The maintenance strategy that WidgetWorld will use in the next decade will largely define its ability to achieve success in the market (Hoke and Craig 28). That is why as an Assistant Maintenance Supervisor of this company, I engaged the Production Manager to come up with a strategy that will be used within the next decade. The Production Manager wanted the manufacturing plant to run without the one-week partial shut-down.
However, the maintenance department is convinced that this partial shutdown for re-tooling is still very important. After lengthy deliberation, it was finally decided that the partial shutdown will be reduced from the current seven days to four days every summer. The decision was reached after putting into consideration a number of factors. First, it was obvious that partial shutdown after every year is important to review the system and upgrade the tools to ensure that operations are not disrupted in any way (Daya 37).
It was also important to have a partial shutdown to review past performance and determine how to adjust the system to meet the following year’s target. During the summer, many people prefer taking a holiday so that they can spend time with their families (Stephens 48). It was, therefore, the best time to review the system because the workload was determined to be at its lowest level during this period. Finally, it was agreed that with the new technology and highly skilled workforce at the disposal of this firm, the duration for comprehensive maintenance can be reduced from seven to four days.
The plan will be implemented in the same way it had been done in the past. When most of the employees have gone for the holiday, the maintenance team will be called upon to review the production plant. During this time, the production department will use information obtained from other departments, especially the marketing and finance departments, to determine how the production system should be adjusted to meet the set expectations.
The main concern was that the current manpower at this department may not have the needed skills to upgrade the systems as per the expectations of other related departments. It was agreed that the manpower will be outsourced from specialized companies that will be required to come with their own equipment needed for the entire maintenance process (Yan 61). Our firm will only purchase materials needed to upgrade the system or other consumables needed once the system starts operations. The desire of the Production Manager was effectively accommodated by reducing the time taken for maintenance.
Situations Where Unscheduled Maintenance May be Appropriate
Unscheduled maintenance may be appropriate in a number of instances. Wireman says that sometimes a machine used in production may break down unexpectedly (45). When that happens, unscheduled maintenance may be unavoidable. The faulty machine will have to be repaired or replaced as soon as possible to ensure that operations continue uninterrupted. When the demand exceeds what was expected during the last scheduled upgrade, then an unscheduled upgrade may be necessary to ensure that the extra demand that was not planned for is adequately met. At WidgetWorld, scheduled maintenance is done once a year. However, some wear and tear of the tools and machines used in the production may not wait for the scheduled yearly maintenance (Kelly 87). Unscheduled maintenance would be appropriate in such situations.
Works Cited
Daya, Moses. Handbook of Maintenance Management and Engineering. Dordrecht: Springer, 2009. Print.
Hoke, John, and Lorri Craig. Maximize Your Plant Maintenance with Sap. Bonn: Galileo Press, 2009. Print.
Kelly, Anthony. Managing Maintenance Resources. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, 2006. Print.
Stephens, Matthew. Productivity and Reliability-Based Maintenance Management. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2010. Print.
Wireman, Terry. Training Programs for Maintenance Organizations. New York: Industrial Press, 2010. Print.
Yan, Jihong. A Guide to Understanding Machinery Prognostics and Prognosis Oriented Maintenance Management. London: McMillan, 2014. Print.