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THE MANAGEMENT OF ROUTINE
MAINTENANCE COSTS

b y
John D. Maultsby III

Submitted to

D1. Gardner Jones

 

 

 

 

321 93 01405 3429

LIBRARY
MICHIGAN STATE

 

UNIVERSITY

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TO AVOID F

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DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE

 

 

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THE MANAGEMENT OF ROUTINE MAINTENANCE COSTS

A Thesis submitted to

BUICK-OLDSMOBILE—PONTIAC ASSEMBLY PLANT IN KANSAS CITY

GENERAL MOTORS INSTITUTE
and

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

by
John D. Maultsby III

June 4, 1965

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FORWARD

This thesis is being written to fulfill the joint re-
quirements of the General Motors Graduate Fellowship Program
and the Bachelor-Master Fifth Year Plan of General Motors
Institute. I am sponsored on the above fellowship by the
Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac Assembly Plant of KansasCity,
hereafter referred to as BOPKC. The thesis subject was
selected by Mr. B. C. Carter, Plant Engineer at BOPKC, and
myself in order to investigate the area of estimating routine
maintenance costs. The thesis is intended as a purely aca-
demic study of the problem area.

This thesis is being written to specifically aid BOPKC.
But, the results could be equally applied to any Maintenance
Department of a similar organization. The thesis is intended
to be used as a reference in establishing a better mainten-
ance cost accounting system.

I have been in the cooperative engineering program of
General Motors Institute since 1960. During this period of
time I have spent the majority of my work periods working in
the Plant Engineering Department. Upon acceptance of this

thesis by General Motors Institute and completion of the

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program requirements on July 28, 1965, at Michigan State
University,I will receive jointly a Bachelor's Degree in
Electrical Engineering from General Motors Institute and a
Master's Degree in Business Administration from Michigan
State University. I wish to thank Mr. B. C. Carter, Plant
Engineer at BOPKC, Mr. Bill Lemmer, Works Engineer for the
Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac Assembly Division, and Dr. Gardner
Jones, Professor of Accounting, the author's thesis advisor
at Michigan State University, for their guidance and advice

in preparing this thesis.

iii

II.

III.

IV.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . .
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Timekeeping System . . . . . . .

Routine Equipment Replacement and
Maintenance System Recommendations .

Forecasting the 54000 Series Accounts

iv

Page

14

39

69

Figure

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

XII.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Title

Mark Sensing Card Styles . . . . . . .
Work Classification . . . . . . . . . .
Assignment/Exception Card . . . . . . .
New Employee Assignment/Exception Card
Breakdown Report . . . . . . . . . . .

Mortality Curves for 40W Fluorescent
Lamps 0 O O 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O 0

Paint Department Mezzanine Fluorescent
Light ing 0 I O O O O O O O O O O I O 0

Group Relamping Analysis--Spray Booth
Type No. l . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Group Relamping Analysis--Spray Booth
Type No. 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Group Relamping Analysis--Area Lighting

Fluorescent Tube Replacement Costs . .

Electric Motor Spare Parts Recommendations.

Page

20
25
31
32

34

42

45

46

47
48

50

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THE MANAGEMENT OF ROUTINE MAINTENANCE COSTS
I . INTRODUCTION

In today's rapidly advancing technology, complicated
mechanical aids to production are becoming quite common-
place. As such mechanical equipment is installed in a plant,
routine maintenance costs tend to rise. These routine
maintenance costs are comprised of the following categories:

A. Plant utilities such as compressed air and heating.

B. Maintenance required to keep the existing equipment

operational.

C. Production aids and alterations to existing equipment.

D. Emergency breakdowns.

The purpose of this thesis is to suggest improved pro-
cedures and methods of managing and forecasting routine
maintenance costs.

In estimating the maintenance required to keep the
existing equipment operational, three questions need to be
answered. First, what equipment should require maintenance
and how often should the equipment require maintenance?
Second, how many man hours will be required to perform the

maintenance functions? Third, what new equipment or parts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

will be required to keep the equipment operational? The
first and third of these questions involve equipment main-
tenance and replacement. The second question involves
accurate engineering estimates of a project's labor cost.
The existing maintenance timekeeping system requires the
foreman to charge each employee's time to the appropriate
accounts at the end of each shift. The promary objection
to the existing system is that a particular employee gener-
ally works on many jobs during the day. Many of these jobs,
which the employee works on, are done without the foreman's
knowledge. This autonomous employee behavior is necessary
to insure immediate and prompt attention to emergency break-
downs. Therefore, it is almost impossible for a foreman to
charge accurately each employee's time to the proper account.
There is a further phenomenon of the existing estimating and
maintenance timekeeping system which needs to be mentioned.
When an employee works on a preventive maintenance job, and
the employee's time is charged to a project account, the book
value of the labor charge is 71% higher than the value it
should be due to the inclusion of plant burden in the charge
to the project account. A possible reason for charging the
routine maintenance time to the project account is the

existence of an unrealistically low routine maintenance

 

 

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budget. It is the author's contention that such a cause is
not uncommon in industry today. One author, in a trade
journal, stated, "It is only natural that preventive main-
tenance becomes a primary target when a company finds itself
in the middle of a profit squeeze."l But, such maintenance
has to be done to keep the plant running, regardless of
whether it was anticipated or not. Thus, the engineering
estimates of a project's cost can be grossly in error, even
though the estimate was a good one. If such a system oper-
ated for a considerable length of time, the engineering
estimates would become inflated to cover the expected phantom
charges to a project account.

There are two components of routine maintenance costs
which will not be discussed in detail in this thesis. They
are as follows:

A. Plant utilities such as compressed air and heating.

B. Emergency breakdowns.

Plant utilities can be estimated accurately by careful engi—
neering analyses. Such an estimate has been no problem in
the past and therefore it is not felt by the author that an
analysis of the past forecasting technique need be undertaken.
It is the author's contention that the incidence of many

kinds of emergency breakdowns can be predicted reasonably

 

 

 

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III

accurately. Thus the cure of such a condition would then
become preventive maintenance and not an emergency breakdown.
It is granted that some emergency breakdowns cannot be
anticipated. Such breakdowns are of a purely random nature
and are therefore not subject to any forecasting technique.
However, if accurate data as to the cost of these random
breakdowns are kept, then an analysis can be undertaken to
determine the expected cost of such random breakdowns. But
the existing timekeeping system provides no way to measure
accurately the actual maintenance manpower expended to repair
an emergency breakdown.

At the present time, reports of the expenditure status
of all projects are prepared periodically by the Accounting
Department. These reports are prepared for the purpose of
informing the Accounting Department of projects which are
overdrawn. If a project is overdrawn an estimate revision
is requested. The Plant Engineering Department is then asked
to justify the revision. These status reports are very
necessary for effective cost control and it is felt by both
the author and Mr. Carter that such reports should be issued
more frequently if a lower cost method of generating the
reports could be found.

As has been previously stated, the production aids and

alterations to existing equipment are a part of the routine
maintenance budget. These routine costs are accumulated in
the 54000 series accounts. The last two digits of the ac-
count number give the number of the department which the
account is for. For instance, the 54011 account would be
for department number eleven. The standard procedure for
the use of this account is as follows:2
"Charge this account with the labor and material for

the maintenance and repair of machinery and equipment

which also includes costs for production aids and alter-

ations to existing equipment."
It is theorized by the author that the yearly expenditures
on the 54000 series accounts, by department, are a direct
function of the sum of all work performed during model change
for each department. If this hypothesis is true, the budget
for the 54000 series accounts would be easy to obtain, know-
ing the model change and project appropriations for a par-
ticular department.

Therefore, in order to forecast a routine maintenance
budget, three preliminary studies must be undertaken. First,
a timekeeping system needs to be developed in order to eval-
uate and estimate better the labor cost of routine mainten-

ance and emergency repair. Second, a review of the latest

equipment replacement and breakdown forecasting techniques

needs to be undertaken in order to know what, how, and when
equipment should be maintained. Third, a study must be un-
dertaken to determine the feasibility of forecasting the
charges to the 54000 series accounts by use of the model
change and project appropriations for a particular department.

