[Weekly Topic] How to Balance Equipment Repair and Production (Examples Show Greater Incentives) (2011.05.16-22)

The roles of the equipment maintenance departments and production departments vary across different companies. In state-owned enterprises, it used to be the case that the production department had less power, with the equipment management department holding more influence, whereas in foreign-owned companies, the production department is considered to be more powerful. Equipment maintenance (especially upkeep) and production have always been a contradiction. This is directly related to corporate culture, as well as to the level of understanding among everyone. Generally, people place more emphasis on immediate benefits, while production can bring direct advantages; however, the maintenance and repair of equipment is a process that yields results over the long term. Perhaps in the long run, equipment maintenance might be more important. It is necessary to coordinate the relationship between these two, shifting everyone’s approach to problem-solving toward \"maximizing long-term benefits.\" It is only by considering matters from this perspective, whether in production or maintenance, that the right approach is taken. But this indeed involves not only ideological understanding but also the performance evaluation of managers; many people, even though they understand the rationale, still choose to maximize immediate benefits out of concern for short-term gains. It has to change slowly.

Production and equipment are both separate aspects as well as one unified whole; the operators responsible for production are the primary guardians of the equipment and bear direct responsibility for its safe operation. Those in charge of production must also take care of the equipment. When there is a conflict between the equipment and production, production must give way to the equipment. This approach effectively eliminates the previous practice of production workers operating the equipment recklessly in order to increase output, and it ensures that a stable and balanced approach to operation is followed. At the same time, after making way for the equipment in terms of production, efforts are made to address the weaknesses in equipment management, and responsibility assessments are conducted for those responsible for equipment maintenance. This enables the equipment to serve production, allowing the management philosophy of giving priority to production over the equipment to be truly implemented, and significantly reduces various operational accidents and equipment failures.

Normal maintenance will not be discussed for now………… When a problem occurs with a piece of equipment and urgent repair is needed, it is necessary to communicate promptly with the production department or the production workshop to clarify the overall time required for the repair (including the coordination among different staff members and the preparation time, etc.). The production department first balances the production load, and then arranges for material handling, emphasizing the importance of this equipment in the production process, as well as the properties of the materials and the safety precautions that must be observed. For important equipment or special materials, there should be \"pre-plans\", including discussions and determination of the overall repair time proposed by the equipment department, as well as various requirements. Two department heads (including the safety officer) must be present at the site to oversee things, coordinate, and so on.

In the event of equipment failure, the production principle is to maintain full capacity if possible, and to avoid shutting down production if it’s still possible to reduce output. Every effort should be made to keep operations running smoothly; all available means should be employed to repair the equipment as quickly as possible, so as not to disrupt production and minimize losses. The cost of having to shut down production once is extremely high (referring to oil refining facilities)

For the maintenance of equipment, it is essential to first carry out regular inspections and upkeep, as well as planned maintenance and predictive maintenance, in order to minimize the need for emergency repairs. If a set of equipment is constantly in a state of emergency repair, then the equipment management department is not performing its duties properly. In the event of a equipment failure that requires emergency repair, all available means must be employed to fix the equipment, ensure safety, resume operations as soon as possible, and minimize losses

First, clarify the name of the faulty device, the location where the fault occurred, and the cause of the fault. Then, a correct judgment is made promptly based on the conditions of the fault on site. If there is a backup unit for the faulty device and it takes little time to activate that backup unit without affecting production, then orders are given to switch to the backup unit so that production can continue. If the backup pump used for feeding the polymer monomers fails, another backup pump can be activated to continue the feeding process. If the faulty equipment has a backup unit, but that backup unit takes a long time to start up and thus has an impact on production, it is necessary to reduce the production load accordingly depending on the specific circumstances, and to restore the normal production level once the backup unit is up and running properly. If the faulty equipment does not have a backup unit, or if the backup unit is not available, it shall be decided whether to shut down production or to operate at reduced capacity depending on the production situation. At the same time, efforts should be made to contact the maintenance team to repair the faulty equipment as soon as possible; once the issue is resolved, the equipment can be restarted and normal production levels can be resumed.

1. Fundamental principle: safety first. For example, my previous employer was a petrochemical company; starting up or shutting down the facilities took a long time and involved significant costs. However, the principle of intrinsic safety applied – whether it was due to equipment failures or maintenance tasks, if intrinsic safety was at stake, the facilities had to be stopped and procedures followed ； 2. For maintenance tasks that do not involve safety concerns, there should be sufficient emergency response capabilities; managers should have contingency plans, and technical staff should be ready at all times. Of course, such tasks can be balanced through various systems, such as compensatory time off or overtime pay! True technical professionals have an immense passion and dedication for their work; how can such passion and dedication be taken into account?

How to balance equipment repairs with production? Answer: For the normal operation of a production unit, process conditions and operations form the foundation, while the long-term stable operation of equipment is the key. If a problem is detected with the equipment, and there is a backup unit available, the operation should be stopped immediately so that repairs can be carried out right away ； Even in the absence of a backup unit, the equipment must not be operated while faulty; even if operation is to be reduced, emergency measures must be taken. Otherwise, there will be significant security risks.

Answer: 1 First, it is necessary to carry out proper equipment maintenance to reduce the likelihood of emergency repairs. 2 Separate equipment maintenance from emergency repairs: some people are dedicated to maintenance, while others are responsible for emergency repairs and other tasks. 3 Safety is a prerequisite for production; therefore, I believe that safety must be ensured as a prerequisite for any economic goal. If there is a risk, and when the risk cannot be estimated, proceed as per the option that involves the least risk possible.

The purpose of emergency equipment repair is to restore production as quickly as possible or ensure the safe and stable operation of production. By \"emergency repair,\" it is meant that as long as production can be maintained, some of the secondary functions of the equipment do not need to be restored immediately, or the equipment can be allowed to operate with defects for a while (of course, under monitoring), until there is a chance for shutdown for maintenance, at which time the equipment can be fully repaired.