Dairy giant Parmalat SA has optimised maintenance procedures and lowered production costs with the use of ON KEY APMS, an asset performance management system designed and implemented by asset performance management specialist PRAGMA Africa.
Low line efficiencies and problematic equipment at Parmalat`s Parow plant in 1999 were indicative of the company`s need to reassess its asset performance programme, which had been monitored by manually recording information drawn from production sheets.
The introduction of the ON KEY APMS`s maintenance management module highlighted three identifiable goals for the plant: to optimise maintenance activity, increase asset performance and incorporate an autonomous maintenance philosophy.
"PRAGMA`s initial objective at Parmalat was to stabilise the performance of plant assets with the long-term goal of continuously improving the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) to a target of 90% and then to sustain the plant performance," says Marthinus Burger, PRAGMA consultant responsible for the Parmalat implementation.
Using equipment manufacturers` schedules, a preventative maintenance system with precise control measures was introduced using the maintenance management module, ensuring accuracy of data collection, enhanced decision-making and optimised maintenance activity.
The ON KEY APMS performance management module was implemented in December 2000 to gauge OEE as a crucial aspect of the complete asset performance management service delivered. Training sessions and various continuous improvement activities were introduced by PRAGMA to reinforce the establishment of a preventative maintenance culture, embedded standard procedures and best practices.
This included optimising the work planning and control procedures using the ON KEY APMS system and carrying out thorough analyses to establish the root causes of problems and conducting failure evaluations on breakdowns.
Real-time online OEE measurements were necessary in order to improve data reliability and shorten reaction times. ON KEY Monitor was used, in conjunction with the necessary instrumentation and specific human machine interfaces (HMIs) to allow for the immediate availability of failure and performance data.
"In forging a lasting relationship with PRAGMA, Parmalat Cape Town has been able to implement a comprehensive asset performance improvement plan, increase asset performance and ultimately increase OEEs to record levels. This has improved efficiency at the plant, reduced production costs and enhanced delivery of quality products," says Neels Bastiaanse, site manager at Parmalat Parow.
The success at Parmalat`s Parow plant has seen the implementation of the ON KEY APMS at all of Parmalat`s six plants around the country.
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