The primary objective of the timekeeping system study is
to develop a system which will better indicate how mainten-
ance time is really used. This will therefore lead to more
accurate accounting of labor charges.

The objective of the equipment replacement and repair
section is to illustrate proposals for maintenance economy.
In some cases these proposals may increase routine mainten-
ance costs but this increase will be more than offset by a
reduction in emergency breakdown costs.

The initial objective of the section on forecasting the
54000 series accounts was to verify the use of downtime
charges as a lead indicator. However, since the historical
charges to the 54000 series accounts do not accurately re-
flect the charges described in the account description (page
5), the objective of this section will be to discuss the
forecasting methodology.

The order of reporting in this thesis will be the Con-

clusions followed by the three developing sections, in the

respective order described in the previous paragraphs.

This thesis is intended as an academic study of the
problem areas previously described. The results will be
designed specifically for use by the Plant Engineering
Department at BOPKC. The views expressed in Section III
of this thesis are somewhat opposed to those expressed in
a paper entitled Statistical Maintenance Control, published
by the Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac Assembly Plant of Wilmington,
Delaware. Section III of this thesis will explain in detail
the reasons for the author's viewpoints and conclusions in

regard to this conflict.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

for the
Introduction
1. Reece, William A., "Preventive Maintenance: Basically
It's Work," Plant Engineering, May, 1962, pp. 147-

 

148.

2. Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac Assembly Division at Kansas
City, Standard Procedure 39, lgr-Revised, October,
1961. pg. 3.

II . CONCLUSIONS

The conclusions are presented in this section of the
thesis in the same order in which they were developed in the
body of the thesis. Illustrations which are contained in
the body of the thesis will be referenced to the conclusions
only when such illustrations are necessary for complete
understanding of the conclusions.

The conclusions regarding changes in the existing main-
tenance timekeeping and records system are as follows:

A. A timekeeping system should be established on

the assignment—exception principle. The foreman will
fill out the Assignment Cards whenever an employee is
assigned to a job and the employees will fill out the
Exception Cards whenever they deviate from their
assigned work. The labor charges to a given account
for a given employee are obtained by subtracting the
exceptions from the assignments for a given day. It
is recommended that mark sensing data processing
cards be used for the Assignment/Exception Cards and
an example of the layout of such a card is shown in

Figure III, page 31.

10

B. A feasibility recommendation to the above (A)
involves the addition of a Breakdown Report and the
principle of using the maintenance dispatcher to
assign maintenance employees to emergency breakdowns.
The maintenance dispatcher would then fill out the
Exception Cards for the employees which were assigned
to work on the emergency breakdown. The Breakdown
Report (Figure V, page 34) would provide a record of
the breakdown, and the number of the Breakdown Report
recorded on the Exception Cards would provide a sys-
tem whereby the actual cost of an emergency breakdown
could be determined.

C. It is further recommended that a report, showing
the status of all active Plant Work Orders, be gener-
ated daily by the data processing department using
the Assignment/Exception Cards. No key punching would
be necessary due to the use of the mark sensing cards.
Such a report should list, for each project, the
estimate, current charges, time remaining, and the
per cent of the estimated time currently expended.

The conclusions regarding the replacement and maintenance

of plant equipment are as follows:

11

Group relamping should be performed in any area
of the plant where the fluorescent lamp cost is less
than $1.32 and only one maintenance employee is re-
quired to replace a given lamp. In areas where two
maintenance employees are required to replace a given
lamp, group relamping should be undertaken whenever
the cost of the fluorescent lamp is less than $3.04.

Every three months the winding insulation resist-
ance should be measured and recorded on all motors of
critical status which are located at or below floor
level in the plant. Critical electric motors which
are above the plant floor level should have their
insulation resistance measured and recorded on a
semi-annual basis.

Lubrication of all mechanical equipment should
be carried out according to the equipment manufac-
turer's recommendations.

The alignment of all critical sprockets, load
carrying devices, chains, take-ups, and similar parts
should be visually inspected quarter—annually. Fur-
thermore, these items should be critically checked
for wear and all critical gears and impellers checked

for their respective lash and cavitation wear annually.

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E. It is recommended that all critical timing and
"V" belts be group replaced to insure the impossi-
bility of belt failure on conveyor drives and pumps.
F. It is recommended that hourly employees be judi-
ciously selected and assigned to the inspection and
preventive maintenance program and that their duties
in this area should not be compromised. The Break-
down Report and the Exception Card should be used to
accrue the cost data necessary to evaluate the success
of the inspection and preventive maintenance program.
After the initiation of the recommended timekeeping system
it is theorized that the charges to the routine maintenance
accounts will tend to be higher and the charges to project
accounts will be lower. It is therefore recommended that
another method of forecasting the 54000 series accounts be
obtained to make use of a lead indicator rather than histori-
cal data. It is theorized that the charges into the 54000
series accounts, after the initiation of the timekeeping
system recommendations, will have a high degree of correla-
tion with the total of all model change work and project work
performed in a given department during the downtime period.
It is therefore recommended that data be gathered, after the

timekeeping system has been changed, to test the feasibility

13

of using the total downtime charges for a given department
as a lead indicator to forecast the budget for the 54000
series accounts for the coming year.

The final recommendation of this thesis is that, in
order to best test and put into effect the previous recom-
mendations, a group should be comprised of the emergency
crew and the employees assigned to the preventive mainten-
ance and inspection program to serve as a test group for the
new timekeeping system. The foreman of this group should be
the person in charge of the preventive maintenance program.
The reason for this is that the prevention and repair of
emergency breakdowns would be best coordinated in this way.
Furthermore, such a grouping of employees would provide pre—
cise cost measurement of emergency breakdowns and the effec-

tiveness of the inspection and preventive maintenance program.

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III. THE TIMEKEEPING SYSTEM

There are as many successful timekeeping systems in
existence today as there are successful firms. Each time-
keeping system being used has been adapted to the needs of
each individual firm. It is the purpose of this section of
the thesis to illustrate the logic behind any_timekeeping
system and to introduce several maintenance timekeeping
schemes that have been used elsewhere. Furthermore, a
maintenance timekeeping system will be proposed for BOPKC,
utilizing the compatible ideas of other timekeeping systems.
After such a suitable system has been proposed, its use will
be demonstrated.

It is felt by the author and Mr. Carter that a new time-
keeping system should have the following characteristics:

A. No new employee training required.

B. The employee's integrity should not be questioned.

C. The employee's efficiency should not be questioned.

D. Clerical time should be at a minimum.

E. The system should be easy to initiate.

The difficulty with the existing system is that it is

practically impossible for the foreman to know accurately

l4

15

the time spent by each man on each job. If the foreman were
to keep track of such time accurately it is theorized that a
full time clerk would be necessary for each foreman. The
lOgical way to eliminate this difficulty is to let each
maintenance employee keep his own individual time record.
There are two basic methods by which this can be accomplished.

The first of these basic methods will be called the daily
report method. In this method each employee fills out a form
daily on which he posts the hours worked and the jobs worked
on. At the end of each day the employee submits the daily
report to the foreman for approval and checking. After the
foreman verifies the report it is submitted to data processing
for key punching. Data processing generates daily reports
showing the status of all active jobs. The daily reports
are retained for analysis of individual job times by the
Maintenance Department. The Republic Aviation Corporation,
of Farmingdale, New Jersey, now uses such a system in com-
bination with a work order system, similar to BOPKC's, and
they are quite satisfied with the results.

The second basic method will be called the job card
method. In this method every job worked on by each man re—
quires a separate form or job card. The employee fills out

such a job card at the end of each job worked on. At the

16

end of each day the employee submits the job cards to the
foreman for approval and checking. After the foreman veri-
fies the cards, the cards are submitted to data processing
for key punching. If "mark sensing" cards are used then the
cards may be automatically punched. Data Processing then
generates daily reports showing the status of all active
jobs. The job cards are then returned to the Maintenance
Department for interpretation of the individual job times.
The Bendix Corporation, of Kansas City, Missouri, uses such
a system in conjunction with an elaborate preventive main-

2 . . .
tenance program. The contributions of their systsm are
congruent with the desires of this thesis and are as follows:

A. "Advance warning of those projects which are
close to being over-expended. This has allowed
Facilities Engineering necessary time for requesting
supplemental funds without stopping . . . or over-
expending . . . the project."

