Forty Percent of Current Manufacturing Maintenance Activities are Reactive

Study finds most manufacturing organizations lack funding and personnel to implement comprehensive Asset Management programs

MILWAUKEE, October 21, 2002 - Limited personnel and budget are the most common barriers keeping maintenance and reliability departments from implementing comprehensive MRO asset management programs, according to the 2002 Maintenance and Reliability Practices Survey, conducted in May 2002 by complete automation leader Rockwell Automation and Maintenance Technology magazine. Yet manufacturing maintenance managers also believe they are spending more than three times as much as they should on reactive maintenance.

Results of the survey, detailed in the October issue of Maintenance Technology, indicate feedback to the current state of maintenance operations and todays hottest maintenance issues from 229 maintenance supervisors and managers at manufacturing and industrial companies nationwide. The survey results can be viewed online at the Rockwell Automation Global Manufacturing Solution Web site at http://www.ra.rockwell.com/services.

Although most maintenance managers realize that condition-based/predictive maintenance increases system uptime and can positively influence the bottom line, 53 percent of survey respondents cite limited personnel as the most common barrier to implementing a comprehensive asset management program. Another 47 percent cited budgetary restraints as the primary hurdle.

The study illustrated that maintenance managers ideally want to allocate available personnel resources toward implementing routine/preventive maintenance (44 percent of the time) and condition-based/predictive activities (33 percent of the time). In practice, however, survey respondents said they still spend 40 percent of their time on reactive activities.

The study also found that equipment maintenance outsourcing still has not gained wide acceptance within the industry. Twenty-three percent indicated that they outsource instrument maintenance, followed by equipment repair (18 percent), reliability analysis (15 percent) and condition monitoring analysis (13 percent).

When manufacturers face tightened budgets, often the first reaction is to restrict or cut resources dedicated to long-term maintenance solutions," said Mike Laszkiewicz, vice president and general manager, Asset Management, Rockwell Automation. Yet manufacturers dealing with the financial pressures to reduce expenses and improve production performance should be looking to the potential long-term financial benefits of outsourced maintenance services."

Additional highlights of the 2002 Maintenance and Reliability Practices Survey include:
·Health and safety, equipment reliability, and improving plant/facility uptime were the three most important issues currently facing maintenance management.
·According to 36 percent of the respondents, system uptime is the most dominant performance metric for measuring maintenance and reliability activities, followed by equipment availability, with 18 percent.
·To justify new equipment expenditures, 45 percent of respondents factor anticipated productivity improvements into their calculations.
·The most common reasons cited for outsourcing are limited personnel available (74 percent) and limited skills or experience (58 percent).
·Success of outsourced programs are most frequently measured by cost savings (62 percent), overall equipment effectiveness (57 percent) and improved uptime (57 percent).

Maintenance Technology, the magazine of plant equipment reliability, maintenance, and asset management, serves the technical and business information needs of engineers, managers, and technicians responsible for plant equipment availability. Primary editorial sectors include equipment reliability, management of maintenance and reliability operations, preventive maintenance, condition monitoring and predictive maintenance, and maintenance information systems. Maintenance Technology (www.mt-online.com) is published by Applied Technology Publications, Barrington, IL, and sent free to qualified maintenance and reliability practitioners.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK) is a world-leading provider of industrial automation power, control and information solutions that help customers meet their manufacturing productivity objectives. The company brings together leading brands in industrial automation for Complete Automation solutions, including Allen-Bradley® controls and engineered services and Rockwell Software® factory management software, Dodge® mechanical power transmission products, and Reliance Electric® motors and drives. The company also is a leading provider of contact management technologies and applications that help companies more efficiently manage interaction with their own customers. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., USA, the company employs approximately 23,000 people at more than 450 locations serving customers in more than 80 countries.
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