Lean maintenance conference a big success

More than 140 industry leaders from 22 states and three countries attended the “Lean Manufacturing 2005: Lean Tools for Maintenance & Reliability” conference presented by Reliable Plant magazine. The event was held October 3-5 at the Renaissance Hotel in Cleveland.

“The great turnout at this conference speaks volumes about the attention forward-thinking manufacturers are giving to proactive maintenance and reliability, and about the growing importance of bringing lean manufacturing concepts to this mission-critical part of the corporation,” says Paul V. Arnold, the editor of Reliable Plant, a Noria Corporation publication.

The event featured two pre-conference workshops on October 3 and a total of 10 case studies during the best practices conference on October 4-5. Keynote addresses were given by Dr. Evelitsa Schweizerhof, the global operations and Six Sigma manager for Ford Motor Company, and Rick Baldridge, a reliability functional leader and Worldwide Reliability and Maintenance Steering Committee member at Cargill.

Schweizerhof’s speech, “Creating a Demand for Six Sigma/Lean,” chronicled the six-year journey of Ford’s Consumer-Driven Six Sigma program. She spent considerable time recounting the lessons learned by the company, including how to overcome culture issues, select the right people to spearhead the effort and fully integrate lean concepts into all business practices.

Baldridge’s address, “Cargill’s Integrated Approach to Reliability,” explained how the company uses the Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals’ certification program, and that designation’s body of knowledge, to raise the bar for its maintenance and operations performance. He explained that more than 230 Cargill maintenance and production leaders have taken the Certified Maintenance & Reliability Professional examination and more than 100 have earned the designation.

Conference case studies included:

- “A Journey From a Repair Function to a Reliability Culture,” by Richard Word, senior reliability engineer, Whirlpool

- “Operator-Driven Reliability: Who Owns Your Equipment?” by Chris Hykin, director of Operator-Driven Reliability, International Paper

- “Technologies and Tools to Achieve Zero-Breakdown Productivity,” by Dr. Jay Lee, director of the Center for Intelligent Maintenance Systems, University of Cincinnati

- “Selling Maintenance as a Change Agent and a Difference-Maker to Upper Management,” by Christer Idhammar, IDCON Inc.

- “Reliability, Maintenance and a Corporate Culture of Improvement,” by David E. Brown, Reliability and Maintenance Center of Excellence leader, Hercules Inc.

- “Facility Services in a Lean Manufacturing Environment,” by Michael Burmood, deputy director of facility services,” Raytheon.

- “Lean Concepts and Culture Change Drive ABB Toward Excellence,” by Ahmad Ashour, Operational Excellence leader, and Catherine Dimmitt, quality processes manager, ABB.

- “A Lean Transformation: The First Three Years,” by Beau Groover, lean implementation manager, Nordson.

Pre-conference workshops included:

- “Effective Plant Reliability Management,” by Drew Troyer, senior vice president of global services operations, Noria Corporation.

- “Rx: Driving Lean to its Fullest Potential,” by Terry Keown, principal consultant, Life Cycle Engineering.