2009-10-30 - The following is a translation of an article about ABB Full Service, which was published by Finnish maintenance association in October 2009, as an addendum to the Kauppalehti (a Finnish version of the Financial Times / Dagens industy).
When companies want to improve their competitiveness, the substantial advantage that could be gained through maintenance development – in regard to production efficiency and planned savings – is often left unnoticed.
Maintenance is one of the strategic ways for a company to perform well in competitive situations.
ABB’s Full Service® operation model covers the production equipment maintenance and development of the entire production plant. ABB is a leader in electric power and automation technologies, whose products, systems and services enable utility and industry customers to improve competitiveness.
Besides maintenance services for ABB’s own products and systems, a significant part of the service range consists of maintenance services to the entire production process of the plant. Of the 150 ABB Full Service® total maintenance agreements, about one in four is signed in Finland. Of ABB‘s 22,000 people in the service business, over 8,000 maintenance professionals are working at customer plants, implementing the ABB Full Service® concept. In Finland, over 3,000 maintenance professionals work in maintenance, and over 2,500 of them work in Full Service agreements.
“The ABB Full Service® concept means that a long-term service contract is signed with the customer, and along with the contract, we commit to the maintenance and development of the performance and reliability of the production equipment at the production plant. In other words, we are fully responsible for maintenance,“ says Markku Pelli, Vice President, Full Service at ABB Oy Service.
“Our customers are mainly companies operating in the heavy process industry, such as forest and metal industries. In Full Service, change management, and service culture development are an essential part of our operation model,“ says Toni Turkama, CEO of Efora Oy, a joint venture between ABB Oy and Stora Enso Oyj.
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The deployment of the Full Service concept begins by preparing a maintenance management master plan, which means that shared objectives supporting the customer‘s strategy are determined together with the customer. “The maintenance management master plan specifies the maintenance operations’ content, responsibilities, and implementation model. The plan will be updated annually with the customer,” say Pelli and Turkama. According to Pelli’s and Turkama’s experience, customers seeking to enhance the efficiency of their operations in various areas of production will gain the best advantage from cooperating with ABB.
“For our part, we are able to improve the competitiveness of the customer by impacting on production efficiency, and maintenance costs, as well as by developing the personnel‘s competence, service attitude, and safety.”
ABB also uses an asset lifecycle model for optimizing the maintenance level of the production plant. Lifecycle planning elements include maintenance and shutdown management, as well as maintenance and repair investments.
Maintenance outsourcing has started off well in Finland.
“We have over twenty years of experience in the implementation of the Full Service operation model, and we clearly are the market leader. I am confident that even in the existing market situation we will be able to provide significant advantages for a company looking for ways to improve the profitability of its business,” says Pelli.
Efora, which started operations at the beginning of the year, has already completed over one thousand training days in six months. The training scheme has included supervisory and SAP training, as well as technical and statutory training, for example. “We have utilized ABB’s global training schemes related to reliability technology and change and maintenance management; the schemes are rotated in different countries. Training is an important motivator for the personnel,” says Turkama, adding that it is also important to achieve a change in the operating methods of the personnel.
“Carrying out a change in operating methods is an essential aim when a company outsources its operations. ABB’s change management process functions equally as well in a normal business environment as it does in the existing market situation,” say Turkama and Pelli.