Maintenance quality improvement means very different things to different people and organizations. For example, in some circumstances, maintenance quality may mean no downtime, or safe operation, or on-time turnaround, or quick response, or no repeat repairs, or keeping a vehicle in spec or a satisfied customer.
Consequently, the first step in improving the quality of any maintenance operation is to define quality in the way most useful to the operating environment, advises Joel Levitt, a leading trainer of maintenance professionals and the author of a column on management that appears regularly in Fleet Maintenance.
Levitt has conducted more than 500 training sessions for more than 15,000 maintenance leaders from 3,000 organizations in more than 20 countries. He is president of Springfield Resources, a Lafayette Hill, PA-based management consulting firm that services clients of all sizes on a wide range of maintenance issues.
QUALITY GURU
The late Dr. W. Edwards Deming is known as the father of the Japanese post-war industrial revival. He was regarded by many as the leading quality guru in the U.S.
After World War II, Deming was invited to Japan by the country's industrial leaders and engineers to help them transform their businesses.
In developing his Guide for Transforming Japan into a World Power, Deming created his 14 Points for Management. These points were the basis for transformation of Japanese industry.
Deming taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organizations can increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs by reducing waste, rework, staff attrition and litigation while increasing customer loyalty. The key, he said, was to practice continual improvement, and to think of manufacturing as a system, not as bits and pieces.
QUALITY ELEMENTS
While Deming's focus was on manufacturing, his style of management applies to maintenance as well, according to Levitt.
"In maintenance, as in manufacturing, we know much of what is needed to produce quality work and a safe work environment," he says. Some of the key elements for achieving this are:
- The most important element of quality is that technicians have a complete knowledge of the scope of work they will be doing, plus have the necessary skills to perform the work.
- Technicians must have the correct tools and equipment, parts, materials, supplies and consumables available for the job. "If the wrong things are made available, then the technician must improvise," explains Levitt. "While improvisation is great in a theater, it introduces potential quality problems in maintenance."
- There must be safe access to assets and work areas, as well as humane working conditions. "Working conditions are important for quality," he says. "Areas that are too hot, too cold or unsafe compromise quality."
- There needs to up-to-date service information on each asset that will be worked on.
MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT POINTS
Levitt has adapted Deming's management points to apply to maintenance issues.
1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement by allocating the necessary resources to stay competitive, remain in business and provide stable employment.
2. Realize the need for change.
"Deming says, 'Awaken to the challenge and adopt a quality philosophy,' " points out Levitt. "Take responsibility for leadership and be a leader in change."
3. Build quality into the process.
Quality, Levitt says, comes from:
- Skilled and knowledgeable technicians given good tools, good materials and enough time to do the job.
- Choosing well-designed equipment that doesn't need much maintenance.
- Having well-designed and furnished works areas.
- Pride in a job well done.
"Lead by example with ceaseless training, coaching and systems analysis," counsels Levitt. "When defects occur, concentrate on the system that delivered the defect rather then focusing on finger-pointing."
4. Move toward a single source for each item, and a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.
"End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price alone," he says. "Instead, minimize total cost.
"Look at the total costs of a part or the lifecycle cost of a machine. Some savings are illusionary and hurt the overall goals of an organization."
5. Keep up the improvement of quality and productivity in order to constantly reduce costs.
This is important, Levitt emphasizes, because "in today's industry, the way it used to be done is never going to be good enough for the future.
"All improvements and growth flow from dissatisfaction with the status quo. Build measurement into the maintenance information system."
6. Training should be mandatory for technicians the way it is for doctors or teachers.
"Technologies are changing; skills must change too," he stresses.
In addition, Levitt says special effort should be given to training those workers who deliver the on-the-job training so that they can become more effective teachers.
"Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement. World-class maintenance departments make a commitment to invest 1 to 3 percent of their hours in training for all maintenance workers.
7. Institute leadership with the aim of helping technicians and machines do a better job.
Supervisors should serve their subordinates by removing the impediments to quality productivity and making sure the technicians, tools, parts, units to be serviced and work permissions all converge at the same time, Levitt says.
8. Break down the barriers between departments because everyone's expertise is needed for constant improvement.
9. Eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets for the work force asking for zero defects or new levels of production.
"Such exhortations create adversarial relationships," maintains Levitt. "A bulk of the quality problems belong to the system, not the people. Stable processes create quality.
"When you create stable processes producing quality outputs workers will feel the way the slogan says without coercion and alienation."
10. Eliminate work standards, quotas and management by objectives (MBO).
"Work standards and quotas are associated with management styles that treat the maintenance worker as someone needing to be told exactly what to do and how long to take," explains Levitt. "Standards are useful for scheduling and to communicate management's expectations.
