Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr
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30 E&MJ; • JANUARY 2016 www.e-mj.com M A I N T E N A N C E Achieving World-class Mining Maintenance: Step 3—Establish an Efficient Program In the third segment of this six-part series, the author presents the basic steps in crafting an effective program that will enable operators to develop and sustain top-notch mine maintenance performance By Paul Tomlingson The third step in the path toward achieving world-class maintenance is to establish an effective mine mainte- nance program. This consists of devel- oping, documenting, testing and imple- menting a quality program that spells out how maintenance work is requested, identified, classified, planned, sched- uled, assigned, controlled, measured and assessed to ensure sustained, effec- tive performance. After a program is developed and agreed upon, an educa- tional effort is carried out to ensure that the entire mining operation understands what Maintenance does, who does what, how and why. Personnel will then see their supporting and cooperative main- tenance-related roles clearly and con- tribute more effectively to the success of the total operation. Note that the program is the mine maintenance program—not the program of the maintenance department. Why? Maintenance planning, for example, is a Maintenance function and Mainten- ance bears full responsibility for its suc- cess. However, planning will not be suc- cessful without the support of Ware- housing and Purchasing to supply mate- rials or cooperation from Operations in making equipment available for work. These other departments have a defini- tive role in planning success and become an integral part of the mine maintenance program. What It Is What is the mine maintenance program? In short, it describes what is to be done, by whom, how and why. It reflects the interaction of the total mine population as work is requested or identified and classified to determine the best out- come. The program includes planning, scheduling, assignment, control and measurement of the resulting work. Finally, it enables assessment of overall accomplishment against goals such as performance standards and budgets. Mining organizations often fail to adequately define their maintenance programs. As a result, maintenance personnel who are tasked to carry them out become confused and uncertain. Operations staff wonder how they can best support maintenance. Depart- ments such as Warehousing try to sec- ond guess what maintenance needs. Mine managers are frustrated and impatient. In instances where mainte- nance programs have not been defined, operating departments—as well as staff departments whose help is essential to successful maintenance—have little idea of what is expected of them. Thus, essential, basic support for the program is not provided. Instead, confusion and uncertainty prevail. To avoid this situation, invite other departments to review and comment on actions that involve them after Maintenance has documented a prelim- inary program. Operations, for example, Figure 1—The legend to explain this schematic diagram would read: (1) When an equipment operator determines that a minor problem could be repaired by a Maintenance crew member, he calls for informal help. (2) The crew member would make necessary adjustments or minor repairs to get the equipment running properly. If the repair is a simple adjustment, no record is necessary. If the repair meets repair history criteria, enter the work done in the work order system as prescribed. If an emergency repair was necessary, advise the Maintenance supervisor at the first opportunity and document the actions taken.