Maintenance Technology July 2015 - (Page 10)
FOR ON THE FLOOR
An outlet for the views of
today's maintenance
& reliability professionals
Capital Purchases:
What Do You Want and
Why Do You Need It?
Rick Carter
Executive Editor
T
he need to make high-dollar, fixed-asset
capital purchases to keep production
running and facilities habitable is ongoing
in manufacturing. Good economy or
bad, strong sales or weak, when key equipment
reaches the end of its useful life, replacement or
a major upgrade is often the only option. But the
dollars involved and approvals needed to spend
those dollars can complicate and lengthen capitalpurchase processes. One way or another, however,
they usually get made, as our Maintenance Technology Reader Panelists confirm this month. Here's
a look at some of the important purchases made
recently within our group.
Q
What was the most recent capital purchase
your organization made, and what was its
justification?
"We purchased an RFID system that we use for
tracing material and tools. It assists greatly in loss
prevention, and is also helpful for employees who
seem to forget where they left their tools."
... Maintenance Coordinator, Mid-Atlantic
"Our purchase of a new CMMS system is
ongoing. We needed it because our current system
consists of a couple of spreadsheets and the always
reliable word-of-mouth. During my short tenure
as the Maintenance Manager (I was previously
the Process Engineer), I have been studying new
techniques for making our equipment and team
more reliable as we, along with most others, are
doing more with less. The new CMMS will help
schedule our workload more efficiently, assigning
the correct personnel to the job, and manage our
inventory better, particularly those items we use
regularly. It will aid us in recording costs and
tracking relevant information, such as cause of the
problem, downtime involved, MTTF, MTBF, and
other details."
... Maintenance Manager, South
"We bought a parts washer in January for
throughput improvement."
... Sr. Facilities Engineer, South
Approval to make capital purchases of items such as industrial robots and
other expensive equipment typically requires well-researched justification,
often supported by input from maintenance.
10 |
MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY
"Our latest capital purchase was for more
than $200,000, and included new automation
controllers, updated instrumentation equipment,
and some specialized safety guards. The major
justification for it was safety. This new technology
keeps our operators' body parts totally out of the
way of the high-speed equipment in operation, and
will improve our manufacturing consistency and
product quality."
... Former Chief Maintenance Engineer,
now Trainer, West
JULY 2015
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Maintenance Technology July 2015
Forward Observations
Uptime
For On The Floor
News
Drive Strategy With Performance Metrics
Train, Audit Electrical Workers
Carbon-Neutral Drives Molding Company
Troubleshoot Hot Hydraulics
Lubrication Strategies
Don't Procrastinate, Innovate
Products
Marketplace
Ad Index
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