PCA Blog
Enough is Enough Maintenance and Reliability Hiring Managers!
Enough is Enough Maintenance and Reliability Hiring Managers! We know in the ideal world of finding your next maintenance team hire, you want the candidate to show job stability, and that you will not consider applicants that are “job hoppers”. Let’s jump back into the reality of the current state of the Maintenance and Reliability candidate pool.
Reliability-Centered Leadership in the Age of Industry 4.0
With the advent of Industry 4.0, facility management may be reevaluating or extending the role of the reliability engineer (RE). Given its process-centered, highly technical focus, Industry 4.0 presents a perfect opportunity for REs to shine. Nevertheless, in my opinion, organizations that assume the majority of the RE’s work will be process centered are making a grave miscalculation.
Purchasing in the Pulp and Paper Industry: Creating Predictability Where None Exists
Profit margins for forest products industry firms are volatile, at best, due to raw materials availability and pricing, competitive pressures and market forces. PCA helped one paper mill gain a measure of predictability — and save $1 million per year — by moving to best practices machine parts purchasing.
Storeroom Staff Mismanagement, Pt 2: The Dangers of Indifferent Personnel
Earlier this month, PCA Associate Jim Clifford shared a true story of storeroom staff mismanagement that illustrated how just one bad personnel decision can snowball into a big problem (with corresponding significant financial loss.) Here, the author expands his tale to discuss the damage that non-committal employees, whether in the storeroom or outside of it, can do.
Lessons in Storeroom Staff Mismanagement
For personnel involved in maintenance repair and operations (MRO), how storerooms are staffed may be one of the greatest mysteries of all time. In reality, the answer is often disappointingly simple: whoever is available at that time and will not object too severely to being put in there. Unfortunately, that’s generally the worst possible course of action. In this article, PCA Director of MRO Services Jim Clifford shares a painful, real-life experience and explains why careful selection of MRO storeroom staff (and especially storeroom management) is critical to the efficient storeroom operations that help boost bottom lines.
The True Cost of Spare Parts Inventory: The Calculations May Surprise You
In every industry, spare parts are crucial to equipment reliability. That sometimes leads purchasing managers to overstock items that are frequently used. This approach is OK (if not great) as part of a cohesive inventory management plan to use those parts efficiently, but most of the time, it is not. In a modern, well-run facility, there simply is no room for excess spare parts. This article explains why overstocking is so detrimental.
Best Practices MRO Purchasing Drives Reliability and Uptime; Propels Dramatic Improvements
MRO purchasing is often overlooked by procurement professionals, and opportunities are masked by the transactions themselves which are high-volume but low-dollar. Resources are often allocated to other areas, and responsibilities for the purchasing function are transferred to maintenance or the storeroom where procurement capabilities are limited. In addition, the imperative for rapid repairs drives immediate, reflexive action and prevents the development of long-term strategic initiatives.
The MRO Spare Parts Storeroom: Make It a Critical Quality System
The Maintenance, Reliability and Operations (MRO) spare parts storeroom is an indispensable appendage of the Maintenance and Facilities departments. Yet, despite the clear value of a well-run MRO spare parts storeroom to ensure operating efficiency, it is rarely managed to function at optimal levels. The result is reduced productivity, excessive MRO spare parts expenses and unnecessary waste and downtime.