B. "Availability of more accurate data so that
statistics can be accumulated and studies made to
determine the accuracy of past work estimates. Im-
proved estimating of projects has resulted."

C. "Knowledge of actual manpower requirements for
each type of maintenance work. This information is
essential in forecasting personnel requirements for
each type of maintenance work."

D. "An up-to-date report showing daily progress of
projects. This report provides our maintenance
manager, his superintendents, general foremen, and

shop foremen with current knowledge of the perform—
ance of their workers."

17

E. "A reduction of over-all operating costs for
our Division of more than $14,000.00 per year."

F. "Faster and more accurate reports for the
Accounting Department."

G. "Reduction in timekeeping effort. Timekeeping
personnel are no longer required to manually post
hours to the proper payroll account."

The IBM Corporation, in Rochester, New York, also uses this
job card method for their maintenance department, integrated
with a computer maintenance scheduling procedure.

As a concrete example of the mechanics involved in any
daily report or job card system, a system developed by George
Meyers, formerly with the Boston firm of Ernst and Ernst,
Certified Public Accountants, will be detailed. This system
is entitled an "Earned Hour Control Plan" and is basically a
daily report type of system. The timekeeping system is one
in which an employee punches a time card (daily report) upon
starting work and every time a new job is started. The job
number is recorded by the employees on the time card as each
new job is started. The time worked on a job is obtained by
subtracting the starting time from the starting time for the
following job. It is reported that this system works quite
well and is now in use by several New England firms.

All of the previous timekeeping systems, in their pure

18

form, have distinct disadvantages for application at BOPKC.

These disadvantages are itemized as follows:

A.

The employee would be responsible for account—
ing for every minute in the work day. It is felt by
the author that this requirement would be viewed by
employees as demonstrating a loss of faith in them,
and therefore, that their integrity would be in ques—
tion. Such a new requirement would be detrimental to
employer-employee relations; it would not meet one
of the necessary criteria for any new timekeeping
system being developed.

Using either the daily report or the job card
system the employee would (the author assumes) tend
to feel that his efficiency was in question by man-
agement. Since the previous system did not involve
individual efficiency checks, it is assumed that the
initiating of such a checking procedure would result
in poor employer-employee relations. Furthermore,
such a system, if it is viewed as an efficiency check,
would encourage employees to "adjust" their reported
times to conceal inefficiencies. Therefore, such a
system would tend to be self-destructing when applied

to this particular case. Since the appearance of

19

such an efficiency check has been defined as unde—
sirable, the avoidance of such an accurate efficiency
check will become one of the criteria for the pro-
posed timekeeping system.

It is felt by the author that the major employee
complaint associated with either the daily report
system or the job card system would be that of ex-
cessive time involved in filling out the forms. Such
a complaint is valid, and is a by-product of the
installation of any new bureaucratic system. Since
the effort expended on individual timekeeping could
become significant in the aggregate, the minimizing
of such employee clerical time will become one of the
criteria for the proposed timekeeping system.

Both the daily report system and the job card
system would require key punching time, unless mark-
sensing cards are used. The obvious way to eliminate
the key punch time is to use mark-sensing cards. IBM
defines the mark-sensing process as follows:

"Mark sensing is based on the principle that a
pencil mark can conduct electricity. This necessi-
tates a special lead with a high graphite content.
The mark-sensing device reads pencil marks on the

cards and punches the corresponding holes in any
desired columns."

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An example of the styles of mark sensing cards
available is shown in Figure I.

The savings resulting from data processing of
the project status reports is not large but the
non—monetary advantages of such a system should be
kept in mind. Such non-monetary advantages are
daily knowledge of a project's status and accurate
knowledge of the work expended on a given project.
A rough data processing cost analysis is as follows:

Daily Hourly Daily
Time Rate Cost

 

Estimated data processing time:
1. Sorting
2. Collating
3. Accounting machine
4. Printing 1/3 hr $60.00* $20.00

Estimated previousciericaltjme:
1. Foreman
2. Maintenance clerk

3. Previous reporting time 5rmj* $ 4.50 §22.50
Net daily savings $ 2.50
Total yearly savings (200 work days/yr) $500.00

*$60.00/hr data processing cost based on estimate
from IBM Corporation.

**Clerical time estimate based on the author's past
observations.

22

The reason that this cost analysis shows a net sav-
ings is that the key punching time is omitted. Key
punching could not be omitted for the daily report
method as the use of mark—sensing is impossible due
to the amount of data needed for a daily report. It
should be kept in mind that the mark-sensing process
would only work with the job card system because a
maximum of 27 columns of information is all a mark-
sensing card will hold. Therefore, the criterion of
economy must be taken into account when considering
a proposed timekeeping system.

A distinct disadvantage of either the daily
report system or the job card system is that the
employees must record the job numbers on the forms.
In the past the employees have never needed to know
the job numbers that they are working on. There-
fore, a certain amount of training will be necessary
if one of these two systems is used. Since further
training of the employees was defined as undesirable,
employee training must be kept to a minimum for the
proposed timekeeping system.

The last disadvantage applies only to the job

card method. Employees performing a considerable

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number of jobs every day, such as an area mainten-
ance employee, would have a considerable bulk of job
cards to turn in at the end of each day. This bulk
of cards would further require a longer time for the
foreman to verify. Therefore, a further criterion
of the proposed timekeeping system is that it should
keep the volume of forms required to a minimum to
insure against loss and haphazard checking.
Before proceeding with the development of a proposed
timekeeping system, it is the author's belief that a standard
cost system should be discussed. Literature in the trade

journals, such as Plant Engineering and Mill g Factory, has

 

abounded, as of late, with articles testifying that a stand-
ard cost system is the ultimate system for maintenance esti—
mating and accounting. This, it is granted, is true. But,
it should be kept in mind that the firms advocating the use
of such a standard cost system are of the manufacturing, not,
assembly, type of organization. Thus, the maintenance func-
tions performed by such companies are generally of a routine
nature and are therefore subject to repetitive labor cost
data accumulation. It is granted, that a standard cost sys—
tem would be the ultimate in estimating and evaluating

maintenance performance. But, this is not the degree of

 

24

control over the employees that is desired.

The reasons that a standard cost system of this type is
not recommended are twofold. First, the initiation of such
a system requires an extensive incremental timekeeping pro-
cedure which, it is felt by the author, would be an unnec-
essary bureaucratic expense. Secondly, it is felt that the
measurement and evaluation of the efficiencies of the main-
tenance personnel could be interpreted as a loss of faith in
the employees by maintenance management. This is due to the
fact that the employees have been thoroughly trusted and not
critically supervised as to their efficiency in the past.

It is therefore recommended that a standard cost system be
avoided in this case, due to criteria established for a

workable timekeeping proposal.

The Timekeepinngroposal
The timekeeping system proposed for use by the Mainten-
ance Department of BOPKC can best be described by coining a
phrase. That phrase is "Timekeeping by exception."
To keep accurate account of the labor expended on any
job, there are only four general account classifications

which need to be distinguished. They are as follows:

A. Routine or Preventive Maintenance

B. Production "Aids and Improvements"

25

C. Emergency Repair

D. Project Work (includes Rearrangements)

What is desired is a classification of work as to
whether it is an assignment or an exception. Figure II

shows this breakdown for several maintenance trades.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Code: P = Primary or Assigned Work
E = Exception Work
Routine or Production Emergency 'Project
Preventive "Aids" Repair Work
Emergency Crew E P P E
Shop Welder E P E P
Area Millwright P P E E
Shop Electrician E E P E
Pipefitter E P E P

 

Figure II: Work Classification

As an example of the interpretation of the above chart the
emergency crew rarely does routine, preventive, or project
work and generally performs emergency repair work in the
plant and production "aids" when in the shop.

