Tire Selection by Machine

• Consider all applications the machine may perform
•  Consider all ground conditions machine may operate in
• Consider all material weights machine may move
• Consider all speeds the machine may travel loaded & empty
• Use radial tires whenever possible for increased production and lower operating cost per hour
• Maintain spare tires with varying amounts of thread depths to matched downed machines

Tire Management/Maintenance

• Inspect tires daily; incorporate tire checks into operator pre-shift inspection
• Check tire pressures on a regularly scheduled basis; daily, weekly or the best fit for your application. A temperature change of 20 degrees Fahrenheit can equal a 10% change in tire pressure
• Select machine based on correct tires for each application
• Train operators, supervisors and key personnel on your tire management expectations
• Assign one person to be directly responsible for total tire life, costs and management

Tracking Tire Data:

•  Develop fleet check form to be used by field personnel to gather fleet check information
• Tire Tracking Program; you can select a program to track tire data in house or most tire     manufactures have a program developed to track tire information. If you are an existing customer they most likely will track tire data for you.
•  Develop reports that will allow you to analyze operating cost from various prospective. Cost per  hour, ton or mile. You can track cost by tire, machine or fleet of machines. Compare actual cost to projected cost. Removal report will give you cause of failures and at what point they are occurring in a tires life.

Successful equipment managers know that their organization must reduce unscheduled field breakdowns and improve reliability. Maintenance programs must be uncompromisingly thorough, repairs and rebuilds need to be performed to strict quality standards, and replacement decisions must be timed to ensure that the fleet is as reliable as possible. Good managers emphasize prevention rather than cure and understand that maintenance actions taken before failure are more cost-effective, less disruptive, and easier to manage than repair actions taken after the machine has broken down and defined both the time and place for the urgently required repair action.
On the other hand, many believe that replacing components and taking action before failure is a conservative and expensive thing to do. If a component is supposed to run 5,000 hours, why replace it at 4,500 hours; let it run to failure. It may last 6,000 hours; why waste the chance of 1,500 hours more component life?
Repairs are easy. The machine is broken, and it needs to be fixed right now. All you can do is spend the required amount as effectively as possible under crisis conditions. It is like opening your parachute after jumping out of the plane: a necessary reaction to a current problem, and you hope for a safe landing.
The worst thing about a repair is the collateral damage caused by the breakdown. A $500 bearing can ruin a $7,000 transmission; a $100 hose can cause a $2,000 loss in production. Collateral costs are extremely difficult to measure. They do not appear in cost reports and are often the subject of bitter debate. Regardless, there is no doubt that they exist and that they have a huge impact on both cost and productivity. We simply cannot afford equipment failures if we want to hold our heads high as equipment managers and if we want to complete construction on time and on budget.
Maintenance is defined as those actions that are taken before failure in order to prevent failure or extend life. Effective programs comprise two different but equally important components. The first, preventive maintenance, requires discipline. Routine systematic actions are defined in maintenance check lists, timing is set by the maintenance cycle, and work is performed according to a preset schedule. Spending can be seen as an investment rather than a cost. Without effective preventive maintenance, you truly cannot expect to succeed. The second component, mechanical maintenance, requires courage. Repair-before-failure actions are performed to replace components before they fail based on reliable information, condition assessment, and a belief that prevention is better than disruption and the collateral costs associated with an on-shift failure.
It is possible to run a fleet based on a good preventive-maintenance program and then let components run to failure before taking any additional action. Managers who do this neglect the collateral cost of lost production, disrupted operations, increased repair costs, and crisis management. In exchange, decisions are simple: The machine must be repaired, and the money must be spent. The only decisions that need to be made are how to schedule the inevitable overtime, reduce the inevitable cost, and whether or not to use the downtime as an opportunity to replace any additional components that appear to be “tired.”
The need to manage equipment costs without sacrificing reliability forces equipment managers to implement a mechanical-maintenance program that focuses on repair before failure and bridges the gap between preventive maintenance and repair. It requires courage and a firm commitment to excellence in the management of the fleet.

Here’s how it works:

• What must be done is determined by a knowledge of component lives, machine history, and the current condition of the machine. There has not been a breakdown to define exactly what needs to be done.
• When it must be done is your call. It can be done now or later depending on your assessment of the risk between the cost of taking action too early in the life of a component and the collateral cost of a failure in the field. Again, a failure has not occurred to force the decision.
• How much should be spent depends on your decision on the components to be replaced and the work to be done. Doing it this month would be good, but how about doing it next quarter when the budget situation should look a little better?

