Integrating CMMS with shop floor systems

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts

Plants can increase productivity, cost savings, and safety by means of sophisticated computerized maintenance management systems. In addition, these systems may serve as both tactical and strategic tools for increased competitiveness.

Unscheduled maintenance on production equipment is becoming less common as automation increases. Computerized maintenance management systems offer a range of functions for automating maintenance operations. These might include scheduling, work
order, labor and expense tracking, reporting, equipment history, and preventive maintenance. In response, companies spend an estimated $600 million each year for these tools and thereby reduce maintenance costs by as much as 25 percent. Notwithstanding the benefits and savings realized through these systems, companies still leave money on the figurative table. To capture it, operations people must shift from traditional lines of communication--shop floor-to-financial reporting--that formed in the earliest days of manufacturing resource planning. Realizing maximum benefit needs direct linkages with enterprise drivers--the information systems on the production planning side. These include enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, advanced planning & scheduling, logistics, and most significantly, manufacturing execution systems.

"Maintenance and production are interdependent and highly interrelated. But in reality, they rarely are," observes Julie Fraser, an analyst with Industry Directions. "The fact that they haven't been integrated in the past has more to do with history and organizational structure of companies than with any logic in managing the total throughput of a company."

Manufacturing execution systems--a plant-wide view
The ability to provide a comprehensive, plant-wide view of production activity is the strength of a manufacturing execution system. Its role is to both oversee and record the results of activity in a production facility. MESA International, representing manufacturing execution systems vendors, provides the following definition of manufacturing execution systems:

"Manufacturing execution systems deliver information that enables the optimization of production activities from order launch to finished goods. Using current and accurate data, manufacturing execution systems guide, initiate, respond to, and report on plant activities as they occur. The resulting rapid response to changing conditions, coupled with a focus on reducing non value-added activities, drives effective plant operations and processes. Manufacturing execution systems improve the return on operational assets as well as on-time delivery, inventory turns, gross margin, and cash flow performance. Manufacturing execution systems provide mission-critical information about production activities across the enterprise and supply chain via bi-directional communications."

With eleven primary functions, including maintenance management, that support, guide, and track the primary production activities, manufacturing execution systems capture information about what is actually happening, and what should happen. This information is not just data: it is actionable intelligence linking plant operations to an information chain stretching from the smallest sensor to the enterprise planning level. It allows for clear communication from top to bottom in manufacturing enterprises.

Coordination between maintenance and production is key to preventing costly production disruptions and repair technicians wait time. With a view into the plant operations schedule, maintenance is scheduled around production, rather than on the basis of the repair side. Job rerouting occurs up front when production and maintenance are integrated. Rush orders can be scheduled in other ways, not on the floor with wrench in hand. Consider the benefits of using actual information about equipment from the manufacturing execution systems system rather than a theoretical schedule based on the number of cycles, for instance. Doing so lets maintenance decisions optimize rather than disrupt production, in direct support of corporate supply chain objectives.

Another significant benefit of close integration between manufacturing execution systems and computerized maintenance management systems is the clear view it gives of equipment performance trending. In addition to time-scheduled cycles that determine when maintenance activity is required, there are maintenance factors driven by usage, material, and control limits. Sensors trigger warnings in certain computerized maintenance management systems but manufacturing execution systems help in determining if the equipment needs only checking or
major overhauling.

Fine-tuning the enterprise
Computerized maintenance management systems and manufacturing execution systems are information-rich systems that enable an enterprise to finely tune its operations to become highly responsive and effective in the face of changing execution dynamics. Whether a plant becomes so depends on its ability to use the information well in meeting objectives established by people who are planning and dealing with abstract influences.

Computerized maintenance management systems can be predictive and, therefore, included in forecasting. This improves asset utilization and optimization. Connecting through a manufacturing execution system to an enterprise's planning system magnifies the value of these capabilities. Manufacturing execution systems provide the opportunity for clear communications in both directions and, to date, have been underutilized, specifically with regards to the computerized maintenance management systems. This is an opportunity for truly enhancing operations by providing not only information of a financial nature, but also information about the status of the manufacturing operation.

Using the speed, precision, objectivity, and power of computing to link planning with maintenance offers an alternative to the familiar sneaker technology that happens through informal channels. It also increases the likelihood of recognizing and treating problems by multiple systems, before they are disruptive. Sneaker net is neither immediate enough nor responsive enough and could endanger customer delivery commitments. Problems also tend to have a multiplier effect; manufacturing execution systems help create a manufacturing environment in which everything is constantly responsive to every change and every eventuality.