Situation
A U.S.-based primary metals manufacturer completed a massive $25 million expansion in 2019, after only four years in business. Being in an asset-heavy industry and having 200 to 500 employees, the business growth required the company to expand its maintenance program as well. Their goals to support continued growth were to reduce unplanned downtime and maintenance events through improving their existing lubrication program.
Action Items
The manufacturer’s oil distributor recommended Redlist’s lubrication management app to collect and organize all of the lubrication tasks at their plant. The company configured the app to their assets and easily assigned all of the necessary lubrication tasks to technicians, ensuring that they would not forget any asset’s routine maintenance. The Redlist forms tool enables their technicians to immediately report issues to maintenance managers, an added benefit allowing them to plan, schedule, and complete repairs quickly.
Impact
Within their first month of implementation, the manufacturer experienced excellent progress towards their initial goals. They identified and repaired 66 major issues before catastrophic failure, which saved an estimated $165,000 in reduced equipment downtime. With all assets’ lubrication tasks completed as scheduled, they save an additional $24,750 on replacement pumps, mixers, and bearings. They also have reduced their MTTR (Meantime to Repair) for non-catastrophic events by 97%, allowing them to get critical production assets back online and reduce downtime.
The improved maintenance program keeps everyone from the maintenance staff to management more organized, less stressed, and even creates a safer work environment. This is reflected in a $19,320 savings in OSHA fines in the first year of use due to improved recordkeeping, maintenance history tracking, and shortened repair times. The total first-year savings for the manufacturer was $209,070. And they continue to see improvements year over year.