The proposed method of accounting for the time expended
on the four types of work is a modified job card system

using mark—sensing cards. The proposed system utlizes the

following procedure:

26

A. An employee's foreman would fill out an assign-
ment card every time an employee is assigned to a
job or starts to work at the beginning of a shift.

B. Whenever an employee is directed to, or felt it
is necessary to deviate from an assignment, an ex-
ception card would be filled out by the employee.

C. To obtain the charges against a job for a given
employee the exceptions would be subtracted from the
assignment.

The primary advantages of the proposed system are two-
fold. First, an open system exists from the employee point
of View. In this system the employee is not required to
account for every minute in the work day. Only the excep-
tions to his assignments need be reported. Therefore, the
employee's integrity and efficiency are not directly ques-
tioned. The logic behind the statement of the employee‘s
efficiency not being in question is the assumption that jobs
that are of an exception nature are not subject to efficiency
analysis. This logic should be stressed when explaining the
purpose of the new timekeeping system to the employees in
order to assure a high degree of cooperation. Furthermore,
this philosophy of not using the system to check efficiency

for repremanding purposes must b§_enforced. If it is not,

 

 

 

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~

27

then personal bias can be introduced for individual gains.
The second primary advantage of this proposed timekeeping
system is that it accomplishes the objectives of account
classification separation with a minimum of paperwork and
forms. This is accomplished by having the foreman report

the assignments and having the employee report the exceptions
to these assignments.

The disadvantages of the proposed timekeeping system are
also twofold. First, if an employee has more than one daily
assignment it will be difficult to determine which assignment
to subtract the exception from. This difficulty could be
eliminated by having the employee punch in and punch out at
a time clock for all exceptions, but it is felt by the author
that such a method could be interpreted as a check of effi-
ciency. The second disadvantage is that this system will
require a certain amount of employee training. But, it should
be kept in mind, every new system requires training. It is
felt by the author that this system will place a smaller
training demand on the employees than any other equivalent
system.

Therefore, two basic forms need to be developed here.
They are the Assignment Card and the Exception Card. The

information required on both of these card types is as follows:

1. Employee Badge Number

2. Shift (1,2,3)

3. Trade

0040601
0

Millwright
Welder
Electrician
Pipefitter
Other

4. Type of Work

a. Emergency Repair
b. Production "Aids or Improvements"
c. Routine or Preventive Maintenance
d. Project Work
5. If 4-a, 4-b, or 4-c the plant department number is
needed. If 4-c the Plant Work Order number is needed.

6. The fact that whether the job was performed before
lunch or after lunch should be noted.

7. The time expended on the job should be recorded to
the nearest tenth of an hour (six minutes).

The badge number, name, shift, and trade of the employee

could be punched into the cards by a gang punching procedure.

The employee would then be issued a stack of these cards with

his individual information pre-punched in order to reduce the

time required to fill out one of the cards.

In order to insure the soundness of the argument for this

system it is the opinion of the author that the inclusion of

the department number and the Plant Work Order (hereafter

referred to as PWO) number should be discussed. At BOPKC

28

5°!

9.

 

29

the departments of the plant are normally referred to by
number instead of by name. The individual department num-
bers are a part of the present maintenance employee's jar-
gon. From past experience, it is the author's belief that
very rarely will an employee work on a project as an excep—
tion to his regular assignment. The general case is that a
foreman will assign an employee to a project. This general
case will result in little difficulty as the foreman, at the
present time, is familiar with such PWO numbers. To provide
an added margin of safety to this special case it is recom-
mended that the Plant Engineering Department adopt the policy
of recording the PWO number on each and every engineering
drawing that pertains to that PWO. This will allow the
employee to have easy access to the number in case a project
is worked on as an exception to an assignment.

The reason that the information of before lunch or after
lunch is needed, is to help eliminate the previously
described disadvantage of knowing which assignment to sub—
tract the exception from. Only exceptions which occurred
before lunch would be subtracted from the before lunch
assignment. Whenever two or more assignments occur either
before or after lunch an arbitrary decision such as dividing

the exception time equally among the assignments should be

used.

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

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30

It is recommended that the only distinctions between
the format of the Assignment Cards and the Exception Cards
be that of the title printed at the top of the card, the color
of the cards, and an identifying punch in either the Assign-
ment Card or the Exception Card. An example of the format
recommended is shown as Figure III. This format has the
employee's identifying data pre-punched, as is shown. In
some cases a new employee or a part time employee, such as
those used during model change, would need an assignment card.
The format for such a card, where the employee's identifying
data could not be pre—punched, is shown as Figure IV.

No discussion has yet been made of fulfilling the objec-
tive, as stated in the Introduction, of obtaining more accu-
rate job times for future estimating and budgeting purposes.
The proposed system, as previously detailed, will allow accu-
rate accounting of the labor charges to accounts, but it will
not make individual job time data easy to accrue. The pro-
posed system will not keep accurate records of the breakdown
records of equipment and conveyors. Also the Emergency Crew,
which performs a multitude of repair jobs daily, would either
have to turn in a large volume of cards, to take into account
every repair job, or turn in one card for the work day which

would not give an accurate account of the breakdown charges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In order to overcome all of the above mentioned disadvan-
tages of the proposed system an alternate method of record-
ing the time data will be presented.

Before such a further flexibility recommendation is
made, the existing method of reporting emergency breakdowns
will be outlined. The procedure now used is that the emer—
gency repairs are phoned in from their location in the plant
to a maintenance dispatcher. The dispatcher then makes a
note of the breakdown on a notepad. An emergency breakdown
can be best defined as a need for immediate repair. The
dispatcher then either assigns an employee or group of em-
ployees to the repair of the breakdown or, for less serious
repair needs, reports the need for repair to a foreman of a
particular maintenance trade. The note which the dispatcher
made on the notepad is then placed in a box for later review.
When the dispatcher does assign employees to go to the scene
of an emergency breakdown the time the breakdown is repaired
is usually reported back to the dispatcher for preparation
of a downtime (lack of production due to equipment breakdown)
report.

This flexibility recommendation involves two basic steps.
First, a form should be devised for the use of the mainten-

ance dispatcher in recording emergency breakdown reports.

~§

 

 

MAINTENANCE REQUEST NO. 000113

 

 

 

 

Date: Reported by:
Time: , Department:
Description:

Action Taken:

 

 

 

Figure V: Breakdown Report (Full Size)

The form need only be of small notepad size, or better yet
of the three inch by five inch size. This would make the
form suitable for filing. The form should provide space for
the department number, the time, the description of the dif-
ficulty, and the action taken. The breakdown report forms
should be consecutively numbered to aid the recommended
second step. An example of such a form is shown as Figure V.
Secondly, the dispatcher would be made responsible for fill-
ing out the the Exception Cards for the employees which were
assigned to repair the emergency breakdown. On the Exception
Card, the number of the breakdown report should be noted to
provide for easier after—the—fact interpretation by mainten—

ance supervisors. In having the dispatcher fill out all the

34

 

 

 

 

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35

Exception Cards associated with emergency breakdowns over
fifty per cent of the exceptions are accounted for. This
also eliminates the problem of timekeeping for the emergency
crew as the forms required to account accurately for their
time are being handled by the dispatcher.

The primary disadvantages of this system of more detailed
maintenance timekeeping and breakdown accounting are twofold.
First, there is a heavier work load placed upon the dispatcher.
Secondly, all maintenance employees working on a breakdown
must be sure to report in to the dispatcher. These advan-
tages must be weighed in relation to the advantages derived
from the closer control. The advantages of such a dispatcher
oriented system are also twofold. First, only skilled em-
ployees, namely the dispatcher, would be filling out most of
the forms. Secondly, there would be a definite advantage of
tighter control and more accurate breakdown cost information.
Such an advantage is significant in terms of accurately know-
ing the costs of emergency breakdowns. The Breakdown Report
could be fileCi as a permanent record of the discrepancy for
future analysis of preventive maintenance needed and produc-
tion costs.

