In 2003, producer of primary aluminum and fabricated aluminum Alcoa Warrick Primary Metals learned its Alcoa Smelting System produced the second highest maintenance costs. While Alcoa was good at emergency breakdown response, asset reliability received little attention and equipment instability suffered because of this. A partnership was formed that same year with efforts commited to a reliability excellence (REX) transformation. Ten years later, maitenance costs dropped 29% and OEE performance improvement gains are now worth $9.5 million annually. In this article from sister publication Plant Services, Royce Haws and Ed Kuhn, CMRP, Alcoa Warrick Primary Metals, discuss the importance of REX sponsorship and plant REX partnerships, and the essential relationship between operations and maintenance.
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