A Company Maintenance Strategy Optimization Study By Implementing Six Sigma

The main objective of this thesis is to present a strategic analysis on plant maintenance strategy in the A manufacturing company.Through systematical studies of A manufacturing company plant maintenance practices,identifying potential problems of current maintenance strategy and proposing maintenance strategical alternatives addressing existing maintenance strategic issues and problems.Improving the efficient of maintenance operations performed and equipment reliability in A manufacturing company to achieve maximum maintenance performance.Meanwhile,to provide guidance and support for those manufacturing companies who aim to improve plant maintenance process through continual improvement on maintenance strategy optimization.Six Sigma(6?)is at the top of the agenda for many manufacturing companies who attempt to reduce operating cost,control process variances and improve quality of products etc.To accomplish these goals,Six Sigma DMAIC methodologies are introduced as the main theoretical concepts in this thesis.The approach is abbreviated to DMAIC which has five phases: Define(D),Measure(M),Analysis(A),Improve(I)and Control(C).This thesis bases on A manufacturing company existing maintenance practices,utilizes equipment reliability concepts and principles which giving a philosophical perspective in the form of principles as well as a practical perspective in applying tools,such as statistical analysis,pareto analysis,bathtub curve analysis,equipment preventive maintenance cost optimization analysis,equipment failure Weibull distribution analysis etc.in each DMAIC phase.To analyze the maintenance strategy issues,causes and work out optimized solutions for A manufacturing company.By planning,implementing,controlling and evaluating performance of the optimized solution to ultimately achieve the possibilities of improving maintenance efficiency and effectiveness and foster A manufacturing company getting better in maintenance cost and maintenance performance.The conclusion that can be drawn from this research,in a manufacturing company is that,preventive maintenance strategy is not always the most effective utilization of resources.It is crucial to integrate reactive,preventive and predictive maintenance to define a cost effectiveness maintenance strategy lines with manufacturing goals and business goals.This thesis also shows that,A six sigma DMAIC methodologies with integration of reliability engineering technologies which allow to develop such an optimized maintenance strategy for the manufacturing company to achieve a competitive edge,maximize maintenance effectiveness and equipment uptime,result in higher profit margins and low operating cost.