Basics of metal mining influenced water

92 Pages·2009·2.8 MB·English

by  McLemore, Virginia T

MINE
Maintenance
Management
Reader
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Published by
Society for Mining,
Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc.
© 2008 by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.
All rights reserved. Electronic edition published 2009.
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Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc. (SME)
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SME advances the worldwide mining and minerals community through information exchange and pro-
fessional development. SME is the world’s largest association of mining and minerals professionals.
Copyright © 2008 Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc.
Electronic edition published 2009.
All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
Information contained in this work has been obtained by SME, Inc., from sources believed to be reliable.
However, neither SME nor the authors guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information pub-
lished herein, and neither SME nor the authors shall be responsible for any errors, omissions, or damages
arising out of use of this information. This work is published with the understanding that SME and the
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approval or endorsement of SME.
ISBN-13: 978-0-87335-273-4
On the Cover: A 1993 photo showing acid drainage from the Terrero waste rock pile draining into a wet-
lands before entering the Pecos River in New Mexico.
© 2008 by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.
All rights reserved. Electronic edition published 2009.
Contents
PREFACE v
Chapter 1 A Production Strategy for Maintenance 1
Chapter 2 Maintenance Program 7
Chapter 3 Maintenance Organization 13
Chapter 4 Maintenance Workload 19
Chapter 5 Preventive Maintenance 27
Chapter 6 Maintenance Planning and Use of Standards 33
Chapter 7 Maintenance Scheduling 41
Chapter 8 Maintenance Information 47
Chapter 9 Resource Control 57
Chapter 10 Performing Nonmaintenance Work 65
Chapter 11 Evaluating Maintenance 71
GLOSSARY 77
INDEX 81
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 85
iii
© 2008 by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.
All rights reserved. Electronic edition published 2009.
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© 2008 by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.
All rights reserved. Electronic edition published 2009.
Preface
After observing the heavy industry maintenance scene for more than 35 years,
there have been many experiences that offer lessons which aid the universal
objective of improving the way we manage maintenance.
Heavy industry embraces mining and mineral processing, oil and gas
operations, and pulp and paper production. These industries are characterized
by difficult working environments in which the bigger-than-life equipment
they depend on must be well maintained. This book is about the men and
women who make up these maintenance workforces. They have solved many
problems, struggled with others, and failed in some endeavors. Regardless,
their efforts are the basis for valuable lessons that can help others.
A human interest case study approach was selected to introduce lessons
that could help others to improve maintenance performance.
You’ll read about the problems that Charlie, a plant manager, innocently
created when he encouraged maintenance to adopt a team organization with
insufficient advance preparation. You’ll see how Vivian, a competent haulage
truck driver, demanded and set a new standard for the quality of preventive
maintenance inspections. And how Jerry, the general manager of a mining
operation, established responsibilities for maintenance support in his business
plan that resulted in a jump in production capacity and improved profitability.
These stories and the lessons they provide describe people seeking answers to
the problems that confront many maintenance professionals and often their
senior managers. Hopefully, the lessons will provide ideas and techniques
readers can apply to their own situations.
Chapter 1 explains the need for a plant-level production strategy from
which maintenance takes its cue on how to organize and conduct mainte-
nance. The guidance the plant or mine manager provides in his or her produc-
tion strategy is crucial to maintenance personnel who must meet strategy
objectives. The chapter also describes why successful maintenance cannot be a
stand-alone activity. It must have the visionary sanction of management, the
genuine cooperation of production, and the first-class support of staff depart-
ments such as warehousing, purchasing, and accounting.
The necessity of a well-defined maintenance program that clearly depicts
what maintenance personnel do, how they do it, who does what, and why is
the focus of chapter 2. The importance of sharing program details with all
departments that depend on quality maintenance or on effective support for
maintenance is emphasized. Chapter 3 explains how a maintenance program
provides the road map for developing an efficient organization. A checklist is
established through the maintenance program to ensure the organization will
carry out the maintenance program effectively.
v
© 2008 by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.
