For years, participants of the OpX Leadership Network have discussed how to drive awareness of asset reliability and its substantial, untapped potential for consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers to positively impact their output reliability.
Earlier this year, the OpX Leadership Network published the “Asset Reliability Roadmap for the Consumer Products Industry.” This document provides leadership guidance and insights to improve asset reliability within a CPG company and enable dialogue with key OEMs to engage in the effort.
During the same time, the FSO Institute, a facilitator in the development of the Asset Reliability Roadmap, launched a Manufacturing Health Assessment survey on the topic to establish an industry baseline to provide the data to make better decision-making. The preliminary findings from the FSO Institute’s Manufacturing Health Assessment survey on asset reliability (described as the absence of unplanned downtime achieved through both maintenance and operational effectiveness) is being shared publicly for the first time.
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The key findings include:
- Significant upside opportunity for the CPG industry: Over 43% of respondents consider their companies as beginners in the journey to asset reliability. Another 37% have entered the intermediate stage.
- Diminishing confidence in flexibility or nimbleness to meet future needs: While 68% have confidence in current capabilities, the uncertainty of the future takes that positive outlook to less than 50% over the next three years and meeting e-commerce requirements down to 25% positivity.
- Reactive maintenance tactics still rule the day: Nearly 70% of companies are still reactive, while far fewer indicate they bring predictive analytics to asset reliability.
- Uptime improvement is new capacity without the expense: 93% state their performance can be improved substantially. Over half of these companies see uptime improving between 8% and 15% per line.
- Changeovers continue to impact uptime reliability: More than 62% note that they are not running reliably coming off a changeover, with 68% acknowledging their lines are ill-prepared to take on more frequent changeovers.
- No time to waste: Only 12% of companies can reach “first hour full power” more than 80% of the time.
- Enabling technologies to better inform the floor: Greater than 56% of companies state their companies’ lines are not capable of notifying those who can provide needed attention to fix a problem.
Uncovering the Opportunity
The FSO survey provides an industry overview, directional in nature. Consider your organization within the context of these functions: general maturity level (the leadership, cultural, and procedural commitment within the organization) and reactive maintenance staff (nearly 70% of companies are still reactive). Some areas to consider for maintenance improvement are having operators engaged with more basic maintenance functions to free up the staff to tackle more difficult problems, and more targeted utilization of the computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) for better-informed prioritizations.
Philip Weyer
Richard Larsen
Jeff Smeltzer
Production readiness and capability is the consistency of performance in the organization to meet customer requirements. Uptime improvement is new capacity without the expense. Performance can be improved substantially, according to 93% of survey respondents. What would 10% uptime improvement look like for your plant? The Asset Reliability Opportunity Calculator might uncover the opportunities in changeovers, first hour full power, or even in your legacy maintenance practices.
Equipment readiness and capability includes the flexibility and reliability of the existing asset base to meet the current and future demands of your organization. It enables technologies to better inform the floor. For example, greater than 56% of companies state their companies’ lines are not capable of notify-ing those who can provide needed attention to fix a problem. Consider evaluating your equipment technology and capability to meet future business needs, including modifications that will reduce changeover time more effectively and enable use of predictive analytics.
FSO Institute interviewed three industry executives to get their feedback on asset reliability: Philip Weyer, director of manufacturing operations at Shipley Do-Nuts; Richard Larsen, former vice president at Honeyville and FSO Institute coach; and Jeff Smeltzer, reliability engineer at Land O’Lakes.
FSO INSTITUTE: What challenges are you facing in launching or expanding asset reliability into a highly valued operational methodology in your company?
WEYER: The primary challenge we face currently is bridging from a culture of reactive maintenance to a predictive model that will allow for increased uptime. Proper training, equipment monitoring, and improved technology are all tools we are employing to improve our operator knowledge level and understanding of the equipment. This will allow us to properly identify issues ahead of time, prevent forced deterioration, and ensure equipment runs at optimal performance. By doing this, we expect to improve uptime and increase throughput to help support demand growth.
FSO INSTITUTE: Where do you see the significant opportunities to enhance a company’s production readiness and capabilities?
LARSEN: As a co-author of the OpX Asset Reliability Roadmap, I have come to recognize that asset reliability is an ongoing process that requires an effective production readiness program to achieve the desired result in throughput and expected profitability. In order to have an effective production readiness program, there are a number of important key factors that need to be addressed:
- Historical data: To move forward, you need to know where you have been and where you are today.
- Production objectives: Understanding where you want to (or can) be. This begins with a realistic assessment of the production line capabilities (design and in-plant reality) to identify through-put goals.
- Asset Reliability Calculator: With past, current, and expected data, you are ready to apply the OpX Asset Reliability Calculator to be able to see “the size of the prize,” which is what additional production yield and production cost savings can be achieved by minimizing unplanned downtime.
- Production readiness: Sustaining your achievements requires an ongoing commitment to training of the maintenance and operations teams and the discipline of a preventive maintenance program.
FSO INSTITUTE: Where do you see the significant opportunities to enhance your company’s equipment asset base to meet your future business requirements?
SMELTZER: Throughout our many and diverse manufacturing plants, there are three key focus areas that we can consistently employ to enhance our existing asset base to meet future business requirements:
- Strategy: Right care strategies for all our critical equipment assets are in place and being implemented. Embedded in these strategies is the focus on uptime inspection preventive maintenance.
- People: Standard work methods engage the operators to participate and take ownership in certain daily functions that can help them recognize their importance to the team’s success and improve uptime performance.
- Technology : Real-time feedback from the equipment enables the team to constantly monitor equipment health. Consider the value of monitoring components over time using predictive tools and software to better inform the floor of equipment not running at optimal rate and a potential component failure.
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