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Article Summary
Better Welding Maintenance Strategies Enhance Contractor Competitiveness
- Extend equipment life
- Ensure peak performance at all times
- Increase productivity
- Lower operating costs
Customer Testimonial
“Focusing on eliminating chronic wear and stress is like preventing a fire hazard. You can have fuel stored or flowing anywhere, but do away with oxygen...and you cannot have a fire. Similarly, if you do away with the chronic stresses that cause 'maintenance fires,' then you cannot have maintenance malfunctions, errors, failures, rework scrap and downtime.”
— Howard C. Cooper, author of Lean Maintenance within 30 Days
Application
Selection and maintenance of welding equipment fleets in construction applications.
Key Business Issue
- Maximizing equipment uptime and availability.
- Lowering overall operating costs.
Challenge
- Radically overhauling traditional maintenance and purchasing practices.
Previous System & Process
- A focus on technical maintenance (a "fix it when it breaks" mentality) and lack of emphasis emphasize frontline care and strategic maintenance. With technical maintenance, the most painful jobs, such as breakdowns, receive greater attention than small defects...yet rectifying and eliminating the source of small defects could save more money in the long run.
- Purchasing equipment from the lowest bidder.
New Solution
- Implementing strategic maintenance, total preventive maintenance (TPM) or lean maintenance practices.
- Purchasing equipment from the bidder who shows you how to best lower operating costs and/or increase productivity.
Results
- Minimized maintenance costs. "A Big Blue [diesel engine drive] costs half as much to maintain compared to smaller units. Its reliability is second to none. No other welding generator comes near to matching it for reliability and economical service."
—Terry Gallant, equipment coordinator, Cianbro Corporation - Reliable operation. "The PRO 300 [diesel engine drive] worked year round and never caused any problems. We were amazed at the cold-weather starting. The people will give out before the machines do."
— Edward McNaughton, welder, Nordcap Steel Docks - More uptime in harsh conditions. "We put up a Holiday Inn down in Melbourne, Florida, in the middle of July and it was very hot—about 114 degrees F—and very humid. All of our equipment worked great."
— Dan Chapman, owner, CMW Welding, commenting on the durability of the Spectrum 2050 plasma cutter, which ran without fail off the generator power of a Trailblazer 302 gas engine drive. - Improved production. Better equipment uptime can improve production to the point where, instead of investing heavily in new equipment to increase capacity, your existing equipment may occasionally sit idle.
