A global leader in building products; including cement, concrete, and aggregates. They wanted to reduce their maintenance costs across their network of cement plants.
World-class maintenance practices are well-known in the cement industry but implementing them across multiple facilities and realizing substantial improvements would be a challenge.
Specifically, our goal was to help the client reduce the cost of executing repairs and predictive and preventative maintenance work; reduce the use of outside contractors for recurring maintenance problems; and extend the life of replacement parts and services.
We began by working with the client’s operational excellence group to craft an implementation road map with the goal of reducing maintenance costs by 20% on a cost-per-ton basis. This included developing work order management and maintenance planning processes, implementing back order management and capacity planning methods, and enhancing daily planning and review processes.
Over the course of the engagement, we helped the client review and change PM program frequencies, tasks and job plans for virtually all major equipment. The team also implemented a systematic approach to reducing the annual cost of spares, developed and implemented an enhanced array of maintenance metrics, and improved material preparation, kitting and staging.
As a result, the annual shutdown of one facility was reduced by two days and attainment to the shutdown plan of work orders was at an all-time high. It was regarded as the “best shut down ever,” followed by the least amount of start-up issues when the plant was brought back up. These best practices were subsequently implemented across three other facilities, and effectiveness and productivity improved throughout the organization.
$4.2
Million in savings across three plants
20%
Reduction in maintenance costs
20% - 40%
Reduction in work order backlogs
15% - 18%
Improvement in throughput
“We were able to combine our technical know-how with USCCG’s implementation expertise to generate significant savings in parts, labor and outside contractor fees,” said the Vice President of Manufacturing. “When coupled with productivity improvements ranging between 15%-18% from improved equipment reliability and utilization, we were able to drop over $4 million to the bottom line.”
