Low maintenance manufacturing
January 1st 2007

International Automotive Components has reduced downtime through Idhammer Systems' software. A recent study shows that this competitive advantage has not been taken up across UK manufacturing

It was once the case that when there was a breakdown in the plant at the Coleshill operation of International Automotive Components, previously Collins & Aikman, production staff would note it on a blue ticket, carry it across the factory to the workshop, and give it to the shift supervisor who would instruct engineers to carry out the work. The maintenance manager would then log and monitor the job using as many as five different spreadsheets.

But today that time consuming process is a thing of the past at the plant, which makes car carpets for clients including Land Rover. Instead, any breakdowns are now logged at a computer terminal on the factory floor and transmitted direct to the engineers for attention through the Idhammar Systems' computerised maintenance management system.

Furthermore, when there is a breakdown, the remedial action can be assigned automatically using the Windows-based Idhammar system.

In its first six months in operation at the Coleshill site, the system, which is designed to minimise downtime, control costs and manage personnel in a user-friendly manner, flagged up a number of recurring faults which were recently addressed during the plant's annual two-week summer shutdown.

The spare parts carried in the stores are being recorded in the system. Data entry is not yet complete but already the maintenance team has immediate access to details of what parts are in stock and where they are located. This will lead to increased efficiency within the stores operation with reduced investment in stock and fewer stock-outs.

Robin Smith, responsible for introducing the Idhammar System last November when he was acting Maintenance Manager at the site, is confident that the investment, which cost some £13,000, will pay for itself within a year. The cost of the project covered software licences for all modules of the Idhammar System (including Stock Control & Purchasing) with unlimited use across the site, all implementation and training services and support for the first year of operation.

Already downtime has been reduced, and it is no longer routine for extra, overtime shifts to be run late on Friday and throughout the weekends – even though Land Rover has increased its orders to meet high levels of demand.

Smith, who is currently a Project Engineer at IAC, said: "I think we haven't yet scratched the surface of what the Idhammar System can do. It does save a lot of legwork and a lot of paperwork.

"It is a very user-friendly system compared to some of the ones I have seen that are quite complicated." One future development, for example, will see service engineers using handheld PDAs, so that jobs can be sent direct to them.

IAC's proactive approach to preventative maintenance represents the future in a manufacturing environment where increasingly the problem of downtime is being recognised, according to Idhammar Systems. The company recently produced a study, Downtime: Problems, Attitudes and Practices in the Manufacturing Industry, which showed that UK manufacturing's productivity is being held back by the amount of time that plant and machinery is out of operation. And efficiency is not the only 'cost', when downtime hits. Profits and morale also suffer, the report found.

Production directors and maintenance managers from 200 manufacturing companies were interviewed during the research, which found most agreed downtime was a significant problem for their company when vital equipment is not fully functioning. As many as 88% said that downtime always meant lost production time, while more than one fifth of the companies believed that product quality was adversely affected. Forty one per cent also admitted it was outside acceptable levels.

But despite the recognition of the problem, more than half those interviewed admitted that insufficient time had been spent on assessing the effect of downtime on profitability and 31% said that the issue was not discussed at board level. In addition, the survey shows that nearly a quarter of UK manufacturing companies are not currently actively pursuing ways of reducing downtime and 30% have no budgets to support a drive to reduce downtime.

One encouraging sign was that 48% believed that downtime is decreasing in their organisation. In addition companies today are more likely to record downtime, with 93% now recording periods when machinery or systems are down, compared to 78% in 1996 – when Idhammar last carried out a similar study.

Production directors and managers at manufacturing companies are also more likely to recognise the cost to their business of downtime today than ten years ago. In 1996, 33% of respondents did not calculate downtime cost, but this latest survey shows that only 14 per cent are not calculating the full cost of downtime.

Of those that do, however, lost production continues to be the most significant cost of downtime. According to those interviewed, rising downtime 'cost outcomes' include loss of morale, cited by 18% of respondents compared to 2% in 1996 and profitability (53% compared to 44% in 1996).

The key factors seen to prevent downtime reduction were a shortage of skilled operators (43%), followed by unreliable equipment (39%) and insufficient planning of maintenance (33%).

Despite one in three respondents stating that inadequate maintenance planning was a significant cause of downtime, 29% of the organisations involved said they still relied on paper-based rather than computerised maintenance management systems.

Where companies did use computerised maintenance management systems, they found a decrease in factors that might be associated with poor maintenance management such as unreliable equipment, lack of planning and shortage of spare parts.

John Roberts, director of Idhammar Systems, has been advising UK industry for more than 20 years on ways of reducing downtime. He said: "Whilst the findings reveal that awareness of downtime has improved since 1996, as has active management of the issue, there is still a long way to go.

"This survey shows that downtime reduction is critical to business' success.

And in the future managing downtime must be a board-level priority if UK manufacturing firms are to survive within a globally-competitive market.

"Firms such as IAC have gained a truly competitive advantage by tackling the issue of downtime and taking proactive action."

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