Name: Don Vines
Age: 44
Title: Preventative Maintenance Technician
Company: Dayton Superior Corp.
Years of Service: 5 years
Location: Braselton, Ga.
While working as a pipe fitter for a local manufacturing company, Don Vines became so fascinated by the systems on the equipment that he started following the technicians to the breakdowns and learning about the machines. He soon realized the importance of lubrication and how it factored into many of the breakdowns. Vines continues to see this firsthand as a preventative maintenance technician for Dayton Superior Corp. in Braselton, Ga., where he has been given the opportunity to initiate a companywide preventative maintenance program at facilities across the country.
Q What types of training have you taken to get to your current position?
A I have completed most of the online training offered by Noria. I have also attended various seminars for component-level training.
Q What professional certifications have you attained?
A I currently hold a Machine Lubrication Technician (MLT) Level I certification.
Q What’s a normal work day like for you?
A My normal work day starts with examining the backlog and the current day’s schedule. I then will check the closed work orders from the day before to see if anything might need to be addressed further. After I am sure that my people are ready to perform their tasks for the day, I start looking at my project tasks for the current location. I will assist technicians at many locations with preventative and/or lubrication questions throughout the day.
Q What is the amount and range of equipment that you help service through lubrication/oil analysis tasks?
A I have developed lubrication and preventative maintenance schedules on equipment varying from plastic injection-molding equipment to standard punch presses. I have done the same thing with custom-made equipment for various applications. The amount of equipment is in the range of 300 to 400.
Q What lubrication-related projects are you currently working on?
A I have set up a maintenance and lubrication program at 12 locations across the United States. This included instituting lubrication best practices at all the facilities.
Q What have been some of the biggest project successes in which you’ve played a part?
A We now have lubrication best-practice audits scoring in the 70-percent range at eight locations. These eight locations also have established metrics to track reactive time worked, downtime and schedule compliance. With these metrics, we are able to focus our continuous-improvement efforts.
Q How does your company view machinery lubrication in terms of importance and overall business strategy?
A As the project continues with varying successes, the company is realizing the importance to the bottom line. We have never tracked our organization in the maintenance field, and it has definitely opened some eyes on how improvement in this area can be very important to us and our customers.
Q What do you see as some of the more important trends taking place in the lubrication and oil analysis field?
A The most important trend in this field involves engineered preventive maintenance tasks. Designing the machine with preventative maintenance and lubrication in mind will help make these tasks less time-consuming and more efficient.
Q What has made your company decide to put more emphasis on machinery lubrication?
A I was able to gain buy-in during a 5-S project at my location in Miamisburg, Ohio. During this project, I purchased equipment to start an autonomous maintenance program and showed operators how they can be a valuable asset in performing daily lubrication tasks. The improvements made such an impact that it was decided to launch this program at all of our locations.
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