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Bemis Achieved an 85% Downtime Reduction in 6 Months Through Improved Practices and Maintenance Dashboard

Customer Since: 2007 | Industry: Packaging

Bemis Company Inc. is a global supplier of flexible packaging and pressure-sensitive label materials used on products found in virtually every aisle of the grocery store. An inefficient system and lengthy backlog, a focus on emergency maintenance, and a 20% equipment downtime had Bemis seeking a CMMS solution. After implementing eMaint, the company saw an impressive turnaround within 6 months. This turnaround included a 85% reduction of downtime, from 20% to 3%, a 15%-73% rate of work orders completed within 30 days, and increased technician utilization from 50% to 80%.

  • Saw 85% Reduction In Equipment Downtime

  • Saved 4.5 Hours/Week On Time Spent Creating Reports

  • Experienced 13% Increase In Work Completion Rate

BACKGROUND

Bemis Company Inc., established in 1858, is an environmentally-conscious global supplier of flexible packaging and pressure-sensitive label materials used on products found in virtually every aisle of the grocery store. The Omaha, Nebraska plant is their oldest continuously operating facility, with twelve maintenance technicians supporting a 24 hour, 6 day operation.

THE CHALLENGE

When Mike Clarke joined Bemis in April of 2011 as Maintenance Manager, he found a backlog of over 120 work orders that were over 120 days past due as the team focused primarily on emergency repairs. Equipment downtime was averaging 20%. Labor hours and parts were not consistently logged in the system, making it difficult to schedule work. Mike set a goal to achieve world-class performance of 2% unplanned downtime in order to provide a stable platform for production.

To achieve these results, Bemis realized they would need to revamp their preventive maintenance program and utilize the eMaint CMMS system to plan work and track performance. Mike, along with Luke Freeouf (Maintenance Planner) and Russ Liekhus (Maintenance Supervisor), set out to “make it happen”, achieving an extraordinary turnaround within 6 months.

IMPLEMENTATION

They started by revamping their PM program. eMaint CMMS is integrated with data logging devices which upload equipment usage data to eMaint, triggering meter-based PMs. Weekly meetings were established with engineering, production, inventory control and maintenance to plan upcoming work. Preparing the information manually for these meetings was a daunting task that took over 5 hours each week. Bemis enlisted the help of eMaint’s Professional Services team to automate the key metrics and publish them to a dashboard.

The resulting dashboard gives the management team an up-to-the minute picture of downtime by production line, work order aging, work order throughput, open work orders by type (PM, corrective and project), closed work orders by hours and utilization by technician. This enables the team to keep an eye on how they are progressing on their journey toward world-class performance and fix problems before they escalate. The dashboard is not only an effective management tool, but, it also reduced the time needed to prepare for weekly meetings from 5 hours to less than 30 minutes. Next steps include incorporating predictive technologies (ultrasound, thermal imaging and vibration analysis) into their maintenance program to further reduce downtime.

BENEFITS

  • 85% reduction in downtime from 20% to 3%
  • Dashboard reduced weekly report preparation from 5 hours to 30 minutes
  • 75% planned maintenance
  • 73% of work orders completed within 30 days (increased from 13%)
  • Increased technician utilization from 50% to 80%
  • Integrated purchasing/inventory management tool ensures parts are available when needed
  • Integration with data logging devices supports utilization-based PMs

“We love the eMaint Dashboard and cannot run without it. It has allowed us to take ownership of our own destiny and has paid for itself many times over!”

Mike C., Maintenance Manager, Bemis Company, Inc.