PPC has entered a multimillion-rand contract with PRAGMA PRODUCTS for the development and implementation of an innovative software solution aimed at increasing cement production volumes by better managing plant maintenance. The property boom of the past few years placed extreme pressure on existing plant capacity, forcing PPC to optimise the effectiveness of its plants.
PPC is a R3.4 billion company producing cement, lime and packaging within southern Africa. It forms part of the Barloworld group, a R38 billion diversified industrial company. It has 12 quarries, eight cement manufacturing plants and one lime manufacturing plant spread across southern Africa.
The company was seeking for technologically advanced software solutions to support a modular generic approach, streamlining the development of Asset Care Plans (ACPs) for its geographically dispersed assets, particularly with an eye on quick adaptability to changing asset usage scenarios.
PPC approached PRAGMA PRODUCTS about the development of a software tool called the Asset Care Plan Developer (ACPD) as well as the use of PRAGMA PRODUCTS` maintenance management software, with online integration to PPC`s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
The combination of the ACPD and Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) system enables an accurate duplication of the `real world`, in a system that can be dynamically configured with the minimum effort to mimic changes to assets and asset requirements as and when they happen.
The ACPD constructs an asset type tree through inheritance into detailed generic asset types with ACPs. The generic building blocks have their own ACPs which link onto physical assets across all sites to form an asset-care network across the company`s sites for automated updating of continuous improvements.
"The ACPD is designed to transform asset-care management from a traditionally stagnant environment to one where rapid adaptation to a fast-changing business environment can be achieved," says PPC Chief Engineer: Operations, Joe Naud'e.
"Maintenance philosophies are reworked and preventive strategies captured in ACPs for more than 60 000 assemblies across PPC sites. "With this approach, approximately 1 500 generic assemblies have to be addressed to cover the company`s more than 15 000 maintenance-significant installations, achieving significant time and cost savings," he continues. Continual asset care improvements have a single point of entry in the system and dynamically roll-out to all applicable assets on all sites of the organisation.
"We can now adjust our maintenance approach to suit production requirements, so that when market demand shifts, the most suitable asset care plans, that are ready for use in the system, can be activated to achieve the required operational uptime," he elaborates.
The introduction of an intelligent asset coding convention in conjunction with the ACPD approach allows for more advanced activity planning and performance analyses to support continual improvement and standardisation across sites.
In 2005, following on the implementation of the ACPD during 2004, PPC engaged PRAGMA PRODUCTS in a three-year project, the Maintenance Optimisation Project, aimed at optimising availability, asset performance, cost and risk at its South African cement plants. A large part of this project involves the successful application of the ACPD.
A four-phase process was proposed by PRAGMA. The first phase focused on establishing standard asset management processes across all sites. It included an actual roll-out of ACPs in a fully configured ON KEY system on a single site as pilot.
Phase two saw the roll-out of tested and proven solutions onto all PPC cement manufacturing sites in South Africa.
Phase three involves the introduction of more ON KEY functionality and the roll-out of ACP-based schedules to all primary equipment. A 5% cost improvement was set as a goal for this phase.
During phase four, which will run into 2008, ACP schedules will be rolled out to all equipment with more advanced planning, functionality and continuous improvement. Significant improvements in plant reliability and availability is expected during this phase, combined with a 10% cost reduction.
At the end of each phase an assessment is conducted to measure progress. The project will also involve a change management initiative that will cut across all the project phases.
PPC has shown impressive financial performance during the most recent financial period, which it ascribes to increase sales, good prices, and excellent cost reductions, particularly synergies between operations.
While this performance resulted from a number of improvement initiatives at PPC, the Maintenance Optimisation Program was a key part it. "The Asset Care Plan Developer module enables sustainable continuous improvement," says Naud'e. "It offers a unique combination of standards and stability on the one hand, and dynamic flexibility on the other. We were able to cut down immensely on system administration time, delivering value adding Asset Care Plans that are adaptable to fluctuating market conditions and operational requirements," he concludes.
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