To offer proof of the feasibility of this flexibility

recommendation attention will be called to the maintenance

36

control system which the Maytag Corporation uses at their

5 . .
washer assembly plant. Maytag uses a dispatcher With

breakdown assignment and timekeeping responsibilities in

combination with a part central and part zone maintenance

organization.

The recommendation of "timekeeping by exception" and

the flexibility recommendation can be summarized as follows:

A.

A timekeeping system should be established based on
the assignment-exception principle. The foreman will
fill out the Assignment Cards and the employees will
fill out the Exception Cards whenever they deviate
from their assigned work. The labor charges to a
given account for a given employee are obtained by
subtracting the exceptions from the assignments for
a given day.

The feasibility recommendation in this thesis
involves the addition of a Breakdown Report and the
principle of using the dispatcher to assign mainten—
ance employees to emergency breakdowns and also to
fill out the Exception Cards for these employees
assigned to the breakdowns.

It is recommended that a report, showing the

status of all active PWO's, be generated daily. Such

a report should list, for each project, the esti-

mate, current charges, the time remaining, and the

per cent of the estimated time currently expended.

It is the author's belief that this proposed system will

be a substantial improvement over the existing system with
no appreciable increase in cost of control. When this time-
keeping system is combined with an effective method of record
keeping for emergency breakdowns and preventive maintenance
costs, forecasting of future maintenance budget requirements
will no longer be a guess or a past experience judgment. It
is recognized that modifications of the proposal will have
to be made as trial of the system progresses. But, it is
felt by the author, that this system of maintenance time-

keeping will provide a sound base from which to progress.

38

BIBLIOGRAPHY
for

The Timekeeping System

Fuchs, Sheldon, and Harris, Nick G., E“'Reports Keep
Watchful Eye on Maintenance Costs,” Plant Engi-
neering, August, 1964, pp. 114-117.

Jackson, John S., ”Controlling Maintenance by Data
Processing," Plant Engineering, January, 1963, pp.
108-110.

IBM Corporation, ”Plant Maintenance Scheduling at IBM
Rochester,“ Application Brief Booklet A, published
by the IBM Corporation, White Plains, New York,

pg. 2.

IBM Corporation, "IBM 519 Document—Originating Machine,"
Reference Manual M, published by the IBM Corporation,
White Plains, New York, pg. 35.

IV. ROUTINE EQUIPMENT REPLACEMENT AND MAINTENANCE
SYSTEM RECOMMENDATIONS

The main manufacturing building of BOPKC covers approx-
imately 43 acres. This area is virtually covered with a
conveyor complex and a materials handling complex. It is
beyond the scope of this report to try to prescribe the
proper replacement and maintenance recommendations for each
and every piece of equipment in the plant. Therefore,
selected examples will be taken from the equipment in the
plant to illustrate some new equipment replacement and
maintenance analysis techniques. It will be the author's
intent to select such analysis techniques which have very
broad application possibilities. To the best of the author's
knowledge, none of the recommended analysis techniques are
now in use by BOPKC. The order of presentation in this sec-
tion of the thesis will be a group relamping analysis, for
the Paint Department mezzanine, followed by an analysis of
maintenance techniques as applied to conveyor drives and
motorupump sets.
Application I: Fluorescent Lamps

It would be ideal to have equipment in the plant which

would operate at 100% efficiency for a specified length of

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40

time and then fall apart, having no salvage value. Equip-
ment, with operating characteristics of this type, is quite
uncommon. A piece of equipment, which is of this type, is
the fluorescent lighting tube or lamp.

In order to illustrate the logic used in replacing
equipment similar to fluorescent lamps, an analysis will be
undertaken for the Paint Department mezzanine of BOPKC.
Fluorescent tubes, on the mezzanine, are located in paint
spray booths and in the ceiling panels. The fluorescent
lamps in the paint spray booths will be referred to as booth
lighting while the fluorescent tubes located in ceiling fix—
tures will be referred to as area lighting. The idea pro-
posed is to replace all of the fluorescent tubes at one time.
Then, as the tubes burn out, they are replaced one by one.
After a predetermined percentage of the tubes have burned
out then the entire group of fluorescent tubes is to be re—
placed again. Such a procedure is called group relamping.

It is hypothesized that such a group relamping procedure will
save money. The logic behind this hypothesis is as follows:1
"Group relamping is chosen in place of individual
relamping as it costs very little in labor per lamp. On
the other hand, the labor required to replace one lamp

at a time frequently costs more than the lamp being re—

placed. If a group relamping cycle is properly calcu-

lated, there will be little life sacrificed in the lamps
still burning when they are removed."

41

The life expectancy, or fatality, curves of a typical
40 watt fluorescent tube are shown in Figure VI.2 An as-
sumption is made that the lamps on the Paint Department
mezzanine are operating on a weekly cycle. This refers to
the fact that the fluorescent lamps are turned on and off
once per week on the average.

The reason that lower labor costs occur can be explained
by the fact that it takes a man a smaller amount of time per
lamp to replace a large number of lamps than it does for the
same man to replace one lamp at a time as the lamp burns out.
The cost of replacing one lamp at a time, as the lamps burn
out, can be dramatized as follows:3

"For example, this is the usual spot replacement
routine when an employee sees a lamp burned out:

1. "The burned out lamp is reported to the super-
visor, who phones the Maintenance Department."

2. "A maintenance man is assigned to make the re-
placement. A requisition is made out, and he goes
to the stockroom for a new lamp."

3. "He gets his ladder and then goes to the de—
partment where the lamp is reported out."

4. "He removes the burned out lamp and replaces it
with a new one."

5. "He takes a few minutes for a social conversa—
tion with his fellow onlookers, returns the ladder
to the stockroom, and then goes back to the job he
had been working on."

42

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This author states that, ”the average time for this replace-
ment is about 20 minutes."

Before an intelligent cost analysis can be made, the
percentage of fatalities at which the group replacement is
made needs to be decided. In one analysis the justification
for a group replacement point of 80% of the rated life of the
lamp was stated as follows:4

"Records show that most burnouts occur after 6,000 hours
or 80% of rated life."

The words of "most burnouts" in the previous quotation
lead the author to believe that the selection of the group
relamping point was somewhat arbitrary. However, such a
group relamping percentage of 80% of the rated lamp life can
be reinforced by the following:5

"Most lighting experts agree that the point repre—
senting 80% of normal lamp life is a good place to
consider group relamping."

The group relamping percentage, of 80% of rated life, can
be extrapolated to relamping at 80% of the total lamps left
burning by the following logic:6

“As burning hours are sometimes difficult to judge,
an easier method bases the replacement time on lamp
failures rather than a percentage of life. In a typical
large group of lamps, when 20% of the lamps have failed,
you have reached 80% of lamp life. In practice this is
easy to apply. When a given area in your plant is
equipped with new lamps at the start of a group relamp-

ing program, simply purchase 20% more lamps and set the
additional ones aside in the stockroom. Replace early

44
failures from this stock and when the 20% have been

used up, it is time to make another group replacement."

A group relamping analysis can now be made for the Paint
Department mezzanine using the following assumptions:

A. The spot replacement of a fluorescent tube requires

20 minutes.

B. The group replacement time, per lamp, is three

minutes.

C. The hourly rate of the employees replacing the lamps

is $3.50.

D. The cost per lamp is as outlined in Figure VII.

The Paint Department mezzanine uses three types of
fluorescent lamps, each with a different cost per tube.
Therefore the three types of tubes will be analyzed sepa-
rately. The number, type, and cost of the fluorescent tubes
which are used on the Paint Department mezzanine are shown
in Figure VII.

The group relamping analysis for the Paint Department
mezzanine, using the previously outlined assumptions, is
shown in Figures VIII, IX, and X. As can be seen in the
three relamping analysis examples, it would be profitable
to group relamp the Spray Booth, Type No. 2, and the Area
Lighting. In the analysis of the Spray Booth, Type No. 1,

it would be more profitable to spot replace the lighting.

45

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It should be noted that two employees are needed to replace

the eight foot fluorescent tubes used in the Area Lighting.

