Two years ago, the management team at Nissan saw the
need to create a group that would lead the transition of its
maintenance teams to a world-class level. At that time, Chad
Crane, a reliability supervisor, was selected to join this team. Joe
Welgan, Crane's manager, sent him for machinery lubrication
training, which would be followed by the Machine Lubrication
Technician (MLT) Level I exam administered by the International
Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML). While Crane was
successful in earning his MLT I certification, the training he
obtained was a real eye-opener.
"At the time, I thought I was fairly knowledgeable in the field of
lubrication, but quickly realized that I had a lot to learn," Crane says.
"Upon my return, I knew we had a lot of opportunity to improve."
Nissan's plant in Smyrna, Tenn., has a footprint of just more
than 5.4 million square feet. Crane had only worked in the stamping
plant. As a first step, he began riding around with the lubrication
technicians as they went about their daily duties.
"I was working side by side with them, learning what they knew
and what obstacles they faced each day," he recalls.
Crane started looking into the plant's contamination levels as
shown in test results from its onsite lab. He sat down with experts
in the lubrication field, and together they formed a list of what
changes needed to be made. They determined what would make
the biggest impact on improving uptime and cutting costs.
Once the items were identified, management was briefed and
the decision was made that the recommended changes would be
implemented in the stamping plant first before rolling them out to
the rest of the facility. The stamping plant was chosen as the pilot
because it had the potential for the greatest financial return.
www.machinerylubrication.com
|
July - August 2013
|9
