Reorganisation
Because the four incineration lines, the electricity generating
plant and the flue-gas scrubbers are in constant operation and
because AVR had to continue with a slimmed down organisation
following various reorganisations, AVR tightened up the
requirements set for the people taking part in the maintenance
process. In particular, co-operation between the various
departments and making and keeping to agreements had to
be better. "After all, we were faced with the heavy task of
delivering the same performance with fewer people and we
also wanted to reduce maintenance costs. At that point, we
called in the help of PDM,” says Sluimer.
Approach
PDM started by analysing the work-flow processes relating to
maintenance. This led to defining four sub-projects, in close
collaboration with AVR, that were completed in a period of
1 year, namely optimising work-flow management, defining
the job of Maintenance Engineering, analysing the shutdown
organisation and associated processes and setting up a management system and organisation. In the rest of these
projects, PDM started by improving the work preparation and
planning of AVR’s Technical Service, so that the technicians
could be deployed more efficiently.
Maintenance concepts
In the case of the second project mentioned above, we taught
the maintenance engineer how to draw up and implement
maintenance concepts, and how to tackle performance killers
structurally. We also devoted attention to the role of engineers
in the organisation.
“It was particularly this last aspect that was
crucial,” says Sluimer. “But at the same time, it was complex
because we wanted everyone in the organisation to be
actively involved in the integral maintenance process. It was
also complex because we had to handle a culture change and
because everyone’s responsibilities were once more clearly
brought to the fore, so that they could be held accountable
from now on. That looks easy at first sight but in practice it boiled down to
learning to work together in our own department and with
other departments. After all, we had to achieve a particular
objective together.”
In the case of analysing the shutdown organisation and
processes, PDM analysed a 4-week shutdown and made
recommendations for improvement. In this period, a method
was also implemented for optimising smaller shutdowns. In
the fourth project, PDM drew up performance indicators and
appointed owners. After all, it’s only in this way that AVR
can effectively steer on the performance of the most important
maintenance processes.
Results
"Owing to the shift in ownership, we are now better able to
manage the work. We have also reduced
working stocks by 32% and the efficiency of the Technical
service has increased by 15%. We have also succeeded in
improving co-operation between the group leaders and work
preparers on the one side and the technical service, production
and engineering on the other. The art is now to put into
practice what we have learned in such a way that we can reap
the benefits of it every day, namely by achieving the same
performance with less effort. And that’s a process that actually never finishes. As the
management, we will have to be constantly alert to this,
maintain it and adjust it where necessary. In other words, it’s
a challenge for us at AVR” says Sluimer.