The evaluation of the mathematical relationships involved

in a group relamping analysis provides a valuable insight

into the question of when to use group relamping. The fol-

lowing algebraic notation will be used in the mathematical

analysis:
N:
TC =

C(1-1)

C(1-2)=

C(G-l)=

C(G-2)=

Using these

replacement

C(1-1)

C(l-2)

C(G-l)

C(G-2)

Number of fluorescent tubes in area
Fluorescent tube cost

Cost of one-at-a-time replacement using one
maintenance employee

Cost of one-at-a—time replacement using two
maintenance.employees

Cost of group replacement using one maintenance
employee

Cost of group replacement using two maintenance
employees

definitions, the equations for the cost of group
and one-at-a-time replacement are as follows:
(1.17 + TC) x N

(2.34 + TC) x N

(0.511 + 1.5 x TC) x N

(0.818 + 1.5 x TC) x N

The relation between the one-at-a-time replacement costs and

the group replacement costs, using one maintenance employee,

is shown graphically in Figure XI.

50

    

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Fluorescent Tube Cost

Figure XI: Fluorescent Tube Replacement Costs

As can be Seen in Figure XI, whenever the fluorescent
tube cost is less than $1.32, then it is more economical to
use group relamping. When a similar graph is made using
C(l-2) and C(G-2) it is found that it is more economical to
~use group relamping whenever the fluorescent lamp cost is
less than $3.04, using two maintenance employees. It is
recommended by the author that the above lamp cost criteria

be used for group relamping decisions throughout the plant.

51

It should be noted that the above lamp cost decision rules
are based on the assumptions outlined on page 44. Such a
group relamping analysis definitely should be performed on
the office area because the labor cost to replace an indi-
vidual lamp will be higher in that area due to the plastic
grated sub—ceiling which must be removed in order to replace
a lamp.

There is another factor of cost that favors the group
relamping method. This is an electrical power savings.
This power savings is due to the electrical inefficiency of
fluorescent tubes with age. In some instances, an annual
lighting power savings of up to 32% has been found due to
group relamping.

Application II: Motors

The development of a system of maintenance and replace-
ment of conveyor drives and motor-pump sets presents an
entirely different problem than does the replacement of
fluorescent lighting. The ideal situation would be to per-
form a group replacement analysis similar to the one made
on the replacement of fluorescent tubes. But, such a group
replacement analysis is not feasible, when applied to con-
veyor drives and motor-pump sets, because of the following

reasons 3

52

A. Conveyor drives and motor-pump sets that are
critical to the plant's operation are of a one—of—
aakind nature. Therefore they are not subject to
group replacement.

B. The initial cost of a conveyor drive or a motor-
pump set is very high when compared to the labor
cost required to replace such a piece of equipment.

C. It is doubtful that a labor savings will result
due to the group replacement of such equipment.

That is, it costs as much, per piece of equipment,
to replace one unit as it does several units.

D. If a conveyor drive or a motor-pump set fails,
it is usually not thrown away and replaced with a
new piece of equipment. The equipment is generally
rebuilt and such rebuilt equipment then becomes the
replacement part in case of another failure.

The life cycle curve or fatality curve of equipment such
as conveyor drives and motor-pump sets is a direct function
of the maintenance of such equipment. Therefore a preventive
maintenance and inspection procedure will be recommended for
the conveyor drives and motor pump sets. The criteria for
the establishment of the preventive maintenance and inspec-

tion recommendations can be best outlined as follows:

53

"It should be understood that in order to arrive at
lower over-all costs, the cost of inspection, record-
keeping, and work done, multiplied by the frequency, must
be less than the cost of breakdown and repair multiplied
by its frequency."

It is also useful, at this time, to define preventive main-
9
tenance as follows:

"Preventive maintenance consists of periodic in-
spection or checking of existing facilities to uncover
conditions leading to production breakdowns or harmful
depreciation and the correction of these conditions
while they are still in the minor stage."

If such a preventive maintenance prOgram is 100% successful
there should not be any breakdowns. Some authors go as far
as to express the following viewpoint:

"Come to think of it, there's no excuse for equipment
failure at any time in modern plant operation. An on-
its-toes maintenance department has the tools, the tech—
niques, and the skills necessary to keep a modern plant

running watch smooth at all times. If not, there's
something wrong somewhere."

It should be noted that some of the components of the
conveyor drives and the motor-pump sets can be best analyzed
by a group replacement analysis. Such equipment which can
be subjected to this type of group replacement analysis and
the logic behind this type of analysis is as follows:11

"Sometimes it may be found that the useful lives of
items such as bearings, clutch parts, and small belt
drives can be predicted with fair certainty and in some
of these cases periodic replacement may prove to be less

costly than routine inspection, adjustment, and repair
or random breakdown. Other savings may sometimes be

54

made by adopting periodic group replacement for items
such as lamps, condenser tubes and electrical contacts,
instead of relying on individual inspection, repair, and
renewal."
The analysis for these conveyor drive and motor—pump com—
ponents is approximately the same as the analysis performed
for the fluorescent tubes earlier in this section of the
thesis.

In order to determine the optimum inspection and pre-
ventive maintenance procedure it is felt by the author that
a review of the alternatives available should be undertaken.
One author states that there are basically four types of
. . . . 12
inspection and preventive maintenance systems. They are
as follows:

1. "Data Gathering and Cost Analysis: In this
system breakdown data is gathered and analyzed for
consistent trouble spots."

2. "Inspection and Reporting: Set up an inspection
schedule for critical equipment and maintain the
bad reported equipment."

3. "Inspection, Reporting, and Servicing: This
system combines inspection with lubricating and
reports excessive wear and problems."

4. "Schedule Adjustment, Repair and/or Replacement:
This system introduces schedules for routine adjust-
ments and repairs on a periodic basis along with
scheduled lubrication and inspection."

In initiating one of the above systems, or a modification

thereof, many experts recommend the use of a maintenance

55

analyst.l3 They feel that such a man should be a trained
engineer with the following characteristics:

"He should have no reservations about spending time
at a desk working with drawings, cost records, and other
burdensome data, since many of the problems encountered
will entail study, test work, analysis and report writ-
ing before arriving at a final solution. The ability to
win cooperation from other departments, including the
remainder of the maintenance division, and to inspire
the entire preventive maintenance group is another prime
requirement."

It is the author's belief that an engineer should be put in
charge of such a preventive maintenance program. But, this
assignment need not be a full time one, due to the small
size of BOPKC as compared to the size of the plants recom-
mending such a preventive maintenance analyst.

Now that an inspection and preventive maintenance pro-
gram has been recommended, it must now be determined what
to check when inspecting the conveyor drives and the motor-
pump sets and also how often such equipment should be in-
spected. In order to recommend what to check, on the con-
veyor drives and the motor-pump sets, complementary com—
ponents will be analyzed.

The one major component which is in common to both the
conveyor drives and the motor-pump sets is the electric

motor. There are basically two different types of motors

which are used as components for conveyor drives and

56

motor-pump sets. They are direct current motors and squirrel
cage induction motors. For the purposes of this thesis there
is only one relevant difference between these two types of
electric motors. The direct current motor requires a rotor
circuit. This electrical circuit is accomplished by the use
of electrical contacts, called brushes, which press on the
rotor while it is rotating. These brushes act as terminals
by which the electrical energy is transferred to the coils

in the rotor. The squirrel cage induction motors require no
such rotor terminals or brushes. The difference between
these two types of electric motors is much more complicated
than is described above, but a more detailed explanation is
not relevant to the point at issue.

One of the experts on the subject of electric motor
maintenance recommends the following motor inspection and
preventive maintenance procedure:

"The ideal motor maintenance program aims at pre—
vention of breakdowns rather than their repair. This

is the best assurance against costly shut-downs and

interrupted production. It requires more than just

keeping bearings lubricated and the housings wiped clean.

HoweVer, remember that accumulations of dust and dirt do

restrict the ventilation and thereby increase the motor

temperature. This has an adverse effect upon the
insulation.

