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When AK Steel built a new greenfield plant at Rockport, IN, it was faced with a daunting challenge: Establish and continue the highest possible levels of plant maintenance from day one. The solution was innovative: Build a topflight maintenance organization quickly by contracting for maintenance services, and base the contract on performance.
The challenge was met by creating an alliance known as Rockport Maintenance (RM), which combines the resources of Fluor and Siemens Energy & Automation. RM is headed by Maintenance Site Manager Ed Miltenberger who reports to the AK Steel Rockport Works Maintenance Manager Dennis Brickley.
How is the arrangement working? Just four years after startup, Rockport Works has been honored with the North American Maintenance Excellence Award, sometimes called the "Baldrige Award for maintenance." The plant has also earned QS9000 certification and QI status from Ford Motor Co.
In the beginning
The decision to use contract maintenance came long before construction of the Rockport Works.
AK Steel's Chairman, CEO, and President Richard M. Wardrop, Jr., says that the concept was talked about in the early stages of designing the plant. "When we settled on Siemens to do all the electrical for the cold mill and the galvanizing line, it became apparent that it would make a lot of sense to have the people who designed the system maintain the system," Wardrop explains. "We were hoping to get a technological advantage in that the people who built the machinery knew how to maintain it."
Second, Wardrop says, was the synergy that could be developed by combining the capabilities of Siemens and Fluor-- Siemens for its technological expertise on the systems and equipment, and Fluor for its predictive maintenance and maintenance management experience. And finally, Wardrop continues, "We figured we could do it with the least people if we had the best people."
Performance is key
An unusual feature of the Rockport Maintenance contract is that payments are based on performance. If RM doesn't perform to specific, measurable levels, payments are adjusted. RM performance is measured on safety,...