"It is difficult to not use them as a production whip, and that is a disaster in maintenance situations. Once an asset is down for maintenance, the desire is to have technicians take the time needed to fix every problem they see - within reason, and not just the original job.
"We must trust the technician to look out for the company's interests, particularly when management is not there," he continues. "The problem with MBO is that it focuses on visible, measurable aspects of maintenance, yet many of the real issues of maintenance concern aspects of the environment which are hard to measure."
11. Remove the barriers that rob technicians of their right of pride of workmanship.
"Technicians must be allowed to feel pride in their jobs that are well done. Maintenance managers and supervisors must not allow anything to stand in the way of that pride."
12. Because transformation requires the talents of all the employees, put everyone in the organization to work to accomplish the transformation to maintenance quality improvement.
NEED FOR BENCHMARKING
Any organization can improve its maintenance quality, says Levitt. This is best accomplished through benchmarking exercises to determine how well it is meeting its quality performance objectives.
The next step is to then apply best practices to:
- Identify problem areas and areas for continuous improvement.
- Define the processes used to identify causes of the problems.
- Manage the effectiveness of corrective actions that drive the resolution of problems, plus drive improvement in the future.
OBSTACLES TO QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
There are a number of common impediments to improving maintenance quality, Levitt notes. Key among these are:
1. Not allowing enough time for improvement because the changing of fundamental processes takes considerable time.
2. The supposition that solving problems with automation, gadgets and new machinery will transform a shop. "Maintenance problems are people problems," he says. "The systems, attitudes and approaches are at issue."
3. An emphasis on short-term profits and short-term thinking fed by compensation systems that focus exclusively on short-term performance.
4. The belief that an organization's problems are different.
"Actually many shops' problems are the same," observes Levitt. "In my public trainings, maintenance managers in widely different industries, sizes and sophistication often marvel at the familiarity of their problems."
5. Quality control has already installed.
"Quality is a way of life. It is a daily diet. You don't install it once and forget about it. Instead, you become it."
Additional details on maintenance quality improvement can be found in Levitt's book, The Handbook of Maintenance Management, Second Edition.
How to improve visibility, measurement and performance throughout a shop's business processes
By Alan Tomlinson, TMT Fleet Maintenance Sales Engineer, TMW Systems
Like death and taxes, vehicular repairs have traditionally been viewed as inevitable and expensive.
Though little can be done to eliminate the need for repairs and maintenance, strategic maintenance management can actually transform a maintenance shop from a cost center to a revenue generator.
By capturing information within the shop and integrating it into its business processes and decisions, shop managers can reduce inefficiencies and more accurately measure and control their true costs of operations.
Cost containment is important, but freeing shop capacity by becoming more efficient offers the possibility to take on work for other fleets and start generating revenue.
Applications that facilitate visibility and sophisticated analysis give fleets and shops the edge, allowing them to track and prioritize everything, from work orders to warranty recovery, on every component, from the oil system to the drivetrain.
APPROPRIATE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE SYSTEMS
With the appropriate equipment and shop management software systems, fleets and maintenance operations of all types are able to better manage preventive maintenance schedules, parts inventory, fuel and tire usage, mechanic productivity and much more, including increased warranty recovery, all of which can help the shop pay for itself.
By way of example, among the key performance indicators that can be captured in near-real-time by such applications as TMW Systems' ResultsNow are:
- Driver.
- Model.
- Part cost per mile.
- Asset cost per years in service.
- Reason for repair.
- Fuel economy.
- Fault-code history.
- Preventive maintenance scheduling.
- Shop labor hours.
- Compliance percentage.
TREND AND DATA ANALYSIS
Trend analysis can help guide future decisions, giving fleet managers the knowledge they need to determine when and whether to lease or purchase equipment, or repair or scrap it.
For example, maintenance applications might flag a particular model of alternator that starts to experience trouble at 75,000 miles. Fleets can then plan ahead as the rest of their alternators near that mark.
They won't have to stockpile inventory through the lifecycle of each alternator, but merely when it reaches its end.
Just as applications can help fleets predict part lifecycle, they also help fleets assess the reasons behind part failure. Managers can ask: "Are these components meeting our expectations? Do we need to update our specs, or should we change our vendor?"
With good data, managers can cut the costs of paperwork and administration, and more accurately forecast future expense. They can maintain a leaner inventory and devote their labor costs to keeping their trucks on the road.
At First Piedmont Corp., a Chatham, VA-company with more than 150 rolling assets, that's all led to a huge transformation. By using key performance indicators to guide the maintenance, the full-service waste-management company's maintenance shop has become a revenue center that's in "the black by up to $200,000 a year," said Christine Baggerly, the company's chief administrative officer.
