Planned maintenance systems with respect to modern manufacturing strategies

Abstract

To remain competitive in todays's increasingly automated environment, manufacturing industry must take a more proactive and strategic attitude towards maintenance. This thesis applies these concepts, as a case study? to Philips Components Durham an advanced manufacturing unit for colour television tubes. Consideration is first given to modern manufacturing strategies and the business objectives which the maintenance strategy must support. Recent organisational changes are then discussed and analysis made of the maintenance information systems infrastructure. Having related the maintenance department functional requirements to proprietary equipment management packages, the area of machine breakdown data collection is further discussed. To address the need for improved feedback on machine performance, a shop floor data collection and analysis system (Equipment Utilisation Improvement system) has been developed and commissioned. This system now provides more accurate and detailed information than was previously available. A further success of this system is that, as a pilot project, the system has highlighted many organisational and technical issues. These must be addressed before a more comprehensive equipment management package could be successfully implemented. Based on the knowledge gained from the implementation of this system, recommendations are made on the responsibilities for maintenance tasks, appropriate training for maintenance personnel and the further development of information systems to support the maintenance function.