All rights reserved. Electronic edition published 2009.
vi MINE MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT READER
A key element of any maintenance program is the workload—the essential
work that maintenance personnel must carry out—and this is described in chapter
4. A careful definition of workload is the basis for determining the proper size and
craft composition of the maintenance workforce, an activity that many mainte-
nance organizations struggle with. Chapter 5, which focuses on preventive mainte-
nance, describes how the preventive maintenance program and all of its elements
are used to successfully avoid premature failure of equipment and to extend equip-
ment life. The ability to successfully plan major work is directly dependent on the
quality of preventive maintenance services.
Maintenance planning, which is described in chapter 6, requires preorganiza-
tion of selected major jobs. Emphasis is given to criteria for determining what type
of work should be planned, how planning is carried out, the duties of planners, and
conversion of the plan into a successful schedule. The chapter continues with an
explanation of the efficiencies that can be gained in the planning activity by devel-
oping standards for all major jobs that are repeated on a regular, periodic basis. The
development and use of standard task lists, bills of materials, and tool lists that
apply to these jobs streamlines the planning task dramatically and adds significant
benefits for maintenance.
Joint maintenance–operations activities are scheduled so that preventive
maintenance services and major maintenance work are performed at a time that
interferes least with the operation while concurrently making the most effective
use of maintenance resources. This crucial process is described in chapter 7. Chap-
ter 8 illustrates the effective use of maintenance information in determining what
work has to be done, how the work will be managed, how cost and performance
will be measured, and the determination of overall performance. System selection
can be a major problem, and insight into the best selection methods is useful.
Chapter 9 focuses on the control of maintenance resources—labor and mate-
rial. When work is carried out productively and efficiently, the cost of maintenance
is reduced and the quality of work is enhanced. Thus, effective labor control is a
major factor in overall maintenance performance. The chapter continues with a
description of the importance of effective material control. Next, the vital role of
quality information is described in the identification, control, and measurement of
work. Significant attention is given to labor control and productivity as the key
ways to control costs.
Maintenance personnel often perform nonmaintenance activities such as
construction, equipment installation, equipment modification, and equipment
relocation. This component of maintenance is described in chapter 10. Strong
emphasis is given to coordination with warehousing, purchasing, and other
departments to enhance their quality of service. Chapter 11 explains why an evalu-
ation is the first step in any maintenance improvement effort. Successful mainte-
nance organizations have built regular, periodic evaluations into their maintenance
programs in addition to information used to measure week-to-week performance.
© 2008 by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.
All rights reserved. Electronic edition published 2009.
CHAPTER 1
A Production Strategy
for Maintenance
Operations depend on maintenance to keep their equipment in good operat-
ing condition, which in turn enables them to consistently meet production
targets. However, the pressure of everyday operations often stresses the work-
ing relationship between operations and maintenance. A management-level
production strategy alleviates this potential problem by assigning specific
objectives and responsibilities to all departments. This strategy not only
guides maintenance in their actions, it also assigns responsibilities to opera-
tions for the use of maintenance services and to staff departments, like ware-
housing, in their support of maintenance activities. As a result, the strategy
ensures the harmonious interaction of all departments by eliminating any con-
fusion about roles and responsibilities.
NEEDLESS BICKERING
The maintenance–operations scheduling meeting was held each Thursday at
the smelter. Most meetings quickly degenerated into an argument between the
maintenance and operations managers. Maintenance accused operations of
totally ignoring essential maintenance tasks. Operations accused maintenance
of inept workmanship.
As a result, most major work that was attempted turned out poorly and
resulted in more recriminations. There was a standoff. Soon, the general man-
ager learned of the situation and set out to clarify responsibilities. He visited
with the two managers and made it clear that “Operations is responsible for
the ‘fact’ of maintenance and maintenance is responsible for quality work.”
When the operations manager tried to explain this guideline to his people,
operations personnel were not sure what the “fact” of maintenance meant. To
compensate, operations went overboard to accommodate maintenance and
maintenance felt that a milestone of cooperation had been reached. Soon,
realistic schedules were being agreed on and more effective work was being
1
© 2008 by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.
All rights reserved. Electronic edition published 2009.
2 MINE MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT READER
accomplished. Subsequently, the general manager’s intent was expanded into a
more detailed program.
