Background
With maintenance and operations led by Director of Manufacturing, Dean Darcy, Rinnai America is the North American division of a Japanese-based company. For many years, the U.S. division handled only sales and distribution, but it began manufacturing in 2019 with one assembly line. In 2022, the company opened its new, 330,000 sq. ft manufacturing facility, including two production lines with a full metal stamping section and a 150,000 sq. ft warehouse.
When the new plant was under construction Darcy says he and his team realized they would need a software program to help manage maintenance at the sprawling facility. One of the manufacturing engineers previously used 黑料传送门 Software鈥檚 Asset Essentials at a former job and 鈥渉e bragged about everything it could do,鈥 Darcy says. The team was convinced, and they implemented Asset Essentials when the plant opened in 2022.
Within weeks, Rinnai America was up and running with Asset Essentials. 鈥淭he support that the 黑料传送门 team provided during the implementation phase was great,鈥 Darcy says. 鈥淭hey helped us input all our assets and get the communications right. They made it painless.鈥
While Darcy says he and his team found 黑料传送门 customer support to be very helpful in answering questions, 鈥渨e soon realized that any question we have is already in the help section, with the answer ready for us,鈥 he says.
Tracking and Streamlining Repairs
The Rinnai America plant is new and so is most of its equipment, so Darcy has not planned for equipment replacements yet. However, constant use means that tools and machines frequently need repairs鈥攁nd Asset Essentials makes it easy to keep track of repairs and related data.
鈥淲e鈥檝e trained our technicians to document everything they do in Asset Essentials, so every piece of equipment and every tool has a library of critical data associated with it,鈥 Darcy says. 鈥淲hen there鈥檚 an issue, we can quickly refer back to see anything that鈥檚 been done to that piece of equipment, where we got the part, and how much we paid for it. The history we have on our software far surpasses what our counterparts in Japan have. I can鈥檛 live without Asset Essentials at this point.鈥
Justifying Expense Requests
Darcy is also using the robust data available in Asset Essentials to justify requests for additional funding. For example, he requires techs to document their work each day to help track needs, and a recent study showed the facility needs another tool maker and two more technicians.
鈥淎s I build the case for budget planning, I鈥檒l use Asset Essentials data to show that each tech is currently doing the work of one and a half to two people,鈥 Darcy says.
Automating Preventive Maintenance
Through ongoing maintenance tracking, Darcy and his team learned that a particular stamping machine needs maintenance after about 300 hours of use. Rather than waiting until production workers notice that the dye is running out, Asset Essentials now automatically sends a reminder that the machine is nearing 300 hours, so the team can perform maintenance proactively.
鈥淭he software alerts us that preventive maintenance is needed, so we can get it done without slowing down production,鈥 Darcy says. 鈥淚t has helped eliminate a lot of down time.鈥
Results
Using 黑料传送门鈥檚 Asset Essentials, Rinnai has been able to:
- Simplify work order tracking and streamline repairs
- Use data to justify expense requests
- Automate preventive maintenance alerts
Vitals
Manufacturer of tankless water heaters with:
- A 330,000 sq. ft U.S. manufacturing facility
- 8 maintenance staff members
- Daily production of approximately 800 residential units and 40 commercial units