can be heat up to 65 to 90 degree .

2. Electricity consumed by compressor is reduced by around 15% due to better cooling.

3. Compressor load reduced and so life increase.

4. Saving in LPG require for water heating

5. Savings in KWH require for water heating and AC consumption also got reduced

6. Maximum payback period is 6 month to 1 year according to size.

Bellow is the normal operation of a Air conditioner system.

The compressor “sucks” the refrigerant from point 4 through tubing in the evaporator

Coil. This action causes the liquid refrigerant to “evaporate” and become cold (≈45ºF).

The evaporating refrigerant inside the tubes cools the air being circulated over the outside

Of the tubes and fins by the indoor fan.

• In order to move the refrigerant from point 1 to point 2, it must be raised to a higher

Pressure by the “compressor”. The compressing causes the refrigerant to become hot (a

similar effect occurs with an air compressor and this can be verified by quickly and

carefully touching the discharge line).

• The hot refrigerant is sent through the tubing inside the condenser. Outdoor air circulated

by the fan cools the refrigerant and causes it to return to a liquid (condense). Even

though the air may be warm (80-100ºF) it is cooler than the hot refrigerant (100-160ºF).

In some cases, water can be used to cool the hot refrigerant if higher efficiency is needed.

• The warm liquid leaving the condenser (point 3) passes through an expansion device

which lowers the refrigerant pressure before it returns to point 4 to repeat the cycle.

Now The modification:

The potential source of heat to be reclaimed comes from the refrigerant leaving the compressor [3]. In the original design of a conventional air conditioning system, the copper tube containing the superheated refrigerant from the compressor is diverted directly into the condenser coil for heat removal. In order to reclaim the potential heat source from the superheated refrigerant, modification need to be done on the rotary compressor of the air condition unit.

This circuit is replaced by plate type heat exchanger in place of condenser.

MiaOsk - Our maintenance KIOSK created

2009-11-25T21:53:00.002+05:30

Dear Friends,
Our maintenance Kiosk as I described in my earlier post is just created. Now it is us, who have to participate promptly to rip gain of it.
It's a general forum to discuss our problems for solutions, new information on just achieved improvements and A lot.

Initially data Kiosk (Manuals, training presentations discussion and other form of datawill be available to group generally.
All data and other benefits will be strictly restricted to members only.
Group Link: http://groups.google.co.in/group/maiosk.

Please Join and improve our MaiOsk - Our own Maintenance KIOSK

VT93JYF6R8TZ

Why to analyze breakdown and which format to follow?

2009-11-19T09:25:00.010+05:30

Once upon a time, there was a king in Mathura , named Kansa. He was the most outrageous king .every body was too ungratified to stay in his kingdom. Once a voice from heaven foretell that the eighth son of sister Devaki & Basudeva will kill him & save mathura. …………………………………

Horrified Kansa arrested them & kept them in jail .He brutally murdered their seven children but the eighth son, lord Krishna escaped from there with divine help. Later lord Krishna killed Kansa & brought peace in Mathura.
Teacher stopped and asked the students, have you any question about it?
One of them raised his hand. Teacher thought what question can arise within this traditional saga.
He asked “if kansa knew the fact then why he kept Devaki and Basudeva in one cell?”

(Please, I have no intention to heart anybodies believe but it’s a nice story to understand the need of root cause analysis I have ever heard)

Moral of the story is without digging the root cause if anybody wants to take an immediate action, then the killer cause may got escaped .
Rather than taking actions that are merely band-aids, a why-why helps you identify how to really prevent the issue from happening again.

I have seen that without looking for expected outcome almost all are following a common format blindly. Either of WHY-WHY or 5W2H.

