Site: Ridgeville, SC

Description of the Site: The Showa Denko Carbon plant makes graphite electrodes, approximately 2-3 feet in diameter and 10-15 feet long. These electrodes are consumed in a carbon-arc heating process for the steel-making industry.

Nature of the Opportunity: The Ridgeville plant was about 10 years old, developed as a greenfield site. As the equipment aged its reliability diminished and maintenance costs increased. Overtime and heroic efforts became the norm to keep the plant running. Production schedules suffered, and were routinely not met.

What We Did: We began with an assessment and quantification of the value of implementing improved planned maintenance program. A core capability to use their CMMS and measure performance was in place, but not widely accepted by production.

We created a multifunctional, multilevel design team to create the new process and procedures which would guide their work. The system pilot was successful in increasing the amount of planned work and the total work completed. Chronic equipment problems were addressed; a "Gulper" reliability project was documented by MRO Today as an example of how teamwork and a process can make major change.

Results: After six months the plant began making production schedules and increasing their bottom line.