Operational Excellence

Operational Excellence Overview

As more and more companies seek to improve their productivity and reduce the cost of goods produced, the focus turns to consolidating the various processes within their business. With multi-site organisations, it is more important that they have consistent approaches to how they conduct business. This has many benefits, including the ability to compare performance across sites, knowing that the methods and systems are common within the organisation.

Operational Excellence Programme

There are 4 main key performance indicators that form part of an Operational Excellence programme:

1. Maintenance Management

2. Production Management

3. Reliability Management

4. Performance Management

Consistency is Key

Over the years businesses have consolidated and standardised, for example their human resource practices, their finance systems and practices, their information systems and production methods but one area that has generally been allowed to develop on its own is maintenance and, more recently, asset management.

It is not uncommon in multi-site organisations to see that the approach to the maintenance of the manufacturing and utility's equipment is left to the individual sites to develop their own approaches. The problems this produces become apparent when, as is increasingly common, software systems are introduced across the organisation, for example, systems such as SAP and Maximo.

The use of such systems requires consistency of approach and therefore, it becomes more important that there are consistent maintenance processes across the organisation. This consistent approach allows sites to compare their performance, their equipment reliability and failure and maintenance programmes.

High performing organisations will focus on the areas that make the biggest impact to the business in the context of maintenance and asset management, these can include:

• equipment reliability

• equipment performance and availability

• business processes

• organisation structure

• document management

• information systems

• work planning and scheduling

• spare parts inventory

• training and skills development

Our Operational Excellence Approach

MCP has over 30 years’ experience of working with multi-site organisations to develop and deliver maintenance excellence programmes across many different industry sectors including food and drink, pharmaceutical, medical devices, automotive, paper, airports and facilities.

Our four-stage process for delivering maintenance excellence includes:

1. Initial Assessment (or gap analysis against best practices)

2. Implementation Planning

3. Implementation Programme

4. Benefit Realisation

Using this approach, we initially identify the gaps between good practices and current practices using MCP proprietary assessment systems AMIS. Then move on to developing an implementation programme that meets the requirements of the business and its objectives. This programme will invariably be divided into workstreams which will be delivered by site champions, supported by MCP consultant facilitators and trainers.

In many cases, training programmes are introduced which provide site teams with an understanding of the tools and techniques that can be applied to drive improvements.

The Benefits of Achieving Operational Excellence

MCP has supported clients with their Operational Excellence programmes and have delivered reductions in unplanned breakdown maintenance; typically, removal of 25% to 50% of wasted, unnecessary preventive maintenance hours and increased productivity by 40 to 80%.

Typical benefits from our Operational Excellence programme can include:

• manufacturing cost reduction by 20%

• maintenance costs reduced by 20%

• breakdowns reduced by 50%

• quality costs reduced by 30%

• productivity gains by 20%