Every . . . motor has two vulnerable parts: (1)
stator winding insulation (the insulation of the elec-

trical wiring in the motor), (2) rotor bearings. These
parts require special attention.

57

The useful life of (a) . . . motor depends largely
upon the condition ofits winding insulation. Externally,
accumulations of dust and dirt contribute to insulation
failure through increased temperature caused by re-
stricted ventilation. Internally, dust and dirt have
the same reaction, but here moisture has a far greater
detrimental effect on the insulation. Therefore judi-
cious use of covers and intelligent selection of motor
locations are important.

Insulation life can be predicted, but this requires
diligent use of proper test equipment and adequate rec-
ords. Periodic insulation resistance tests are neces-
sary to determine the condition of the insulation. A
500 volt insulation resistance tester is satisfactory for
motors rated up to 1000 volts. The readings obtained are
valuable only from a comparative standpoint. These
measurements should be made at regular intervals. This
interval is contingent upon ambient conditions and oper-
ational use . . . generally, annually under average con-
ditions and more frequently under adverse conditions.
They should be plotted on a resistance versus time chart.
A sudden drop in the curve is an indication of impending
failure. The motor should be removed from service before
the breakdown occurs.

A useful rule-of-thumb is (an) insulation resistance
standard (of) a minimum of one megohm per 1000 volts,
with a minimum of one megohm for voltages less than 1000
volts.

A bearing failure also means a motor failure, but in
this case impending failure can be more readily detected.
Undue heating or unusual noise is an indication of bear-
ing fault. In many cases the motor may be used until a
shutdown can be scheduled. Lubricant should be added
to temporarily prolong bearing life."

It is recommended by the author that the insulation re-
sistance checks be performed every three months on every
critical motor at or below floor level and every six months
on every critical motor above floor level. Motors which are

of a semi-critical nature should have an annual insulation

58

resistance check. The reason for this distinction as to
location of the motors, is that motors at or below floor
level are subject to extreme moisture conditions during an
extended period of rain due to the plant location. The
plant is located in a low—lying area and, during a heavy
rainstorm, the water backs up in the storm sewers and causes
some local flooding. Therefore electric motors at or below
the floor level are subject to these extreme moisture
conditions.

Direct current motors require inspection of the follow—
ing parts, in addition to the inspection of the insulation
resistance and the condition of the rotor bearings:

A. Brushes, brush holders, and brush springs.

B. Rotor commutating surface condition.

C. Brush terminal insulation resistance.

A word should be said about temperature effects on
insulation life. “The maximum safe temperature of a Class
A (NEMA rating) motor winding, as measured by a thermometer,
is 194 degrees Fahrenheit."15 Therefore, the old adage of
touching a motor to determine if it is overheated is ob—
viously false. The primary effect of temperature is that,
"for every 10 degree Centigrade increase over the estab-

lished (maximum) limits, (the) motor insulation life is cut

59

. 6 . . . . . . . .
in half."1 From this discuss10n it is obVious that criti—

cal motors must be kept clean in order to insure the maxi—
mum protection against failure.

It is recommended that all motors, which could cause a
production line to stop if they failed (critical motors),
should have an up-to-date insulation resistance chart and
have a reserve motor in stock. If there are several iden-
tical motors, such as the direct current conveyor drive motors
for the Hard Trim Department, only one spare motor is neces-
sary, due to the improbability of two motors failing simul-
taneously. This recommendation is reinforced by the
following:17

"Even with the best of selection and care, the
effects of operating conditions, age and wear, and the
contingencies of accident or improper operation must be
provided for."

Furthermore, spare parts should be kept in reserve for all
critical and semi—critical motors. "The accompanying chart
(Figure XIII), based partly on NEMA renewal parts recommen-
dations, shows a stocking program for various types of
motors."

The conveyor drive gear reduction boxes and the rotary

or centifugal pumps used in the motor-pump sets both require

approximately the same maintenance procedure. The preventive

60

Number_gf.Motors

129i 212.92
Squirrel Cage Induction Motor:
Armature Coils and Winding Supplies 1/3 set 1 set
Bearings 1 set 2 sets
Oil Seals, where required 1 set 2 sets
Oil Rings, where required 1 set 1 set
Wound Rotor Motors
(induction or direct current):
Armature Coils and Winding Supplies 1/3 set 1 set
Rotor Coils, where required - 1 set
Brushholders and Springs 1 2
Brushholder Stud Insulation 1 set 2 sets
Brushes 1 set 2 sets
Bearings 1 set 2 sets
Oil Seals, where required 1 set 2 sets
Oil Rings, where required 1 set 1 set

Figure XIII: Electric Motor Spare
Parts Recommendations

maintenance and inspection procedure can be outlined as

follows:

A. The manufacturer's bearing and gear lubrication
recommendations should be complied with.

B. All sprockets, load carrying devices, chains, take-
ups, and similar parts should be inspected visually

every three months for alignment and excessive wear.

61

C. Gears and impellers should be checked for their

respective lash and cavitation wear annually.

It is recommended by the author that a group replacement
program be undertaken for "V” and timing belts which are
used as components on the conveyor drives or the motor-pump
sets. The logic for this recommendation is the extremely
high cost of an equipment failure as compared with the ma-
terial and labor cost associated with replacing such a belt.
This logic can be reinforced by the fact that the belt re-
placement labor cost will be low due to the maintenance
employee's routine visit to the conveyor drive or motor-
pump set for inspection purposes. The rate of replacement
for these belts should be determined by the belt manufac-
turer's recommendations to insure certainty of operation.

The inspection of most mechanical equipment, of which
gear boxes and pumps are typical, requires a skilled expe-
rienced eye to recognize probable causes of future failure.
It is recommended by the author that a maintenance inspector
be selected from among the hourly employees to perform such
inspection. Due to the union classifications, two inspec—
tors will probably be required: one a millwright and one
an electrician. Such employees need not be assigned full

time to such an inspection program. However, it should be

62

pointed out that the inspection duties Qf_these employees

 

should not bg_compromised. This can be best stated as

 

 

follows:

"It is only natural that preventive maintenance
becomes a primary target when the company finds itself
in the middle of a profit squeeze. A company utilizing
a tight and efficient system of preventive maintenance
may suffer a great deal from future breakdowns due to
curtailment of good practices brought on by a misin—
formed management."

Most experts agree that accurate records are necessary
to evaluate any inspection and preventive maintenance pro-
gram. Before and after breakdown statistics are needed to
determine the actual preventive maintenance savings. One

. 20
author states this need as follows:

”One thing we have learned: You need facts to make
major maintenance decisions. Without a work order sys-
tem, you might as well forget about analysis. Every
month we pull the machine repair records from our files
and check them for repetitive breakdowns and other alarm
signals. Using the work orders we then know the precise
cost of the breakdowns." '

Such records can be obtained by use of the Breakdown Reports
(Figure V, page 34) and the Work Exception Record (Figure
III, page 31) as developed in Section III of this thesis.

The selection of the hourly employees needed for inspec—

tion should be a judicious one. The qualifications for such

an employee have been expressed as follows:21

63

”The maintenance mechanics assigned to inspection
and preventive maintenance should be . . . chosen care-
fully. In each case, a good craftsman with ability to
reason clearly, write distinctly and who can be trusted
to work on his own should be selected. There will be
many occasions when inspection work has to be under-
taken outside normal plant hours and this necessitates
picking a conscientious employee. Furthermore, no man
should ever be assigned to preventive maintenance and
inspection because he has proved to be a problem to
other maintenance supervisors."

In implementing the inspection and preventive maintenance
program here described it is recommended that the employees
who are assigned to the inspection and preventive mainten-
ance program be placed under the same foreman as the emer—
gency repair crew. The logic behind this recommendation is
that breakdown prevention and breakdown repair go hand in
hand. A further advantage would be that of better commu-
nications and easier cost evaluation.

