Enterprise Resource Planning System Implementation in Preventive Maintenance: Case Study in AB Furniture Company

Abstract

Many manufacturing plants still use corrective policies in their plant maintenance practice. Often it is too late for the managers to react upon their plants performance reports such as losses due to plant unavailability, performance inefficiency and dropping rate of quality. Neglect of the preventive maintenance planning is a great disadvantage in any manufacturing system. If such a system is ever going to reach perfect one-at-a-time manufacturing, there is no time for failed or wasted parts or standstill. Therefore, the availability of real time data of plant equipment and process history to enhance the discovery of opportunities for manufacturing optimization is imperative. This paper describes the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system concept in the Preventive Maintenance (PM) practice, and in other part presents the case of AB Furniture where ineffective maintenance practices are being carried in one of the components of Manufacturing and Planning Control. The AB company objective is to maximize all possible values in their products. Therefore, the company must compete on the basis of Cost Leadership thereby focusing on elimination of waste, economies of scale, cost reduction and more returns from an initial invested asset in their mainstay of their operations. However, their maintenance operations, such as ineffective spare parts management and ineffective maintenance work orders, contradict their capabilities to compete on the basis of Cost Leadership thus pose a strategic threat. Consequently, to counter this threat, this paper recommends adoption of maintenance practices purported by their pre-installed ERP system and the adoption of PM philosophy supported by that system. Using ERP system to measure maintenance practices performance indicator coupled with Maintenance Work Order Analysis, AB Company will be in better position to identify on how to optimize their maintenance activities in the future.