Being able to track data across years and thousands of different kinds of components allows fleets to track down warranties and make better decisions about which parts to buy and when, and how often to schedule maintenance. That gives the technicians more opportunity to do what they do best - make repairs.
Alan Tomlinson is a TMT Fleet Maintenance sales engineer with TMW Systems, a leading provider of enterprise software to transportation and logistics companies.
Keep "lean" top of mind when selecting a service provider
Delays, defects and inconsistent processes are three types of problems that can cost money, time and resources in a service facility, which in today's volatile economy, is reason enough for change.
Ryder embarked on its own Quality/Lean journey in 2008, when it decided to take its 800 service locations to a new level of operational excellence. Today, Quality/Lean is a core value at Ryder, which has improved work processes, eliminated waste and improved customer service.
After benchmarking some of the best Lean organizations in the industry, Ryder began its Quality/Lean process by first recruiting a Quality team of the top 30 maintenance professionals from among its 5,000 technicians. With a combined team tenure of more than 800 years, Roger Cicchini, senior vice president of quality assurance, and a 45-year Ryder veteran, led the team.
SYSTEMATIC APPROACH
Quality/Lean is a systematic approach to identifying waste and improving processes while generating the highest possible value for customers, explains Cicchini. Kaizen and 6S (commonly known as 5S in the industry, but Ryder includes Safety) are examples of lean tools used at Ryder's service locations.
Kaizen is a Japanese management strategy of continuous improvement. 5S, also developed in Japan, is a process of workplace organization and housekeeping which is carried out gradually and systematically.
Specifically, Ryder focused on the use of spaghetti diagrams, waste walks, visual controls and standard work, which are all designed to improve the flow of work and prevent delays, Cicchini says.
During the Kaizen on Ryder's service island, a spaghetti diagram quickly revealed the wasted steps and motions the attendants were performing. Developing standard work and bringing consistency to process execution, improved productivity three-fold.
Additionally, the team implemented visual controls to ensure that all the needed tools and equipment were readily accessible and in their required place.
QUALITY INSPECTIONS
Quality inspections and service island inspection audits are waste walk tools Ryder uses to help identify defects in vehicle repairs.
As a PM is performed, the quality of the work is inspected before the vehicle is returned to the customer. This prevents any defects from going out the door, while quickly providing coaching opportunities for technicians.
Service managers get an opportunity to observe the work being performed while looking for waste elimination in the work area.
Service island inspections audits are conducted at a minimum of once per week per shift and require observation of the process against standard work, as well as 6S compliance.
These processes ensure that the repairs are done right the first time, preventing lost time and money that comes from re-work, notes Cicchini.
STANDARD WORK
When it comes to process variation, standard work is a key Lean concept that helps to ensure the same service is provided day to day, location to location and person to person, says Cicchini.
"The core concept of Lean is that small, incremental improvements on a continuous basis, driven by the people who perform the process, will realize better, more sustainable solutions, and that will lead to vastly improved processes and better service for the customer," he points out.
"When it comes to service providers, customers have a right to expect standardization and count on receiving the same high-quality service no matter what location they select to have their vehicles serviced at.
"Make sure your provider has Quality/Lean as a core value, and you too will reap the benefits of joining a Lean team."
What are quality problems?
An insightful definition of "quality problems" comes from the U.S. Department of Energy's Quality Assurance Subgroup, Integrated Safety Management Working Group.
In its work to develop best practices, the subgroup defined quality problems as "deficiencies in characteristic, documentation or procedure that renders the quality of an item or activity unacceptable or indeterminate."
An effective organization is one in which the quality problems "are identified through its own internal resources doing introspective assessments," said the subgroup wrote in its report, Attributes of an Effective Quality Improvement Process.
Furthermore, the report said an effective organization also "promotes a no-fault environment in which personnel have the mandate, freedom and responsibility to, and are expected to, identify potential quality problems and recommend improvements without fear of reprisal."
ADVERSE CONDITIONS
Quality problems are conditions adverse to quality and must be identified and documented, according to the DOE subgroup. Conditions adverse to quality include: failures, malfunctions, suspect/counterfeit items, deficiencies, defective items, out-of-control processes and non-conformances.
"Where conditions adverse to quality have been identified, the extent to which other items and activities may be affected should also be evaluated so that appropriate action may be taken, including measures to control any affected work in process, if necessary," the report stated.
SPECIFIC PROCESSES
To assist an organization with quality improvement, the subgroup recommended that the following measures be taken:
- Establish and implement processes to detect and prevent quality problems.
- Identify, control and correct items, services and processes that do not meet established requirements.
- Identify the causes of problems and include prevention of recurrence as part of corrective action planning.
- Review item characteristics, process implementation and other quality-related information to identify items, services and processes needing improvement.
- Acknowledge, evaluate and implement best practices in support of continuous improvement.
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