5W2H is one of the best format to communicate the problem to management but daily breakdowns should be discussed and analyzed in WHY-WHY format and outcome should be a kaizen or final countermeasure ( Change in JH maintenance sheet or preventive maintenance sheet) to stop it

Just compare the both

1. 5W2H

a) What (Happened) ?
b) Where (Happened) ?
c) Who (Identified /Responsible)
d) Which (Part)
e) Why (It Happened OR Why it is a problem)?
f) How much (Quantify to understand the severity )
g) How to do (Action plan to stop)
h) When (Time line to execute the action plan )

It's a complete informative sheet to communicate to the management but searching for root cause is absent. So, By 5W2H the objective of breakdown analysis is not getting satisfied and Management hopefully have interest only in actions to stop breakdowns rather than in detail of each breakdown until unless management involvement is require for some particular major breakdowns. Out from TPM, Just see the classic example bellow, It's a mail communication what I got from 350.org (easily communicated the subject matter in 5W)

So, the solution is

1. Why-Why

a) Why
b) Why
c) Why

…Still a actionable root cause found.
It is a method of questioning that leads to the identification of the root cause(s) of a problem and So, To find root cause and take permanent corrective action, WHY-WHY is best brain storming method. Others are FTA analysis, MFMEA (Before machine design), Parato (for priority setting).

How to conduct WHY-WHY analysis?

I usually follow the format I learnt from Yamaguchi San where to ask to final action and I feel it is easy to go down logically rather than to describe B/D phenomena and ask why it happed.
a) Conduct analysis season imitate after the breakdown got over ( memory will be fresh and so it is easy and less time consuming)
b) Ask why to the final action after which machine gets started (Generally we have several actions in way to make the machine up)
c) Then WHY WHY WHY….

Expected Outcomes:

Generally causes of breakdown fall in following five categories and expected final action is-
1. Poor Basic condition – Final action on preventive Maintenance to restore and honor basic condition (JH and Or PM).
2. Poor Operating condition - Final action on Maintenance (JH and Or PM)
3. Deterioration – PM check sheet or frequency is expected to be modify
4. Week Design – Cry for a Kaizen (Brain storming) to rectify the same
5. Skill – Training to enhance skill in same area.

Why why Format and example is available in TPM club India web site and you can download it here.
You will get more other Doc.s to download in there download section.

Energy and Cost Savings in Air Compressor

2009-11-05T23:07:00.004+05:30

Air is free but compressed air is too costly. And by its operation, We have a lot scope to save Energy and money from their operation. Common methods are

1. Arresting air leakage
2. Air inlet system should be cool and dirt
3. Pressure setting and compressor modulation
4. Installing VSD (variable speed drive) to optimized it’s power consumption on load and no load
5. Optimizing Air line to reduce pressure drop

But before to discuss its saving aspects, let’s see how costly it is

Cost of Compressed air = {(BHP) x (0.746) x (# of operating hours) x ($/kWh) x (% time) x (% full load BHP)}/Motor Efficiency

1. Where BHP—Compressor shaft horsepower (frequently higher than the motor nameplate
Horsepower—check equipment specification)
2. Percent time—percentage of time running at this operating level i.e full load % and no load %
3. Percent full-load BHP—BHP as percentage of full-load BHP at this operating Level
4. Motor efficiency—motor efficiency at this operating level

5. And Total cost = Full load cost + No load cost

Example
A typical manufacturing facility has a 33.5 hp compressor (which requires 45.56 BHP)
That operates for 6800 hours annually (Assume compressor operated 2 shifts a day, 5 days a week) . It is fully loaded 85% of the time (motor
Efficiency = 95%) and unloaded the rest of the time (25% full-load BHP and motor efficiency = 90%). The aggregate electric rate is Rs. 7/kWh.

Cost when fully loaded =

{45.56 BHP) x (0.746) x (6800 hrs) x (Rs. 7/kWh) x(0.85) x(1.0)}/0.95

= Rs. 1447520

Cost when partially loaded =

{45.56 BHP)x(0.746) x(6800 hrs)x Rs. 7/kWh)x 0.15) x (0.25)}/0.90

= Rs. 60668

Yearly cost of Air generation (Except Timely maintenance cost ) = Rs. 1447520 + Rs. 60668 = Rs. 1508188. + Std. Maintenance cost.

