ABB wins Mitsubishi maintenance contract

The contract, one of the biggest of its kind for ABB worldwide, involves upgrading Mitsubishi Motors’ existing maintenance management procedures and installing a tailored universal computer maintenance management system (CMMS) throughout its plants at Tonsley Park and Lonsdale in Adelaide, South Australia. The two plants employ over 3,000 personnel, including a maintenance engineering team of approximately 300 people.
ABB has started implementation on three of MMAL’s nine business units and expects to have all units online within two years. During that time, it will apply the standardised practices developed by ABB’s global asset consulting service team, including a plant critical analysis and a review of all preventive maintenance plans. It will also establish spares inventory controls, develop a maintenance management master plan (MMMP) and install the Mainpac CMMS.
ABB will develop tailored key performance indicators and also train Mitsubishi Motors maintenance staff in the use of the systems. It will also establish new workflow methods for integration into the CMMS operation.
"These technologies will give Mitsubishi Motors the systems and practices it needs to improve plant reliability and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE)," said Craig Croxton, ABB Australia’s Asset Consulting Service Manager. "The ABB approach will improve Mitsubishi Motors’ maintenance systems into a highly-effective preventive and proactive operation."
"This is an important outcome for us, as it will allow an increase in plant performance and plant output whilst minimising the likelihood of plant breakdowns," said Grant Hanan, MMAL’s Executive Vice President, Manufacturing and Quality Assurance.
"ABB’s globally renowned products and systems are aligned to the needs of our business and we are confident this will deliver to us the best possible result."
Mitsubishi Motors operations in Australia manufacture the Magna and Verada range of vehicles for domestic and export markets, as well motors and cast components for other Mitsubishi Motors plants around the world. The new ABB maintenance systems will be in place in preparation for production of two all-new Mitsubishi models scheduled to be built post-2005.

The vehicle assembly plant at Tonsley Park is one of the largest centralised tooling maintenance facilities in the southern hemisphere, producing up to 300 vehicles a day for domestic and export markets, and the assembly plant at Lonsdale provides the V6 engines that drive the Mitsubishi flagship models.
ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering their environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 133,000 people.