With a planned production increase of 30% and the imminent introduction of 24/7 manufacturing, Charles Wells Brewery is upgrading its maintenance system with FrontLine On-The-Move, which uses PDA-based remote management to drive productivity levels up whilst keeping administration costs down.
Key Facts:
- Brewery installs remote PDA-based maintenance management
- Measurable improvements in productivity and reporting
- Supports 24/7 production by minimising downtime
- Eliminates paperwork and cuts costs
Charles Wells already brews over 300,000 gallons of beer and lager every week at its plant in Bedford and packages them into kegs, casks, bottles and cans, using FrontLine Maintenance Management software at every stage of the brewing and packaging process. The transition to 24/7 production will increase the impact of every down-time, whether for planned or unplanned maintenance. The new remote system will help to minimise downtimes, and improve productivity, by allowing engineers on the floor to eliminate paperwork by communicating directly with the FrontLine management software.
The first phase of upgrading to the new remote, paper-free system has been completed with the installation of FrontLines HandiWorks and HandiParts modules alongside the existing FrontLine modules for Maintenance, Stock Control, Purchasing and Finance.
During the initial trial of the hand-held PDAs, Charles Wells Engineering Administrator, Graham Walker, calculated that there was a measurable increase in productivity of 6%, and a 10% increase in the reporting of unplanned maintenance tasks which were identified and completed by the engineers during routine work.
Walker explains; With the new handhelds, communication to and from the engineering teams is faster and I get almost immediate confirmation that a task is finished, together with additional comments from the engineer. By helping to log every routine and unplanned maintenance task, FrontLine builds a comprehensive service and breakdown history for each machine which helps to identify which plant is the most reliable and to target those where maintenance needs to be prioritised.
In addition to increasing productivity, FrontLine also offers easy access to management reports, which allow maintenance schedules and productivity to be monitored and continually improved.
About Shire Systems
Founded in 1982, Shire Systems is one of the oldest established PC-based business software companies in the world and a pioneer in the development of computerised maintenance management systems. Shire Systems range of specialist technical solutions encompasses the fields of Asset Maintenance, Facilities Management, Electrical Testing and Health & Safety. As the UKs no 1 producer of computerised Maintenance Management software Shire Systems have set new standards in function-rich, easy to use products, whilst maintaining a highly competitive price. www.shiresystems.co.uk
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