Our ability to implement an effective mechanical-maintenance program therefore depends on our ability to predict failure and base decisions on good information rather than conservative guesses. This means we must use the best tools and techniques available for inspection and condition assessment. The technicians performing preventive maintenance are the manager’s eyes and ears.

They visit the machines regularly. They must have the time, training and tools needed to inspect and report, not just to check, change, adjust and lubricate. They must provide information, and we must use it to thread the needle between conservative decisions that increase component costs and risky decisions that increase the chances of on-shift failure and collateral costs.
We must address three critically important issues.

1. We can and should set zero on-shift failures as an overall goal for the maintenance and management of our fleet. It is a simple metric, straightforward and achievable. Skeptics should look to what has been achieved in construction safety in the years since we started to believe that accidents were not inevitable.
2. We need a routine, systematic preventive-maintenance program based on checklists and schedules to perform routine actions, solve small problems before they escalate into failures, and collect the condition-assessment data needed to run a cost-effective mechanical-maintenance program. Preventive maintenance is not a science, it is a discipline.
3. We need the courage, conviction and confidence to implement a repair-before-failure mechanical-maintenance program that bridges the gap between preventive maintenance and repair. This will require an increase in the amount of effort placed on inspection, oil sampling, and other diagnostic techniques that detect impending failure in expensive components and remove the nagging doubts about whether or not the transmission could run an extra 1,000 hours before failure.
   Effective maintenance programs must have two different but equally important components. Preventive maintenance requires routine, systematic actions. Mechanical maintenance relies on information and assessment that prevent on-shift failures.

• We have contacts to help you find that equipment you need to purchase.

• Our experienced consultants have the knowledge and background to step in to a management position to keep the workflow going until you can fill the open position.
• We have a database of management level contacts that you may want to consider to fill the open position .

Equipment & Maintenance Consulting

• We help our clients achieve their maintenance goals through planned and scheduled maintenance and maintenance management training. Clients achieve the following goals:

Effective preventive/scheduled maintenance planning and scheduling
Increased productivity
Decreased maintenance costs
Increased equipment availability and reliability
Reduced number of on shift break downs

• Consulting Process

Analysis: Perform a thorough audit of existing maintenance practices. This is achieved by observing maintenance activities, interviewing employees, assemble feedback from management, review documentation, visit shops and work sites to become familiar with clients unique situation.
Report: Generate a detailed report documenting our observations and make suggestions that encompass all variables that directly influence your maintenance program effectiveness.

• Create a Plan: Using audit results and needs of client create a plan for maintenance improvements. Consultant suggests a detailed course of action and works with management to create steps and time line for implementation.

• Implementation: The final step is to install and implement the maintenance plan. During the implementation process, the consultant works closely with employees and management, making small adjustments as needed, providing experienced guidance through the implementation process.

Equipment Inspections

• We can inspect a fleet of equipment or a single piece of equipment. We will provide you with a written report and pictures.
• Attend equipment auctions in your behalf, inspect equipment you may be interested in purchasing. Provide a written report and pictures of equipment you are interested in before auction starts.
• Maintenance Management Evaluation
• Analyze your current maintenance program planning, scheduling, staffing, preventive maintenance, organization requirements, training, workflow and measurements.

Provide proven strategies and policies for achieving asset and labor management costs, productivity, quality and safety performance levels

Establish “Key Performance Indicators” (KPI) to monitor compliance with Maintenance Management Program implemented

• Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS)
• Perform analysis of current maintenance data collection.
• Interview personnel involved in maintenance management data collection and decision making process. Identify your needs for a CMMS system that will allow you to make informed smart business decisions.
• We will help determine your requirements and work with companies set up a program for you.
• Help set up demo of CMMS program customized to your needs. Make recommendations on maintenance data collection. Assist with implication of CMMS program.
• We are not in the business of selling CMMS programs; we have no allegiances to any company or programmer. Our goal is to assist our clients achieve their predetermined maintenance goals utilizing the most appropriate CMMS designed to meet their unique situation.

• Perform analysis of existing equipment fleet and maintenance practices to establish where you stand on operating and maintenance cost. Identify opportunities to reduce cost, increase productivity, quality of maintenance and safety.
• Interview personnel involved in the maintenance process from managers to front line personnel and make recommendations.
• Review communications and process between operations/production department and equipment/maintenance department and make recommendations.
• Review equipment/maintenance department organizational chart, budgets and assets and make recommendations.
• Visit shops, yards, work sites, and make recommendations.
• Any other audit activities you feel relevant.