SRO Solutions helps Corus Rail to Increase Production

In January 2005, following completion of an internal RCM exercise for one of their high cost and complex Assets and as part of an ongoing maintenance improvement programme, Corus Rail Engineers opted to outsource specialist resources to further assist on the project and selected SRO Solutions Ltd for the task. In order to compile and plan the multiple PPM tasks, SRO's advised that it would be essential to implement an appropriate CMMS software product, not only to ensure the successful completion of this particular project but also for ongoing use and continuity in the future.

Sean Gleeson, Section Manager, Welding Plant says "The new CMMS system has proved a great success and if we continue to evaluate the data, we should see further production improvements". He continues, "I was sceptical at first but have already seen both short and long-term benefits. The system has fast become a Tool that we rely on every day and, since contracting SRO Solutions and implementing the new CMMS system, production output has also risen significantly!".

In order to select the most effective product, SRO had to firstly define the high-level functional requirements, develop the various business processes to ensure these could be mapped with any selected system. Following this, SRO co-ordinated a structured software evaluation process and, as a result, ‘AMOS M&P' from SpecTec was selected.

Over a period of one month, SRO implemented the AMOS M&P system. All existing maintenance schedules were entered and the output from the earlier RCM project included.
 
AMOS went 'Live' at the end of February 2005 and, as well as assisting in this operation, SRO also developed an ‘End User Operational Procedures Manual' and AMOS User Guide, specifically to match the individual Corus requirements.

Over the following three months, SRO further configured and ‘fine-tuned' the system to ensure a smooth, continued operation and to cater for future maintenance analysis by Corus engineering management. This meant utilising Fault Codes (Type, Fault and Cause), estimating task duration, required personnel and also defining when maintenance was safe to be carried out (reducing the need for PPM's to be carried out during overtime and ensuring all PPM's could be completed each month). All of which now assists in the planning and execution of work.

In addition to standard PPM's, all statutory inspections and calibration items have also been entered to assist in the management of these tasks. SRO has developed various customised business reports to further assist management in their analysis. For example, it is now possible for Corus to identify the total percentage of work completed by month, and monitor the Backlog and another reports provides specific data to assist in evaluating the unplanned work to enable ‘Root Cause Analysis' functions.

Ian Render, Technical Engineering Manager added "the implementation of AMOS has lead to Management and Engineering staff having much better visibility of the maintenance requirements, both present and future." He continued "the system also allows our Technicians to requisition work and report on any issues found, thus enabling them to work in a much more proactive manner. All of which has lead to an increase in productivity and a decrease in plant downtime".

Contacts:
SRO Solutions Ltd
Steve Driver
PO Box 331
Manchester
M23 2YN

Tel: +44 (0)845 408 4250

Corus Rail Products
Sean Gleeson / Ian Render
Castleton Works
Castleton
Rochdale
OL11 3AU

Tel: +44 (0)1760 671 0456
Email:
Web: www.muchmorethanrail.com