The Lesson
Maintenance cannot force operations to conduct any maintenance activity.
Nor should operations delay scheduled maintenance services when opera-
tional circumstances make it inconvenient. Although maintenance provides
services primarily to operations, their ability to effectively perform those ser-
vices depends on the efforts of all departments. The general manager must
successfully focus the cooperative and supporting roles of all departments on
the needs of maintenance and create a working environment in which mainte-
nance can succeed.
POLICIES
The pellet plant manager noticed that more than 30% of the maintenance
workload was nonmaintenance work, such as installing new equipment or
modifying existing equipment. He also observed low compliance with the pre-
ventive maintenance (PM) schedule and an unacceptable number of emer-
gency repairs. Concerned that these two observations were related, the
manager then discovered that excessive nonmaintenance work had used up
most of the labor intended for basic maintenance work.
Unfortunately, there were no policies governing how the maintenance
workforce was to be used. A review of labor-use trends revealed that this was a
long-standing problem. Action was taken to establish policies to guide main-
tenance in the allocation of labor resources and work out practical procedures
by involving key superintendents. As a result, labor allocation policies were
well received and complied with. Within 120 days, compliance with the PM
schedule improved while the incidence of emergency repairs dropped significantly.
The Lesson
Allowing maintenance personnel to conduct their activities without manage-
ment oversight can result in some real surprises. Senior managers should
implement policies that guide the performance of maintenance tasks and then
follow up to ensure policies are being adhered to. Individual departments then
use these policies to guide the development of their own procedures for inter-
acting with other departments.
MAINTENANCE PERFORMANCE TARGETS
The mine manager was disappointed that maintenance had only achieved
14% PM schedule compliance even though the target was 85%. The next day
he asked everyone to stay after the morning meeting. He explained that 85%
was what he wanted and then added, “Any production supervisor who misses
© 2008 by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.
All rights reserved. Electronic edition published 2009.
A PRODUCTION STRATEGY FOR MAINTENANCE 3
my 85% target will explain to me in person why he can’t meet it.” He expected
massive “pencil whipping” of reports; instead he got an honest 85% compli-
ance. Collectively, key personnel knew that compliance with every procedure
was directly related to a specific supervisor and that the manager already knew
which supervisors were causing problems. The careless ones went to work.
The Lesson
Policies, procedures, and targets are not empty words that can be ignored.
Each must be linked to the person responsible for the proper, effective, and
successful application of the procedure, policy, or target.
MONITORING MAINTENANCE PERFORMANCE
At a monthly performance review, the mining general manager described the
often unpleasant, daily inquisition about production results that his mine
managers were subjected to by the vice president. Unknown to the group, the
vice president was in the back of the room during this review. He was soon on
his feet to ask supportively if there was a better way to ensure production tar-
gets were met. A maintenance supervisor suggested that there was a link
between favorable PM schedule compliance and good production. The dis-
cussion broadened into an assessment of why this was important and how
improved PM would assist in meeting production targets.
The Lesson
Senior managers have a compelling interest in production achievements. To
meet the goals, they require a maximum effort from individual mines. Those
responsible for several operations must look beyond missed production tar-
gets to uncover and influence correction of the underlying problems. If such
an effort is apparent to individual employees, the unpleasant task of reporting
daily production is replaced with support for correcting underlying problems.
HOW SENIOR MANAGEMENT CAN HELP MAINTENANCE
As a general manager, Jerry played a direct role in how maintenance was being
performed. Objectives and policies were composed, issued, and explained.
This guidance helped, yet Jerry saw even more potential.
Two advisory groups were formed to propel maintenance improvement.
One group represented all departments and was made up of supervisors, oper-
ators, crafts personnel, and planners. The second group, made up of decision-
makers, would review the first group’s recommendations and either modify their
recommendations or create the circumstances for immediate implementation.
At a joint meeting in which accountability for stocked parts was being discussed,
a maintenance electrician described how difficult it was to obtain stocked
parts without first getting his supervisor’s approval, even though he had an
© 2008 by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.
All rights reserved. Electronic edition published 2009.