Key results
14%
In labour cost reduction
9%
Reduction in contractor costs
12%
Materials stock reduction value
About the client
This multinational company with operations across the world is one of the world’s leading producers of concentrated phosphate and potash. The company participates in every aspect of crop nutritional development, which includes manufacturing fertilisers and animal feed for the agriculture industry.
The challenge
The South American branch of the company was going through a major transformation, but productivity was low and costs were high. They needed to reduce maintenance costs without impacting and ideally improving reliability ratios. They also wanted to standardise the maintenance process across all units.
What we did
We implemented the following improvements:
Improved efficiency and adherence to management procedures
The teams reviewed all current as-is management tools and identified how to improve them using best practices. They developed and implemented a standardised maintenance management system with new KPIs and created various maintenance management controls.
Improved business processes
Implemented best planning and programming practices, such as a master schedule to allocate resources efficiently, level workloads, and improve materials management practices This resulted in a stock reduction of 12%.
Reduced suppliers’ contract costs
Established a support/contractor management process. We subsequently reviewed and updated seventeen key specialist contracts, resulting in significant savings.
Installed a new organisation structure
… with redesigned roles and responsibilities.
Improved labour productivity
As work execution processes became more streamlined, labour costs went down by 14% as the company needed less man hours. Productivity of maintenance management resources also improved.
Trained staff in the new ways of working
Staff affected by the changes were extensively trained and coached in the new ways of working to ensure sustainability. We performed sustainability evaluations that ensured the new working practices were embedded and fully adopted.
Results
The organisation achieved all the objectives of the transformation programme and now has a more efficient and effective maintenance function.
