Preventive maintenance process opportunities

An annual target-setting process for operational improvements needs to be established. Very specific targets have to be set for each plant and production unit, that in sum will allow the overall company target to be achieved. The process should start with a top-down target for cost savings, followed by bottom-up action and milestone plans. The improvement opportunities could be reductions in annual plant downtime to below ten percent per year as a sum of numerous measures derived from observations on the shop floor, i.e., reduction of downtime for specific vacuum pumps via preventive maintenance or substitution of a repairintensive pump by one more suited to the process step. 

Many opportunities can be used to get employees involved in the safety process. For example, to promote employee involvement, you can ask them to be involved in the development of hazard assessment, inspections, preventative maintenance, training, emergency response, and loss-producing reporting systems. 

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