A Maintenance Model for Identification, Quantification and Elimination of Losses in Companies Profitability: Application Examples

A production process includes several sub-processes, which may also be called working areas or disciplines that are responsible for performing the different tasks required to accomplish the mission of the process. It is crucial that the tasks performed in these sub-processes are synchronised with each other without unnecessary and uncontrollable gaps and overlapping, which in turn may lead to losses in production time and manpower. It is important to avoid a shortage of resources, unplanned stoppages and idle times that may arise due to the gaps. In this paper gaps are generated due to missing the tasks or inputs that are required because of deficiencies in planning, the lack of responsibilities or of knowledge and experience concerning these inputs. On the other hand, effective synchronising of production-different disciplines will enhance production process effectiveness as well as company profitability and competitiveness. The problem addressed in this paper is: How should maintenance be considered in conjunction with plant activities, such as production, quality and personnel competence, in order to easily and effectively identify and quantify company losses in profitability and competitiveness and consequently to eliminate underlying causes? In this paper the gaps and overlapping between maintenance, production, competence and quality are defined, identified and described through a technical analysis of the production sub-processes and their respective sub-organisations. The major result achieved in this study is the development of a new model (Maintenance Function Deployment (MFD)), for an easy and effective identification and quantification of company losses in profitability and competitiveness for cost-effective elimination of the root-causes. MFD can be applied through identifying: 1. the requirements that are necessary to achieve and maintain company strategic goals, 2. tools to maintain the condition of these requirements, 3. activities for the effective utilisation of the tools above, and 4. the factors required to support the integration of maintenance with plant business for enhancing production process effectiveness as well as company profitability and competitiveness. The structure of the quality house has been used as a platform for developing MFD model for effectively integrating maintenance with production, competence and quality. Two examples are conducted to demonstrate the possibility of applying the model and its potential for enhancing production processes profitably. The main conclusion is: applying MFD gives an enormous opportunity to continuously maintain the quality of the working areas under consideration, which makes MFD one of the company’s objective-driven tools for enhancing its profitability and competitiveness. Also, it implies the application of the PDCA cycle, which in turn improves the integration of relevant working areas cost-effectively and continuously.