In summarizing, the recommendations stated in this sec-
tion of the thesis as to the replacement, inspection, and
maintenance of equipment are as follows:

A. Group relamping should be performed in any area
of the plant where the fluorescent lamp cost is
less than $1.32 and only one maintenance employee
is required to replace a given lamp. In areas where

two maintenance employees are required to replace a

given lamp, group relamping should be undertaken

64

whenever the cost of the fluorescent lamp is less
than $3.04.

Every three months the winding insulation re-
sistance should be measured and recorded on all
motors at or below floor level in the plant.
Electric motors which are above the plant floor
level should have their insulation resistance meas-
ured and recorded on a semi-annual basis.

Lubrication of all mechanical equipment should
be carried out according to the equipment manufac-
turer”s recommendations.

The alignment of all sprockets, load carrying
devices, chains, take—ups, and similar parts should
be visually inspected quarter—annually. Further-
more these items should be critically checked for
wear and all gears and impellers should be checked
for their respective lash and cavitation wear
annually.

It is recommended that all critical timing and
”V" belts be group replaced to insure the impossi—
bility of belt failure on conveyor drives and pumps.

Hourly employees should be judiciously selected

and assigned to the inspection and preventive

65

maintenance program and their routine duties in this
area should not be compromised. Furthermore, it is
recommended that these employees be placed under

the supervision of the same foreman as the emergency
repair crew to insure quick accurate information and
ease of cost accountability. The Breakdown Report
and the Work Exception Record, as developed in Sec-
tion III of this thesis, should be used to accrue
the cost data necessary to evaluate the success of
the preventive maintenance program.

The suggestions recommended in this section of the thesis
are not revolutionary in nature nor are they a stroke of
genius. The examples cited are simply typical of the many
areas which could have been explored and researched. The
outlined recommendations will be difficult to sell because
their monetary savings are not readily apparent. That is,
the plant is running all right now, so why change the exist-
ing maintenance program? The answer to this question can be
best expressed as technical evolution. An example of this
technical evolution is: As the price of fluorescent tubes
decreased and labor costs increased, group relamping became
feasible. Thus it is that any technique is subject to

change. It is the author's contention that as maintenance

66

engineering becomes a science of its own the techniques will
progressively change and become more sophisticated. A few
examples of these techniques have been cited in this section
of the thesis. The methods recommended in this section of
the thesis are a product of this technical evolution. Th§_
methods should b§_tried. The only way that routine mainten-
ance costs can be lowered, in a period of time in which these
costs are becoming a larger and larger percentage of plant
expenses, is to change an existing method in order to try to
lower such costs. The recommended methods are tried and
proven, as the documentation has shown. They are not new.
But they should, if properly implemented, produce a cost

savings.

10.

ll.

12.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
for
Routine Equipment Replacement and Maintenance
System Operations
Buzan, Milton, "The Economics of Industrial Lighting,"
Plant Engineering, April, 1961, pp. 111-112.

Ibid.

Zahour, Robert L., "Group Relamping Saves Money,"
Mill §_Factorv, October, 1959, pp. 92-93.

Ibid.

Allphin, Willard, "Throw Those Lamps Awayl," Plant
Engineering, October, 1961, pp. 152-154.

Ibid.

Schneider, H. L., "Throw Away Your Lamps--And Save
Money," Mill §_Factory, December, 1960, pp. 95-97.

 

Reece, William A., "Preventive Maintenance: Basically,
It's Work," Plant Engineering, May, 1962, pp. 147-
148.

Ibido

Harrington, Carl C., "In Maintenance, You Can Only
Afford the Very Best," Mill §_Factory, January,
1959, pg. 73.

Bottcher, H. E., and Pratt, C. J., "Managing a Pre-
ventive Maintenance Program,” Plant Engineering,

July, 1961, pp. 90—94.

Ibid.

67

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

68

Ibid.

Molnar, John, "The Three Phase Squirrel-Cage Induction
Motor," Mill é Factory, June, 1960, pp. 116—122.

Shulman, J. M., "There Is No Excuse for Burned-Out
Motors," Mill §_Factory, August, 1957, pp. 80-83.

Buchanan, C. H., "Five Basic Steps in Selecting an A-C
Induction Motor," Mill §_Factory, September, 1959,
Gehring, R. L., "Spare Parts for Large Motors and Con-

trols," Plant Engineerinngractice, published by
the F. W. Dodge Corporation, 1958, pp. 442-444.

Ibid.

Op. cit. Reece, William A.

Swikert, Charles A., "Cut Maintenance Costs by a Little
Detective Work," Mill §_Factory, January, 1960, pp.

79-820

Op. cit. Bottcher, H. E., and Pratt, J. C.

V. FORECASTING THE 54000 SERIES ACCOUNTS

Forecasting is an essential part of the existing budget
and accounting control system. Without such a forecast
there would be no goals to work toward or benchmarks by
which to measure performance. Therefore it is the initial
premise of this section of the thesis that accurate fore-
casts are necessary and desirable.

Any forecast is determined either by subjective means
or objective means. The subjective forecast is made by
using a qualitative judgment of the situation while the
objective forecast is generally quantitatively determined.
Either of the above methods of forecasting can be based on
historical information or information supplied by a lead
indicator.

The present method of forecasting the 54000 series
accounts is a subjective one based primarily on historical
data. A subjective forecast is desirable in this case due
to the many variables which must be considered when making
the forecast. For instance, if it was known that a par-
ticular department of a plant was going to have to make do

with a worn out piece of equipment for a given period of

69

70

time, then adjustment of the 54000 series budget could be
made to account for the expected emergency breakdown cost.
This present system of forecasting the 54000 series accounts
works quite well in terms of anticipating the charges to
this account.

It is felt by the author that when the proposed time-
keeping system is initiated the charges to the 54000 series
accounts will show a substantial increase. The reason for
this increase will be that the new timekeeping system will
be more accurately reflecting the true charges to this
accounting classification. Thus, in forecasting the 54000
series accounts, after the installation of the-new time-
keeping system, the historical data upon which the previous
forecasts were based will no longer be of any use. There-
fore, a new method of forecasting these accounts will have
to be determined.

Before proceeding with the forecasting recommendations
it is felt by the author that the theorized effects on the
various accounts, as mentioned above, that are caused by the
new timekeeping system should be discussed. Costs in every
accounting classification will n9§_increase with the new
timekeeping system. It is theorized by the author that the

routine maintenance accounts will have a general tendency

71

to increase but that this increase will be more than offset
by a decrease in the project accounts. The logic behind
this statement is that the book value of one labor hour is
71% higher for project accounts than it is for routine main-
tenance accounts. In the existing timekeeping system it is
normal for the foreman to charge all of an employee's time
to the project that was worked on most of the work day. If
the new timekeeping system does accurately reflect the true
labor charges, the routine maintenance performed by the
employee will no longer be charged to the project account.
Therefore the number of labor hours expended will not change
but the distribution of the charges will change. Due to the
application of burden to project labor hours the overall
maintenance costs should tend to decrease with the new
timekeeping system.

If the proposed timekeeping system is initiated, there
will be a period of four or five years where the forecasting
of the 54000 series accounts will be a purely judgmental
procedure due to the fact that there will be little or no
past historical data on which to rely. It is the author's
belief that a short period of forecasting uncertainty is
unavoidable. It is recommended that a lead indicator be

found which would aid in forecasting the 54000 series

72

accounts in order to minimize the duration of the period of
forecasting uncertainty.

It is theorized by the author that there will be a high
degree of correlation between the charges to the 54000
series accounts, after the initialization of the timekeeping
system, and the total of all model change work and project
work performed in a given department during the model change-
over period. If this is true then the total work in a given
department anticipated for the coming model change could be
used as a lead indicator to help establish the budget for
the 54000 series account for that department.

It is recommended that the 54000 series accounts be
plotted verses the total of all model change and project
work performed in a given department during downtime after
the new timekeeping system has been initiated. The data
should be analyzed to determine the degree of variance in
one variable explained by the variation of the other varia-
ble. If there exists a high degree of correlation it is
recommended that the total changeover work for a given
department be used as a lead indicator in establishing the
budget for the 54000 series account for that department.
Furthermore, other lead indicators should be similarly

analyzed.

   

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