Insight on Manufacturing

July 2015

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w w w.in s i g h t o n m f g . c o m July 2015 • /INSIGHT ON MANUFACTURING | 21 B A C K O F F I C E Up with down time Manufacturers minimize impact of maintenance, cleaning schedules BY NIKKI KALLIO TIME PRESENTS A DILEMMA FOR EVEN THE MOST efficient of manufacturers. Every plant operator knows the time is coming when a part will need to be replaced or a piece of equipment will need an upgrade. at means shutting down the line. Yet, every second the plant is shut down for maintenance costs lost productivity and inventory. It's a balancing act, no doubt, but most manufacturers will tell you it's better to plan the shutdown or maintenance and cleaning than to have it happen unscheduled. e planning of these shutdowns depends largely on the nature of the facility and factors such as order volume. Summer can be a good time for manufacturers to plan scheduled maintenance, with employees hoping to take family vacations. Deer hunting season is another prime time. "In the summer, we have a lot of employee vacations, but I still think hunting season is the time where many take off," says Trisha Lemery, CEO of Winsert, a Marinette- based manufacturer of heat-and-corrosion-resistant engine components. "It requires a good amount of planning." Currently, Winsert's production team reviews orders and schedules and then produces a plan to accommodate shutdown events. "is involves not only the products and orders, but the people, to ensure staffing levels are adequate and cross-trained to handle flexible production schedules," Lemery says. At Georgia Pacific in Green Bay, the plants shut down mainly for regularly scheduled maintenance, such as when it's time to change fabric or wire on a paper machine, on a regular cycle of several months, depending on the type of machine, says Mike Kawleski, public affairs manager. Technicians might need several hours to a shi or more of downtime to complete the work. "e only big event that a mill has is every three to five years when we have a cold outage — the whole place goes dark," Kawleski says. "at's when we do a lot of major stuff." e Broadway Mill just had one of these cold outages, when it underwent large-scale, intensive maintenance and Bonduelle performs maintenance during its regular off-season down time. C O U R T E S Y B O N D U E L L E the installation of a new natural gas boiler. ese outages last generally about a week, and some employees are given the week off while others come in to clean or lubricate machinery. Maintenance workers and contractors also conduct specialized work on the machines at that time. "It's almost a military operation," Kawleski says. "It's talked about for months and months and months ahead of time. e biggest thing is safety." Another shutdown situation might occur if some production is curtailed due to inventory needs, but those only happen sporadically, he says. Other plants, such as those with seasonal operation like Bonduelle, in Fairwater (Fond du Lac County), also plan maintenance around the company's regular production schedule. Bonduelle, a France-based food packaging company of canned and frozen vegetables, purchased the food processing and packaging facilities in Fairwater in 2012. e processing facility normally operates from June to the end of November in conjunction with the growing season, says plant manager Cristiano Spina. Its repack facility operates year-round. For the seasonal facility, Bonduelle plans preventive maintenance and improvements between November and June. "When we can't run because of the weather, we use our time to have the equipment ready for the

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