In my column last week, we asked, "Do you value maintenance?"
90 percent answered "Very much," 10 percent went with "Not at all," and no one answered "Much," "Some" or "A little."
Then, we asked, "What is your position in your company?
They included:
>I am now a private consultant, but previously was a manager of the turbine, electrical and boiler engineers responsible for major equipment at a large power company.
>Production Manager
>President
>Owner
>I was the GM of a mill that was marginal due to age and grades but the CEO did all he could to just keep us afloat and I could not convince him that we needed even more emphasis on maintenance than he would allow and in the end it hurt us in production and safety, though nothing serious, fortunately.
>Mill Manager
>Corporate technical
>Consultant to many companies. Your observations are validated by consultants that get out and work around the operations in the mill. Too often, the person you are working with is called away to deal with a maintenance issue.that has or will shut down something or the entire mill. A several day mill trial for which thousands of dollars had been spent in preparation and conducting the trial was scuttled halfway through it when a critical pump that was known to be limping failed. Maintenance had been put off because it would mean a couple of hours of downtime and a pressure vessel lock-out. It took 8 hours to make the unscheduled repair, resulting in digester shut-in, bleach plant and, of course, the pulp dryer running out of stock. The operators "told them so" and cited several other pumps and valve actuators that were on the "walking wounded" list. Maintenance, housekeeping and safety are all related by attitude and hence, behaviors. Uncoiled hoses, spilled stock, spent welding rods, tarps tied to divert dripping liquid of some sort, rusty nuts and bolts, chunks of metal that were cut from mountings or something else that was in the way.....these are just some of the visual images of the relationship between maintenance, housekeeping and safety. Why are mill leaders so blind to not see them? If you don't go out in the mill, they aren't there.
You may take this week's quiz here.
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