The client, a large chemical manufacturer, sought to reduce maintenance costs by $8 million over two years while increasing production volumes. An assessment identified issues like ineffective planning, a lack of preventative maintenance, and high percentages of emergency work orders. Change Solutions Group implemented improvements across six work streams, including leadership, materials management, and contractor oversight. The results included annual cost savings of $4.2 million through increased productivity, lower contractor costs, and reduced material spending, as well as improved uptime and maintenance practices.

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MAINTENANCE EXCELLENCE: THE PATH TO REDUCED
OPERATING COSTS AND INCREASED PRODUCTION VOLUMES
Client
The client is a global chemical manufacturer with production sites in the US and Europe. The Company produces
hundreds of intermediate chemicals, fibers and plastic products. This project was conducted at their largest US
facility and involved the Site General Manager and his management team. The Site employed more than 1,000
personnel and relied on external contractors for routine maintenance, process unit turnarounds and capital projects.
Business Challenge
The Site Management Team was focused on reducing overall maintenance and repair costs, in the Central
Maintenance Shops and the Area Maintenance Teams, from $73M/year to $65M/year, over the coming 24 months.
The challenge was to accomplish this goal while also increasing production volumes and maintaining Safety, Health
and Environmental standards. Their goal was to enhance the Maintenance processes, practices and performance
to provide the Site a true competitive advantage.
Change-Solution
The initial phase of the project consisted of a Maintenance Excellence Assessment designed to gain a better
understanding of the client’s current-state operations, review existing goals and improvement initiatives, and identify
the most significant improvement opportunities.
Maintenance Excellence Assessment
The resulting findings from the assessment identified several significant improvement opportunities, including:
 Fundamental maintenance processes are ineffective in the areas of job estimating / planning, work
scheduling, job work measurements and backlog management
 Preventive Maintenance is not routinely performed; Equipment history deleted after 6 months
 75% of all Work Orders were classified as ‘Emergency’ or ‘Priority 1’
 50% of the on-hand spare parts and equipment had been in inventory for more than 5 years
 Multiple groups involved in the purchase of parts and equipment with little coordination
 Maintenance and Repair expenses for Contractors has increased 24% over past 2 years
 Maintenance personnel experience significant job delays due to the lack of parts, special tools and
equipment, changing priorities, and lack of direction.
Materials&
Purchasing
Contractor
Management
Maintenance
Systems
(CMMS)
Facilities,
Equipment,
Tools
Preventive
Maintenance
Work
Initiation&
Authorization
Planning&
Scheduling
Organization
& Staffing
System for
Managing
Maintenance
Leadership

2. Change Solutions Group, LLP
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Change Solutions Group worked closely with the Maintenance Director, Managers, Support Staff, Supervisors
and Technicians to implement a series of revised process, procedures, measures and controls to address each
of these improvement opportunities.
Several joint client-consultant Project Teams were established to lead the implementation activities and a Site-
wide Steering Team was chartered to ensure the alignment of project priorities and the availability of critical
resources. The implementation activities were structured within six key Work Streams.
Project Approach
Work Streams Project Elements Deliverables
Maintenance
Leadership
 Maintenance Strategy & Plan
 Maintenance Governance
 Organization Capabilities
 Alignment of Goals & Priorities
 Key Performance Indicators
 Ongoing Communications
Maintenance
Materials
 Material Planning
 Inventory Data Integrity
 Stores Management
 Reduced Inventory Investment
 Improved Inventory Accuracy
 Reduced Material Stock-outs
Maintenance
Effectiveness
 Work Order Initiation & Approval
 Planning & Scheduling
 Job Standards & Measurement
 Reduced Maintenance Costs
 Increased % of Planned Work
 Improved Equipment Uptime
Contractor
Management
 Contractor Qualification
 Selection and Approval Process
 Contractor Effectiveness
 Reduced Contractor Costs
 Internal Sourcing vs. Contractors
 Performance Management
Supervisor
Training and
Effectiveness
 Roles and Responsibilities
 Coaching & Counseling
 Training & Skill Development
 New Supervisory Model
 Individual Action Plans
 Accelerated Implementation
Performance
Management
 Performance Baselines & KPI’s
 Budget Controls
 Benefits Reporting
 Benefit Targets & Accountabilities
 Monthly Status Reporting
 Corrective Action Process
Client Results
The Project Teams implemented numerous operational improvements which delivered significant benefits, both in
terms of quantifiable operating cost savings, and non-financial benefits. These included:
 Reduced overall maintenance and repair costs by an annualized rate of $4.2M/year. This included:
- Increased Maintenance Productivity of $1.5M/year.
- Reduced cost of Contracted Maintenance services & equipment rental of $2.0M/year.
- Reduced cost of maintenance materials & supplies of $0.7M/year.
 Improved on-stream time for the primary products.
 Increased the level of Preventive Maintenance and reduced number of Emergency work orders.
 Improved processes for sourcing and approving contractor expenses; conducted more work in-house.
 Better alignment and cooperation between Maintenance and Operations.
 Maintained high level of Safety, Health and Environmental standards.