Viewpoint: Achieving Excellence

Richard L. Dunn, Executive Director, Foundation for Industrial Maintenance Excellence

Two U.S. plants have been selected to receive the 2007 North American Maintenance Excellence (NAME) Award presented by the Foundation for Industrial Maintenance Excellence. The Alcoa Mt. Holly plant, Goose Creek, SC, and the Baldor Dodge Reliance – Dodge Marion plant, Marion, NC, were selected as award winners after evaluation of their applications and onsite audits of their operations by the NAME Award Board of Directors.

Now in its seventeenth year, the NAME Award is widely regarded as the most prestigious recognition in the maintenance function. Awards are presented to individual plants on the basis of their maintenance departments’ ability to provide “capacity assurance for operational excellence” in the areas of organization, work processes and materials management.

In many ways, the two winners represent the breadth of the possible paths to maintenance excellence. One is a large plant, the other small; one a large maintenance organization, the other not. One plant is primarily a round-the-clock continuous process operation, the other a manufacturer of discrete products. One has a long tradition of striving for and exemplifying maintenance excellence, the other has come to this level only recently.

Alcoa Mt. Holly is a 1.5 million-square-foot aluminum smelter that produces about 500 million pounds of aluminum ingots annually. Its 160 maintenance employees support the 24/7 operation of the plant through a wide variety of preventive and predictive maintenance activities, major equipment overhauls and operation and maintenance of the plant’s substation. In recommending the plant for the NAME Award, evaluators noted its long history of outstanding work planning and scheduling, as well as its excellent communications and cooperation with all production areas.

Dodge Marion manufactures mounted tapered/spherical roller bearings in its 174,000- square-foot facility. Its nine-person maintenance department has developed a strong preventive and predictive maintenance program using various total productive maintenance (TPM) processes.

Both plants have demonstrated enviable records for reliability. Furthermore, both demonstrate that a foundation of sound preventive maintenance practices coupled with a plant-wide respect for the value of maintenance is essential to overall excellence.

Established in 1990 as a way to encourage best maintenance practices and a way to honor those who achieve them, the NAME Award program has presented 20 awards over the years with several awards in some years and none in others. In 2000, the volunteers who administer the award program incorporated as the not-for-profit Foundation for Industrial Maintenance Excellence (FIME) to ensure the program’s continuance and independence from commercial influence. The Board of Directors is made up of past award winners and others with a demonstrated devotion to the values the award represents.

To be eligible, a plant must submit a comprehensive application by June 30 in the year of entry. This application is reviewed by the Board of Directors to determine eligibility for an onsite audit. Following this audit, the Board of Directors again meets to decide if the applicant qualifies in all respects for the award.

The NAME Award recognizes that the Alcoa Mt. Holly and Dodge Marion plants have demonstrated their maintenance competence at a world-class level. The Foundation for Industrial Maintenance Excellence is proud to honor their achievements.

Rick Dunn participated in the establishment of the North American Maintenance Excellence Award and has been active in its activities since inception. He was appointed Executive Director when the NAME Award program was incorporated as the Foundation for Industrial Maintenance Excellence. Information on the NAME Award program is available online at www.nameaward.com