Now see bellow example for leakage cost
Example:
Stop all loads and check for load and unload pattern for 8 to ten cycles and take average for accuracy. at compressor end. Assume leakage test yields flowing results
Compressor capacity (m3/min) = 35
Cut in pressure = 6.8 KG/ cm2
Cut out pressure = 7.5 kg/cm2
Load KW drawn = 188 kw
Unload Kw drawn = 54 kw
Average load time = 1.5 min
Average unload time = 10.5 min

So, Leakage qty. = (1.5 / (1.5+10.5)) X 35 = 4.375 m3/min
Leakage per day = 6300 m3 / day
Power require for air generation = 188 kw /(35 m3/minX60) = 0.0895
Energy loss due to Leakage / day = 0.0895 X 6300 m3/day = 564 kwh
Assuming Rs. 7 /KWH in average cost of air leakage = Rs. 3948 / day , Rs 98700/ month.

SO..STOP Leakage!

2. Air Inlet System – Compressor room need to be well ventilated and need separate exhaust for hot air

3. Compressor modulation = Optimize sizing and scheduling of compressor
4. Installing VSD = A very sensible issue but before to install we need to check our requirement or else it will not give saving as desired fashion and still for many cases, motor with soft started and Pressure on/off control is cheap and efficient option. Flowing are hints
a) Due to efficiency factor of VSD, at full load, compressor with VSD drive takes more current then general compressor.
b) A compressor controlled by a variable speed drive draws power in almost direct proportion to the load, with energy consumption dropping to near zero at no-load. In contrast, conventional compressors are less efficient because at no-load they consume between 13 and 85 per cent of their full-load consumption, depending on the manufacturer and operating mode.
c) VSD system will give significant savings 0f 10 % to 30% of operating cost if and only if compressor is running with fluctuating load between 40 to 80 % and install with pressure sensor to modulate VSD outputs. Because No load loss will be almost near to zero and may run with friction of efficiency as per load demand.

Maintenance KIOSK

2009-10-26T23:11:00.002+05:30

It’s an Idea of mine that to make a maintenance KIOSK on local basis where a group of maintenance members will be able to exchange their individual views, knowledge on Kaizens Poka-Yoke whatever they have implemented by their own in their companies. As an individual, we all have limited ideas which come from experience on different machines, examples and more or less from technical exhibitions.

But if we make a common forum , for example of three companies maintenance member, and every company generates five general or technical Kaizens which they can share to all then, in this forum, total available kaizen will be fifteen and all members will get ten additional kaizen.

Yes, there are lechers in our society and we can prevent them by 1:1 ratio. What’s the more, We can make a virtual stores of common maintenance items like belt, bearing etc. (sometimes non-availability of a small screw also cause a considerable breakdown)

Why for common items like belt and bearing?

In spite of all efforts, hope we all experienced that running out of common spares due to there low costs, easy availability and non-critical. And on that time the neighbors companies are easy source that to purchase it from market.

So, again for example, the three companies, if declared KIOSK store contribution in starting of month in the forum and update it for their own interest in some defined interval, then chance of running out of stock will come down to 15 % (Consider that the chance of running out of stock is 5%).

This KIOSK can actively operate without any extra cost and more efforts which again will increase the low cost maintainability.

Involvement increases the knowledge.

I am reachable by Joydeep.jc@gmail.com for any assistance.

Books on Kaizen

2009-10-24T23:17:00.002+05:30

Here are some books on kaizen methodology

1. Kaizen Costing

2. Ideas Are Free

Maintenance Help - Common Symbols

2009-10-24T22:51:00.003+05:30

Dear Friends,
Here are some collection on Technical Symbols. Some times I find it a most time consuming job to search a symbol.Hope you find it needful

1. Hydraulic & Pneumatic Symbols
2. Pneumatic applications and reference handbook
3. Refrigerating Symbols
4. Single line Symbols
5. General G codes